Mabel Normand

Infobox actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Mabel Normand


imagesize =
caption = Mabel Normand, 1918
birthname = Mabel Ethelreid Normand
birthdate = birth date|1892|11|09|mf=y
location = New Brighton, Staten Island, United States
deathdate = death date and age|1930|02|23|1892|11|09|mf=y
deathplace = Monrovia, California, United States
othername = Muriel Fortescue
Mabel Normand-Cody
spouse = Lew Cody (1926-1930)

Mabel Normand (November 9, 1892 - February 23, 1930) ["findagrave.com " [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1258 Mabel Normand] ", retrieved 29 December 2007] was an American film actress and the most popular screen comedienne of the silent film era. Her later career was marked by several successive scandals, including the murder of director William Desmond Taylor, whom she was with only minutes before he was shot and killed.

Early life and career

Born Mabel Ethelreid Normand in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York, she grew up in extreme poverty. Her father, Claude Normand, was sporadically employed as a carpenter at Sailors' Snug Harbor home for elderly seamen. Before she entered films at age 16 in 1909, Normand worked as an artist's model, which included posing for postcards illustrated by Charles Dana Gibson, creator of the Gibson Girl image. She met director Mack Sennett and embarked on a tumultuous affair with him. Her first films portrayed her as a bathing beauty, but Normand quickly demonstrated a flair for comedy and became a star of Sennett's short films. She appeared regularly with Charles Chaplin and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and wrote, directed, and starred in some of Chaplin's early films. She has been credited with being the first person to throw a cream pie on film -- at Arbuckle in "A Noise from the Deep" (1913) -- and is often cited as silent film's most prominent comedienne. She directed films and made full-length features before either Arbuckle or Chaplin.

In 1914 she starred with Chaplin and Marie Dressler in "Tillie's Punctured Romance". Normand developed into a major film star. As her relationship with Sennett came to an end, she signed a $3,500 a week contract (equivalent to over $53,000/week in 2007) with Samuel Goldwyn in 1918 and opened her own film studio in Culver City. During this time she reportedly became addicted to both alcohol and narcotics which damaged her health and career. Nonetheless, her breakup with Sennett seems to have caused Normand to re-evaluate her life and she embarked on a program of self-education, developing keen and lasting interests in reading and books.

candals

Director William Desmond Taylor shared her interest in books and the two formed a close friendship. He was murdered in 1922 only minutes after Normand had left his home. She was closely scrutinized by police but never considered a serious suspect. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Press Film Star For Taylor Clew; Police Conduct 'Long And Grueling' Examination, Working On Jealousy Motive. Mabel Normand Speaks Tells Reporters Affection For Slain Director Was Based On Comradeship, Not 'Love.' |url= |quote=A motion picture actress was subjected to what the police termed a "long and grueling" examination at her home here tonight in an attempt to obtain a clew to the murderer of William Desmond Taylor. |publisher=New York Times |date=February 7, 1922, Tuesday |accessdate=2007-07-21 ] Newspapers speculated wildly about Normand given reports of her drug use along with her many past appearances in films with Roscoe Arbuckle, who had also recently become enmeshed in scandal. In 1924 she was involved in yet another scandal when her chauffeur Joe Kelly (an ex-convict whose real name was Horace Greer) shot and wounded Normand's lover Courtland Dines with her pistol.

Later career and death

She continued making films and was signed by Hal Roach Studios in 1926 after discussions with director/producer F. Richard Jones, who had directed her at Keystone. At Roach she made the film "Raggedy Rose" plus four others which were released with publicity support from the Hollywood community (including her friend Mary Pickford).

In 1926 she married actor Lew Cody with whom she had appeared in "Mickey" in 1918. They lived separately in nearby houses in Beverly Hills before Cody moved in with her. However, Normand's health was in decline. After an extended stay in a sanitarium she died from tuberculosis in Monrovia, California at the age of 37. She was interred as Mabel Normand-Cody at Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles.

Mabel Normand has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to Motion Pictures, at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.

Humorous quote

"Say anything you like, but don't say I love to work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, the prissy bitch. [thinkexist.com, " [http://thinkexist.com/quotation/say_anything_you_like-but_don-t_say_that_i-like/340780.html Mabel Normand Quotes] ", retrieved 24 December 2007]

Cultural references

A nod to Normand's celebrity in early Hollywood came through the name of a leading character in the 1950 film "Sunset Boulevard", "Norma Desmond", which has been cited as a combination of the names Mabel Normand and William Desmond Taylor."Taylorology" (about William D. Taylor & era), (literateweb.com), September 2003, webpage: [http://www.literateweb.com/taylor/index.htm LitWeb-WDTaylor] .] [Staggs, Sam: "Close-up on Sunset Boulevard: Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond and the Dark Hollywood Dream". St. Martin's Griffin Books, 2002] The 1974 Broadway musical "Mack & Mabel" (Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman) depicted the romance between Normand and Mack Sennett. Normand was played by Bernadette Peters and Robert Preston played Mack Sennett. Stevie Nicks wrote a song called "Mabel Normand". It was never officially released but the demo was leaked and can be found on some Stevie Nicks fan sites. Normand is played by actress Morganne Picard in the motion picture "Return to Babylon" (2008), and by Marisa Tomei in the 1992 film "Chaplin".

