Flora Finch: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.5
 
(34 intermediate revisions by 16 users not shown)
Line 5: Line 5:
| name = Flora Finch
| name = Flora Finch
| image = Flora Finch.jpg
| image = Flora Finch.jpg
| image_size = 190px
| image_size = 180px
| caption = Portrait on [[postcard]], c. 1916
| caption = Portrait on [[postcard]], c. 1916
| birthname =
| birthname =
Line 20: Line 20:
}}
}}


'''Flora Finch''' (17 June 1867 – 4 January 1940) was an English-born [[vaudevillian]], stage and film actress who starred in over 300 [[silent film]]s, including over 200 for the [[Vitagraph Studios]] film company.
'''Flora Finch''' (17 June 1867 – 4 January 1940) was an English-born [[vaudevillian]], stage and film actress who starred in over 300 [[silent film]]s, including over 200 for the [[Vitagraph Studios]] film company. The vast majority of her films from the silent era are currently classified as [[Lost film|lost]].


==Life and career==
==Early life and career==
⚫
[[File:Aurora Theater (Lawrence, Kansas) advertising a John Bunny picture.jpg|thumb|left|Aurora Theater (Lawrence, Kansas) advertising a Vitagraph picture with John Bunny and Flora Finch]]
Finch was born into a [[music hall]] and travelling theatrical family in London and was taken to the United States as a young child. She kept up the family tradition and worked in theatre and the [[vaudeville]] circuit right up until her 30s.
Finch was born into a [[music hall]] and travelling theatrical family in London and was taken to the United States as a young child. She kept up the family tradition and worked in theatre and the [[vaudeville]] circuit right up until her 30s.


She had her first film roles at the [[American Mutoscope and Biograph Company]] starting in 1908. There she worked with [[Fatty Arbuckle]], [[Mack Sennett]] (with whom she was romantically involved for a short time) and [[Charlie Chaplin]] amongst others.<ref>{{cite news |title=First 'Ugly Ducking' of Silent Films, Flora Finch, Dies of Blood Poisoning |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/106161046/?terms=Flora+Finch |work=The Indianapolis Star |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=5 January 1940 |page=11}}</ref>
She had her first film roles at the [[American Mutoscope and Biograph Company]] starting in 1908. There she worked with [[Fatty Arbuckle]], [[Mack Sennett]] (with whom she was reportedly involved romantically for a short time), [[Charlie Chaplin]], and other leading performers and producers of the silent era.<ref>{{cite news |title=First 'Ugly Ducking' of Silent Films, Flora Finch, Dies of Blood Poisoning |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/106161046/?terms=Flora+Finch |work=The Indianapolis Star |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=5 January 1940 |page=11}}</ref>


==Work with John Bunny and later career==
[[File:Bessie Love and a costar in The Great Adventure (1918).jpg|thumb|With [[Bessie Love]] in ''[[The Great Adventure (1918 film)|The Great Adventure]]'' (1918)]]
⚫
Starting in 1910 at [[Vitagraph Studios|Vitagraph]], she was paired with [[John Bunny]] for the first of 160 very popular [[Short subject|shorts]] made between 1910 and 1915. These shorts, known as "Bunnygraphs", "Bunnyfinches", and "Bunnyfinchgraphs", established Finch and Bunny as the first popular comedy team in films.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Flora Finch of Silent Movies Dies in Los Angeles Hospital |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/97652948/?terms=Flora+Finch |work=Detroit Free Press |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=5 January 1940 |page=5}}</ref> The duo became a short-lived trio, when [[Mabel Normand]] arrived at the studio.


⚫
[[File:Aurora Theater (Lawrence, Kansas) advertising a John Bunny picture.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Aurora Theater (Lawrence, Kansas) advertising film with Bunny and Finch, 1912]]
⚫
After Bunny's death in 1915 she continued to make comedy shorts, but with less success. She started her own production company in 1916,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch Has Own Company |work=The Moving Picture World |date=23 December 1916 |page=1792 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor30newy#page/n1955}}</ref><ref name=obit2>{{cite news |title=Floria Finch Dies: Age Interred With Bones |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/178702071/?terms=Flora+Finch |work=The Minneapolis Star |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=5 January 1940 |page=22}}</ref> and released a film with the company the following year,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch's First Fun Film |work=The Moving Picture World |date=28 April 1917 |page=629 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor32newy#page/628}}</ref> but was never able to regain her popularity. One of her best-known roles in the later silent years was Aunt Susan in Paul Leni's ''[[The Cat and the Canary (1927 film)|The Cat and the Canary]]'' (1927).{{sfn|Klepper|2005|p=399}}
⚫
[[File:Flora Finch in Postal Inspector.jpg|thumb|In ''Postal Inspector'' (1936)]]
⚫
She found film work in the [[Sound film|sound era]], but only in small supporting parts. ''[[The Scarlet Letter (1934 film)|The Scarlet Letter]]'' (1934) gave her one of her more substantial roles in sound films, and she had a cameo in one of [[Laurel and Hardy]]'s best-known films ''[[Way Out West (1937 film)|Way Out West]]'' (1937). Her last film was ''[[The Women (1939 film)|The Women]]'' (1939).


