I have no idea how so major a stage star as Truly Shattuck (Clarice Ferguson, 1875-1954) evaded my notice for so long, nor how she did eventually come to my attention, but I am delighted to get to parlay her story to you today, for it involves elements of true crime and personal drama in addition to our core concerns relating to trad show biz.
Many thanks to Katie Dowd of SFGate, who uncovered the true facts of Shattuck's origins, which are misreported just about everywhere else on the internet. Shattuck liked to claim that her real name was the exotic sounding Clarice Etrulia de Burcharde, implying some sort of posh Continental origins, which were so in vogue in the 19th century. Her actual given name was Clarice Ferguson. Her father's occupation was listed on a census as an engineer, which Dowd wisely deduces to mean a train operator or a crewman on a sea vessel. This scans given the family's working class circumstances as boarders in the home of a San Francisco printer, and the fact that reason for the couple's divorce when Clarice was four was "willful neglect", which would likely be the case if Ferguson was constantly in transit for his work. Clarice's mother then married Orville Shattuck, a watchmaker, who also later sued for divorce...in this case because the woman seems to have been mad as a hatter.
This is mama's mug shot:
The crime for which Jane Shattuck was jailed was juicy and spectacular and made a star of her daughter, though that consequence was surely unintended.
By her late teens, Truly Shattuck was already working as a chorus girl at the Tivoli Opera House and having to fend off her gaggle of admirers with a stick. Her favorite was a young man named Harry Poole, who professed expectations of a $100,000 legacy when his grandfather passed away. Truly was going out with Harry after performances every night and not returning home until the wee hours of the morning. It grew to be too much for Mrs. Shattuck. On July 7, 1894, her daughter didn't walk in the door until 9 o'clock in the morning. Truly protested that it was alright -- the couple were to be married in a couple of days.
Calling her bluff, Jane insisted that her daughter dictate this note, which was sent to Poole by messenger:
"Dear Harry :—For God's sake come down at once for Mama is dying and wants to see you. My darling, if you love me, come quickly, or you may not see her alive.
"With love,
TRULY.
"P. S.—Harry, you can afford to forgive her, and for love of heaven come quickly."
Truly should have smelled a rat. Her mother had once tried to force another beau to marry Truly at gunpoint. Truly's grandfather is said to have advised the young man to steer clear, as Jane was not "in her right mind".
Nevertheless, Harry arrived within a couple of hours. When he got there, he was ushered in to speak with Mrs. Shattuck, who happened to be in bed, under the covers. Truly was asked to step outside so her mother could speak to Mr. Poole. When the question of marriage was put to him, the surly young man replied that he had no intention of tying the knot until he inherited his legacy. At which point, Mrs. Shattuck pulled a pistol from under the blanket and shot him in the head.
What happened thereafter proves the Biblical adage that there is nothing new under the sun. The resulting publicity made Truly a star. Note that these events were three decades prior to the real life ones that inspired the play and musical Chicago (the author of which, Maureen Dallas Watkins happens to have had the same birthday as Shattuck, July 27. Read all about it here). Shattuck went into vaudeville as a single. She was apparently a loud and lousy singer, whose gimmick was setting lyrics to John Philip Sousa marches. Her appeal (beyond the notoriety of her origins) was her Rubenesque form. Dubbed "the shapeliest woman in vaudeville", it was all about the curves. Recall that this was the Lillian Russell era. The aesthetic prized lots of voluptuous flesh, almost the exact opposite of what it has been since the time of Twiggy.
Shattuck worked her way east to New York by 1896, where she played Tony Pastor's, Koster and Bial's, and Hammerstein's Olympia. Her fame then took her to the musical halls of Europe, where she made a splash as well. By 1904 she was on Broadway, starring in the Weber and Fields produced musical An English Daisy. This was followed by the original productions of severeal George M. Cohan shows: Little Johnny Jones (1904-05), George Washington Jr. (1906), and The Governor's Son (1906). Then came the Ziegfeld-produced A Parisian Model (1906-07) starring Anna Held, followed by The Lady from Lane's (1907), Weber and Fields' Hip! Hip! Hooray! (1907) and Judy Forgot (1910). Between musicals she played vaudeville, both here and abroad, where she became associated with the Ernest R. Ball song, "Love Me and the World is Mine".
In 1911 Shattuck starred in the touring production of Weber and Fields show Alma, Where Do You Live? (There is a recording of her singing the title song!) She was with the production in Baltimore when she was struck down by a brain abscess. It was successfully operated upon, but the recuperation took nearly two years. It was a particular hardship because just a few months earlier, her extravagant lifestyle had caused her to declare bankruptcy.
Nevertheless she bounced back admirably. In 1913 she formed a vaudeville team with Thomas Wise (with whom she had appeared in The Lady from Lane's) that lasted at least until the end of the decade. In between vaudeville dates she appeared in silent films, at least 16 of them between 1915 and 1927. She was now middle aged and even more matronly, by no means the soubrette any longer. And she was now a supporting player, no longer the star, but she worked steadily. Most of the pictures were melodramas, but a few of them were comedies worth noting here: Peggy (1916) with Billie Burke, The Speed Girl (1921) with Bebe Daniels, The Hottentot (1922) with Douglas McLean, and The Galloping Fish (1924) with the all-star cast of Louise Fazenda, Syd Chaplin, Ford Sterling, Chester Conklin, Lucille Ricksen, and Eugene Pallette. Her last was Rubber Heels (1927), with Conklin, Ed Wynn, Thelma Todd, and Ruth Donnelly.
After this, sound came in, of course, killing silent films, and vaudeville died not long after that. Why a former stage star of Shattuck's caliber couldn't get roles in talkies is a head scratcher, but she couldn't, although she reportedly obtained sporadic work as an extra. She made her way to Chicago, and appears to have tried employment of the sort she might have toiled at had she never gone into show business, trying her luck as a waitress and a seamstress. In 1929, she made national headlines once again, but not for the right reasons -- she'd been busted for shoplifting a dress. You need slick threads to be in show biz, and she wanted to get back in the game, but lacked the resources. Abe Erlanger's wife is said to have hired her as a private secretary for a short time after that.
This leaves us with a quarter century mostly unaccounted for. It is believed that in addition to her work as a crowd extra in films, she occasionally got parts in the theatre. At the time of her death she was living in a Hollywood facility for indigent actors.
For lots more on vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, for more on silent film please see: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.
No comments:
Post a Comment