Partial Filmography

*"Indiscretions of Betty" (1910)
*"Her Awakening" (1911; directed by D. W. Griffith)
*"Why He Gave Up" (1911)
*"The Water Nymph" (1912) with Mack Sennett
*"Mabel's Lovers" (1912) with Fred Mace and Ford Sterling
*"At Coney Island" (1912) with Mack Sennett, Fred Mace, and Ford Sterling
*"The Flirting Husband" (1912) with Ford Sterling
*"Mabel's Adventures" (1912)
*"The Bangville Police" (1913) with the Keystone Cops
*"A Noise from the Deep" (1913; Normand throws the first pie thrown on film) with Roscoe Arbuckle
*"A Little Hero" (1913) with Harold Lloyd
*"Mabel's Awful Mistakes" (1913) with Mack Sennett, Ford Sterling, and Edgar Kennedy
*"Passions, He Had Three" (1913) with Roscoe Arbuckle
*"For the Love of Mabel" (1913) with Roscoe Arbuckle and Ford Sterling
*"Mabel's New Hero" (1913) with Roscoe Arbuckle
*"Mabel's Dramatic Career" (1913) with Mack Sennett and Ford Sterling
*"In the Clutches of the Gang" (1914) with Roscoe Arbuckle and the Keystone Cops
*"Mack at It Again" (1914) with Mack Sennett
*"Mabel's Stormy Love Affair" (1914)
*"Mabel's Strange Predicament" (1914) with Charles Chaplin (first film shot with Chaplin as the Tramp, although the second released)
*"A Film Johnnie" (1914) with Charles Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle
*"Mabel at the Wheel" (1914; co-directed by Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett) with Charles Chaplin
*"Caught in a Cabaret" (1914; written and directed by Mabel Normand) with Charles Chaplin
*"Mabel's Nerve" (1914) with Mack Swain
*"The Fatal Mallet" (1914) with Charles Chaplin
*"Her Friend the Bandit" (1914; co-directed by Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin) with Charles Chaplin
*"Mabel's Busy Day" (1914; written and directed by Mabel Normand) with Charles Chaplin
*"Mabel's Married Life" (1914; co-written by Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand) with Charles Chaplin
*"Mabel's New Job" (1914; co-directed by Mabel Normand and George Nichols) with Chester Conklin, Charley Chase, and Al St. John
*"The Sky Pirate" (1914) with Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St. John
*"The Masquerader" (1914) with Charles Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle (Normand was uncredited)
*"Mabel's Latest Prank" (1914; co-directed by Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett) with Mack Sennett
*"Hello, Mabel" (1914; directed by Mabel Normand) with Charley Chase, Chester Conklin, and Al St. John
*"Gentlemen of Nerve" (1914) with Charles Chaplin
*"His Trysting Place" (1914) with Charles Chaplin
*"Tillie's Punctured Romance" (1914) with Marie Dressler and Charles Chaplin
*"Shotguns That Kick" (1914) with Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St. John
*"Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day" (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle
*"Mabel and Fatty's Simple Life" (1915; AKA "Fatty and Mabel's Simple Life") with Roscoe Arbuckle
*"Mabel and Fatty's Married Life" (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle
*"Getting Acquainted" (1914) with Charles Chaplin
*"That Little Band of Gold" (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle and Ford Sterling
*"Wished on Mabel" (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle
*"Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco" (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle
*"Mabel's Wilful Way" (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle, Al St. John, and Edgar Kennedy
*"Mabel Lost and Won" (1915) with Owen Moore
*"The Little Teacher" (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle, Mack Sennett, and Owen Moore
*"He Did and He Didn't" (1916) with Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St. John
*"Fatty and Mabel Adrift" (1916) with Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St. John
*"The Venus Model" (1918)
*"Mickey" (1918)
*"A Perfect 36" (1918)
*"Jinx" (1919)
*"Molly O" (1921)
*"Head Over Heels" (1922)
*"Oh, Mabel Behave" (1922)
*"Suzanna" (1923)
*"Raggedy Rose" (1926)
*"The Nickel-Hopper" (1926)
*"Should Men Walk Home?" (1927)
*"One Hour Married" (1927)

Further reading

*Jeanine Basinger (1999), chapter on Normand in "Silent Stars", (ISBN 0-8195-6451-6).
*Betty Harper Fussell (1982), "Mabel: Hollywood's First I-Don't-Care Girl", (ISBN 0-87910-158-X).
*William Thomas Sherman (2006), "Mabel Normand: A Source Book to Her Life and Films," (see http://www.angelfire.com/mn/hp/index.html )

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0635667|name=Mabel Normand
* [http://mabelnormand.com/ Madcap Mabel: Mabel Normand Website]
* [http://www.literateweb.com/taylor/index.htm Normand and the William Desmond Taylor murder]
* [http://www.freewebs.com/looking-for-mabel/index.htm Looking-for-Mabel]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/mn/hp/index.html Mabel Normand Home Page]
*

Persondata
NAME= Normand, Mabel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Normand, Mabel Ethelreid
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Silent film actress
DATE OF BIRTH= November 9, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH= New Brighton, Staten Island, United States
DATE OF DEATH= February 23, 1930
PLACE OF DEATH= Monrovia, California, United States