⚫
Starting in 1910 at [[Vitagraph Studios|Vitagraph]], she was paired with [[John Bunny]] for the first of 160 very popular [[Short subject|shorts]] produced between 1910 and 1915. Those shorts, known as "Bunnygraphs", "Bunnyfinches", and "Bunnyfinchgraphs", established Finch and Bunny as the first popular comedy team in films.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Flora Finch of Silent Movies Dies in Los Angeles Hospital |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/97652948/?terms=Flora+Finch |work=Detroit Free Press |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=5 January 1940 |page=5}}</ref> The duo became a short-lived trio when [[Mabel Normand]] arrived at the studio.
Most of her films are now [[Lost film|lost]].


⚫
After Bunny's death in 1915, Finch continued to make comedy shorts, but with less success. She started her own production company in 1916,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch Has Own Company |magazine=The Moving Picture World |date=23 December 1916 |page=1792 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor30newy#page/n1955}}</ref><ref name=obit2>{{cite news |title=Floria Finch Dies: Age Interred With Bones |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/178702071/?terms=Flora+Finch |work=The Minneapolis Star |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=5 January 1940 |page=22}}</ref> and released a film with the company the following year,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch's First Fun Film |magazine=The Moving Picture World |date=28 April 1917 |page=629 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor32newy#page/628}}</ref> but was never able to regain her popularity. One of her best-known roles in the later silent years was Aunt Susan in Paul Leni's ''[[The Cat and the Canary (1927 film)|The Cat and the Canary]]'' (1927).{{sfn|Klepper|2005|p=399}}
⚫
Flora Finch died at the [[Good Samaritan Hospital (Los Angeles)|Good Samaritan Hospital]] in Los Angeles from [[blood poisoning]]. She was taken to the hospital after a [[streptococcus]] infection followed an accidental cut to her arm.<ref name=obit/> The infection spread beyond control and the actress lapsed into a coma from [[bronchial pneumonia]]. At the time of her death, she was working as a stock player at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] studios.<ref>{{cite news |title=Flora Finch, Star of Film Comedies |work=The New York Times |date=5 January 1940 |page=23}}</ref>

⚫
She found film work in the [[Sound film|sound era]], although predominantly in small supporting parts. ''[[The Scarlet Letter (1934 film)|The Scarlet Letter]]'' (1934) gave her one of her more substantial roles in sound films, and she had a [[Cameo appearance|cameo]] in one of [[Laurel and Hardy]]'s best-known features, ''[[Way Out West (1937 film)|Way Out West]]'' (1937). Her last film was ''[[The Women (1939 film)|The Women]]'' (1939).

==Death==
⚫
Finch died in 1940 at the [[Good Samaritan Hospital (Los Angeles)|Good Samaritan Hospital]] in Los Angeles from [[blood poisoning]]. She was taken to the hospital after a [[streptococcus]] infection followed an accidental cut to her arm.<ref name=obit/> The infection spread beyond control and the actress lapsed into a coma from [[bronchial pneumonia]]. At the time of her death, she was working as a stock player at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] studios.<ref>{{cite news |title=Flora Finch, Star of Film Comedies |work=The New York Times |date=5 January 1940 |page=23}}</ref>


==Partial filmography==
==Partial filmography==
⚫
Sourcing: [[American Film Institute]] catalogue:<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI Catalog - Flora Finch |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/51496 |website=American Film Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180223021733/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/51496 |archive-date=23 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
⚫
[[File:Flora Finch 1917.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Advertisement (1917)]]

⚫
Sourcing: [[American Film Institute]] catalogue:<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI Catalog - Flora Finch |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/51496 |website=American Film Institute |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180223021733/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/51496 |archivedate=23 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
⚫
[[File:Flora Finch 1917.jpg|thumb|170px|right|Advertisement, 1917]]

⚫
[[File:Flora Finch in Postal Inspector.jpg|thumb|170px|Finch in ''Postal Inspector'' (1936)]]


