MARGUERITE CLARK Blackface Silent Film Star UNCLE TOM'S CABIN - ORIGINAL PHOTO

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Marguerite Clark Pioneer Silent Film Staras Topsy (and Little Eva) in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1918) a lost silent Uncle Tom's Cabin, Directed by J. Searle Dawley, produced by Adolph Zukorand Jesse Lasky, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe (novel). Starring Marguerite Clark and Frank Losee. Distributed by Paramount Pictures. Release date July 15, 1918 Running time 5 reels. Uncle Tom's Cabin is a lost 1918 silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky. Marguerite Clark plays both Topsy and Little Eva, more than likely with double exposure scenes when the girls appear together on screen. This version of the story was filmed on location in Louisiana along the Mississippi River, near to where Marguerite Clark would retire after leaving films. Born to a farming family in Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, Clark was educated at a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cincinnati. She finished school at age 16, and decided to pursue a career in the theatre. After performing for only a short time, Clark made her Broadway debut in 1900. The 17-year-old went on to star at various venues. In 1903 she was seen on Broadway opposite that hulking comedian DeWolf Hopper in Mr. Pickwick. The 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) Hopper dwarfed the nearly 5-foot-tall Clark in their scenes together. In 1909 Clark starred in the whimsical costume play The Beauty Spot. In 1910 Clark appeared in The Wishing Ring, a play directed by Cecil DeMille and later made into a motion picture by Maurice Tourneur. That same 1910 season had Clark appearing in Baby Mine, a popular play produced by William A. Brady. In 1912 Clark performed in a starring role with John Barrymore, Doris Keane and Gail Kane in the play The Affairs of Anatol later made into a motion picture by Clark's future movie studio Famous Players-Lasky(Paramount) and directed by Cecil DeMille. Also in 1912 Clark starred in a memorable production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This role was a definition of Clark's persona, and she would make an influential film version of the story in 1916. Clark's popularity led to her signing a contract in 1914 to make motion pictures with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. Late starting film career Marguerite in 1916 At age 31, it was relatively late in life for a film actress to begin a career with starring roles, but the diminutive Clark had a little-girl look, like Mary Pickford, that belied her years. She made her first appearance on screen in the short film Wildflower, directed by Allan Dwan. In 1915 Clark starred as "Gretchen", in a feature-length production of The Goose Girl based on a 1909 best-selling novel by Harold MacGrath. She performed in the feature-length production The Seven Sisters (1915), directed by Sidney Olcott, and she reprised a Broadway role, starring in the first feature-length film version of Snow White (1916) . NOTE : This film is featured at the upcoming San Francisco Film Festival (2013). Clark made all but one of her 40 films with Famous Players-Lasky, her last with them in 1920 titled Easy to Get, in which she starred opposite silent film actor Harrison Ford. Clark's next film, in 1921, was made by her own production company for First National Pictures distribution. As one of the most popular actresses going into the 1920s, and one of the industry's best paid, her name alone was enough to ensure reasonable box office success. As such, Scrambled Wives was made under her direction, following which she retired at age 38 to be with her husband at their country estate in New Orleans. In 1918, Clark married New Orleans, Louisiana plantation owner and millionaire businessman Harry Palmerston Williams (1887–1936), a marriage which lasted until Harry's death on May 19, 1936 in an air crash. After his death, Clark was the owner of the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation, which had built and flown air racers, along with other aviation enterprises. She subsequently spent time in New York City, where she died from pneumonia in 1940 at the age of 57. She was buried with her husband in Metairie Cemetery in New Or... read more

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