Featured What is the name of this lovely actress?

Like others have said, not a Pilgrim because of the Crucifix, flowers and the overall bonnet style - too ornate. I also thought of Lillian Gish or her sister Dorthy Gish, but not them from facial construction or written name. I also thought of Mary Pickford, but she doesn't seem quite right for her either. I'm leaning towards a European connection or Canadian connection like an "Evangeline" portrayal because of the style of cross, crucifixion.

There were at least 2 silent "Evangeline" movies:

1. 1913 a Canadian production with a Laura Lyman playing "Evangeline." I haven't found a pic of her yet. This is the only pic I have found of this production:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan...dence,_Armdale,_Nova_Scotia,_Canada,_1913.jpg

2. 1929 a silent "Evangeline" movie starring Delores Del Rios. This woman definitely is not Del Rios.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019856/

--- Susan

 

Susan, Thanks! I love the photo in the first link. But it does say Nova Scotia in the URL... pretty far from Seattle!

 

With the lace on her cuffs, stripes on the skirt, the crucifix at her neck, and the ribbons or flowers on her hat, I don't think we are looking at any of the "simple" societies. I'm thinking Esmeralda (Hunchback of Notre Dame) or even Mary Queen of Scots or one of the other Catholic Queens.

 

Good thoughts, elarnia!

 

I came across Frye's Opera House in Seattle. I think I saw where it burned down in the Great Fire of 1889.

Sorry, I don't have time to look further. Might be an area to pursue.

 

Thank you, clutteredcloset. I'll look into that idea... but if it did burn down in 1889, it would not be related to this photo, which was probably taken at least 30 years after that. Still, I think it's a good idea to look at other venues.

I've also started trying to research the photography studio, Mecca. It's been a little hard to find anything useful through an Internet search, but will keep trying. I'm not sure that I'd have any books that would help.

 

I've looked high and low on the internet, and tried searches on various spellings of the names; I even tried newspaper searches. But I haven't come up with anything, sorry! I was struck by her likeness to Lillian Gish, too. Could the name relate to a character role, rather than the person's actual name, I wonder?

 

Perhaps it could relate to a character role... but still, nothing comes up.

Personally I don't think the resemblance to Lillian Gish is all that strong. There is a resemblance, but just within the past few weeks I saw Gish in the movie The Wind on TCM. To me, there is a difference in the eyes, and her face is shaped rather differently. In particular, Gish had a less prominent chin and the whole chin area had a different shape.

https://www.google.com/search?q=lil...zuoASa9YDgDg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=889

 

The name could also be the person who owned the card.

Makes me wonder if I should start putting a post-it on every item I own with whatever I know about it.

 

Yes, it could. Lots of possibilities!

In recent years I've started typing up some identifying information about some of my photos and interfiling that information in the album pages where I keep the photos. Unfortunately I'm not consistent about this. It was particularly disheartening when threads kept disappearing from the eBay boards because I lost a lot of information that I had not saved.

 

I know what you mean. I finally started copying info from the boards and saving it online.

 

Bumping this thread up from oblivion:

In July 2016 I corresponded with the University of Washington library in Seattle about this photo. It is NOT Lillian Gish. They did not identify her but through their large collection they determined that the Mecca studio that published this was in business only from 1904-1906. I had thought it was slightly later than that, but will go with what they decided.

 

Oh, and here is what was written to me by a staff member at UW, based on the writing on the BACK:

"So far I have figured out that the first name is likely Catherine. I’m working on the last name. The photo studio—Mecca Studio was in operation during 1904-1906 which cuts down on the time period.

"You need to ignore the name as it is written on the front of the photo because they obviously didn’t really know it."

They were going to get back to me after they played with it some more, but never did... despite a follow up from me. I suppose the school year started and they got busy!

 

I cannot figure out where your correspondent got Catherine for the first name.

Looking back at the surname suggestions, I don't see anyone suggesting Douiders - with an i between the u and the d. Did anyone try that?

 

I can almost see "Catherine," based on the writing on the back. I'm not completely convinced because the end of the word will not resolve for me. Yes, I did try Douiders at one point. It's been a little while since I've looked, though.

I even bought and read a book about early Seattle theatrical history. Good book, although most of the actors it focused upon later became well known (or were well known at the time).

 

Playing around with it, I do see that Douider (without the "s" at the end) comes up as a legitimate surname of some current individuals on the web.

 

I'm seeing Dourders but that's no help.

 

Fig - Have you thought about contacting the Seattle Room librarians at the Seattle Public Library?

http://www.spl.org/locations/central-library/cen-plan-a-visit/cen-special-collections

 

So, this wouldn't fit the writing so it would have to mean something besides the actress and the time might not be exactly right but how about Marion Davies? This link has a flyer for "The Red Mill" playing at the Coliseum Theater in Seattle 1927.

http://www.pstos.org/instruments/wa/seattle/coliseum.htm

 

No, but that's a thought! Right now I'm getting ready for a weeklong trip. Maybe after I get back. I thought UW would be best because they have the J. Willis Sayre collection:

http://content.lib.washington.edu/sayreweb/index.html