{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* ''[[The Helping Hand (film)|The Helping Hand]]'' (1908)
* ''[[The Helping Hand (1908 American film)|The Helping Hand]]'' (1908)
* ''[[Mrs. Jones Entertains]]'' (1909)
* ''[[Mrs. Jones Entertains]]'' (1909)
* ''[[Mr. Jones Has a Card Party]]'' (1909)
* ''[[Mr. Jones Has a Card Party]]'' (1909)
* ''[[Mr. Jones and the Lady Book Agent]]'' (1909)
* ''[[Those Awful Hats]]'' (1909)
* ''[[Those Awful Hats]]'' (1909)
* ''[[A Wreath in Time]]'' (1909)
* ''[[A Wreath in Time]]'' (1909)
* ''[[A Sound Sleeper]]'' (1909)
* ''[[His Wife's Mother (1909 film)|His Wife's Mother]]'' (1909)
* ''[[His Wife's Mother (1909 film)|His Wife's Mother]]'' (1909)
* ''[[All on Account of the Milk]]'' (1910)
* ''[[All on Account of the Milk]]'' (1910)
Line 61: Line 67:
* ''[[Monsieur Beaucaire (1924 film)|Monsieur Beaucaire]]'' (1924)
* ''[[Monsieur Beaucaire (1924 film)|Monsieur Beaucaire]]'' (1924)
* ''[[Roulette (1924 film)|Roulette]]'' (1924)
* ''[[Roulette (1924 film)|Roulette]]'' (1924)
* ''[[The Midnight Girl]]'' (1925)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch with Chadwick |work=The Moving Picture World |date=21 February 1925 |page=811 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor72janf#page/810}}</ref>
* ''[[The Midnight Girl]]'' (1925)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch with Chadwick |magazine=The Moving Picture World |date=21 February 1925 |page=811 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor72janf#page/810}}</ref>
* ''[[Men and Women (1925 film)|Men and Women]]'' (1925)
* ''[[Men and Women (1925 film)|Men and Women]]'' (1925)
* ''[[His Buddy's Wife]]'' (1925)
* ''[[His Buddy's Wife]]'' (1925)
* ''[[The Wrongdoers]]'' (1925)
* ''[[The Adventurous Sex]]'' (1925)
* ''[[The Adventurous Sex]]'' (1925)
* ''[[Lover's Island (film)|Lover's Island]]'' (1925)
* ''[[The Early Bird (1925 film)|The Early Bird]]'' (1925)
* ''[[The Early Bird (1925 film)|The Early Bird]]'' (1925)
* ''[[The Live Wire (1925 film)|The Live Wire]]'' (1925)
* ''[[The Live Wire (1925 film)|The Live Wire]]'' (1925)
Line 89: Line 97:


== Bibliography ==
== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book|last1=Klepper|first1=Robert K.|title=Silent films, 1877–1996 : a critical guide to 646 movies|date=2005|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0-7864-2164-0|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last1=Klepper|first1=Robert K.|title=Silent films, 1877–1996 : a critical guide to 646 movies|date=2005|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0-7864-2164-0}}


== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==
* {{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch, of the Vitagraph Company |work=Motion Picture Story Magazine |date=November 1913 |page=109 |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturesto06broo#page/644}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch, of the Vitagraph Company |magazine=Motion Picture Story Magazine |date=November 1913 |page=109 |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturesto06broo#page/644}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Film Frolics Pictures to Produce Six Two-Reel Comedies Yearly Starring Flora Finch |work=The Moving Picture World |date=7 August 1920 |page=719 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor45aug#page/n67}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Film Frolics Pictures to Produce Six Two-Reel Comedies Yearly Starring Flora Finch |magazine=The Moving Picture World |date=7 August 1920 |page=719 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor45aug#page/n67}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch 'No Extra' |work=The Moving Picture World |date=23 February 1924 |page=632 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor66feb#page/632}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch 'No Extra' |magazine=The Moving Picture World |date=23 February 1924 |page=632 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor66feb#page/632}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch |work=Variety |date=10 January 1940 |page=54 |url=https://archive.org/stream/variety137-1940-01#page/n217}}
* {{cite magazine |title=Flora Finch |magazine=Variety |date=10 January 1940 |page=54 |url=https://archive.org/stream/variety137-1940-01#page/n217}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
{{Commons category|Flora Finch}}
{{Commons category|Flora Finch}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0277411|name=Flora Finch}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0277411|name=Flora Finch}}
*[https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-flora-finch/ Flora Finch] at Women Film Pioneers Project
*[https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-flora-finch/ Flora Finch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821005649/https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-flora-finch/ |date=21 August 2019 }} at Women Film Pioneers Project
*[http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=6648 Literature on Flora Finch]
*[http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=6648 Literature on Flora Finch]
*{{Find a Grave|7110}}
*{{Find a Grave|7110}}
Line 116: Line 124:
[[Category:Vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:Vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:Deaths from streptococcus infection]]
[[Category:Deaths from streptococcus infection]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in California]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California]]
[[Category:19th-century British actresses]]
[[Category:19th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:British stage actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:British expatriate actresses in the United States]]
[[Category:English emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Women film pioneers]]
[[Category:Women film pioneers]]
[[Category:Deaths from bronchopneumonia]]
[[Category:19th-century English people]]

