Mabel Frenyear

Mabel Frenyear
A young white woman with voluminous wavy hair in an updo, wearing a dress with short fringed sleeves.
Frenyear, from a 1909 publication
BornAugust 25, 1880 (1880-08-25)
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
Diedunknown
Occupation(s)Actress, chorus girl
Spouses
Edward F. Dunn
​
​
(m. 1900; div. 1904)​
Thomas R. Finucane
​
​
(m. 1904; ann. 1904)​
  • Harry Young
    (m. 1940–?)

Mabel Frenyear was an American actress and chorus girl.

Early life and career

Mabel Frenyear was born on August 25, 1880, the daughter of Edward L. Frenyear and Eva Tollman.[1][unreliable source?]

She began her career in Broadway theatre, appearing in plays such as The Girl in the Barracks (1899),[2] The Stronger Sex (1908–1909), The Only Law (1909),[3][4][5] Where There's a Will (1910), You Can Never Tell (1915), The Importance of Being Earnest (1921),[6] and Montmartre (1922).[7] She also appeared in productions of The Wizard of Oz,[8] Babes in Toyland, Father and the Boys (1910),[9] The 'Mind-the-Paint' Girl (1912),[10][11] Nothing But the Truth (1916),[12] and Kissing Time (1921).[13]

Frenyear took chorus roles to prepare for her role as a chorus girl in The Only Law.[14] A Minnesota reviewer in 1921 noted that Frenyear was "really pretty and plays her part with spirit."[15] Her stage work was not always so admired; "If Miss Frenyear would not shriek her lines unintelligibly," commented one reviewer in 1915, "the worst defect of the production would be removed."[16]

In addition to being a stage actress, Frenyear appeared in three silent films; A Fool There Was (1915), a Theda Bara vehicle,[17] Tit for Tat (1915), a comedy,[18] and Social Quicksands (1918),[19] written by Katharine Kavanaugh. On her first trip to make films in Los Angeles in 1914, she made headlines for criticizing local women's fashion. "Southern California is a wonderland to me, but the women in Los Angeles; oh, they dress so terribly," she declared.[20]

Personal life

Frenyear married three times. On February 17, 1900, she married Edward F. Dunn.[21] She only lived with Dunn for eight weeks, when he sold all her jewelry and gambled the proceeds; they divorced in 1904.[8] On December 22, 1904, she married Thomas R. Finucane in Chicago, Illinois.[22][unreliable source?] Their marriage was almost immediately annulled because both parties admitted they were "married while intoxicated".[11] In 1911, she was rumored to have married her co-star, Ralph Kellard, but both "laughed at the mere idea".[23] And on April 27, 1940, she married her third husband, Harry Young, in Chicago. Her date of death is unknown.

References

  1. ^ "Register". Ancestry.com. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  2. ^ The Play: Published Weekly in the Interests of the Theatre and Amusement-going Public. 1900.
  3. ^ White, NY (1909). "Miss Mabel Frenyear in "The Only Law"". The American Vaudeville Archive — Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  4. ^ Pollock, Channing (October 1909). "Unmuzzling the Theatrical Season". The Green Book Magazine. 2: 777–778. ISBN 9781476604848.
  5. ^ Nathan, George Jean (December 1909). "Players and the Plays". The Burr McIntosh Monthly. 21.
  6. ^ Mantle, Burns; Chapman, John Arthur; Sherwood, Garrison P.; Kronenberger, Louis (1921). Burns Mantle Yearbook. Dodd, Mead. pp. 422.
  7. ^ Kinder, Larry Sean (January 29, 2016). Una Merkel: The Actress with Sassy Wit and Southern Charm. BearManor Media. p. 360.
  8. ^ a b "Mabel Frenyear Dunn is Granted a Divorce". The Topeka Daily Capital. July 23, 1904. p. 2. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Miss Frenyear Makes a Hit in 'Father and the Boys'". The Buffalo Times. November 18, 1910. p. 3. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "The New Plays". The Theatre Magazine. 16: 98. October 1912.
  11. ^ a b "Admits Wine Made Wedding". Chicago Tribune. via Newspapers.com. January 4, 1909. p. 9. Retrieved May 4, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ "Mable Frenyear in 'Truth'". Variety. 43: 1. June 2, 1916.
  13. ^ "Kissing Time". Altoona Tribune. November 24, 1921. p. 10. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Studied Chorus Girls". The Washington Post. October 3, 1909. p. 2. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Lenart, Elta (October 17, 1921). "Amusements". Star Tribune. p. 6. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Plays and Players". Brooklyn Life. 51: 16. April 17, 1915.
  17. ^ Klepper, Robert K. (September 16, 2015). Silent Films, 1877–1996: A Critical Guide to 646 Movies. McFarland. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-4766-0484-8.
  18. ^ "Pastime Airdome". Abilene Daily Chronicle. July 2, 1915. p. 1. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Amusements". Wairarapa Age. November 10, 1919. p. 3. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via Papers Past.
  20. ^ "Women of Los Angeles Are Out of Style; Criticism Made by Actress Mabel Frenyear". Los Angeles Evening Express. May 25, 1914. p. 11. Retrieved May 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Ancestry – Sign Up". www.ancestry.com.
  22. ^ "Register". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  23. ^ "Are Not Married". Syracuse Herald. August 2, 1911. p. 3 – via NewspaperArchive.com.

External links

  • Mabel Frenyear at IMDb
  • Mabel Frenyear at the Internet Broadway Database
  • Mabel Frenyear at Playbill Vault
  • Three photographs of Mabel Frenyear, in the Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File at the New York Public Library Digital Collections.
  • A Fool There Was (1915), silent film featuring Mabel Frenyear, on Internet Archive.
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