Latest revision as of 05:57, 16 April 2024

Flora Finch
Portrait on postcard, c. 1916
Born(1867-06-17)17 June 1867
London, England
Died4 January 1940(1940-01-04) (aged 72)
Los Angeles, California
OccupationActress
Years active1908–1939
SpouseHarold March (?–?)

Flora Finch (17 June 1867 – 4 January 1940) was an English-born vaudevillian, stage and film actress who starred in over 300 silent films, including over 200 for the Vitagraph Studios film company. The vast majority of her films from the silent era are currently classified as lost.

Early life and career[edit]

Finch was born into a music hall and travelling theatrical family in London and was taken to the United States as a young child. She kept up the family tradition and worked in theatre and the vaudeville circuit right up until her 30s.

She had her first film roles at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company starting in 1908. There she worked with Fatty Arbuckle, Mack Sennett (with whom she was reportedly involved romantically for a short time), Charlie Chaplin, and other leading performers and producers of the silent era.[1]

Work with John Bunny and later career[edit]

Aurora Theater (Lawrence, Kansas) advertising film with Bunny and Finch, 1912

Starting in 1910 at Vitagraph, she was paired with John Bunny for the first of 160 very popular shorts produced between 1910 and 1915. Those shorts, known as "Bunnygraphs", "Bunnyfinches", and "Bunnyfinchgraphs", established Finch and Bunny as the first popular comedy team in films.[2] The duo became a short-lived trio when Mabel Normand arrived at the studio.

After Bunny's death in 1915, Finch continued to make comedy shorts, but with less success. She started her own production company in 1916,[3][4] and released a film with the company the following year,[5] but was never able to regain her popularity. One of her best-known roles in the later silent years was Aunt Susan in Paul Leni's The Cat and the Canary (1927).[6]

She found film work in the sound era, although predominantly in small supporting parts. The Scarlet Letter (1934) gave her one of her more substantial roles in sound films, and she had a cameo in one of Laurel and Hardy's best-known features, Way Out West (1937). Her last film was The Women (1939).

Death[edit]

Finch died in 1940 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles from blood poisoning. She was taken to the hospital after a streptococcus infection followed an accidental cut to her arm.[2] The infection spread beyond control and the actress lapsed into a coma from bronchial pneumonia. At the time of her death, she was working as a stock player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.[7]

Partial filmography[edit]

Sourcing: American Film Institute catalogue:[8]

Advertisement, 1917
Finch in Postal Inspector (1936)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "First 'Ugly Ducking' of Silent Films, Flora Finch, Dies of Blood Poisoning". The Indianapolis Star. 5 January 1940. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d "Flora Finch of Silent Movies Dies in Los Angeles Hospital". Detroit Free Press. 5 January 1940. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Flora Finch Has Own Company". The Moving Picture World. 23 December 1916. p. 1792.
  4. ^ "Floria Finch Dies: Age Interred With Bones". The Minneapolis Star. 5 January 1940. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Flora Finch's First Fun Film". The Moving Picture World. 28 April 1917. p. 629.
  6. ^ a b Klepper 2005, p. 399.
  7. ^ "Flora Finch, Star of Film Comedies". The New York Times. 5 January 1940. p. 23.
  8. ^ "AFI Catalog - Flora Finch". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018.
  9. ^ Klepper 2005, p. 42.
  10. ^ Klepper 2005, p. 63.
  11. ^ Klepper 2005, pp. 213–214.
  12. ^ "Flora Finch with Chadwick". The Moving Picture World. 21 February 1925. p. 811.
  13. ^ Klepper 2005, p. 312.
  14. ^ Klepper 2005, p. 434.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Klepper, Robert K. (2005). Silent films, 1877–1996 : a critical guide to 646 movies. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2164-0.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flora Finch.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flora_Finch&oldid=1219178319"