Jump to content

Rosana Logan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rosana Logan
Born21 January 1905
New York, NY
DiedJune 1967
Dade, Florida

Rosana Logan (1905 – 1967), was a child actor in silent short films made by the Reliance Motion Picture Corporation, then known as the Reliance Stock Company.[1]

Early life

[edit]

She was born January 21, 1905, the daughter of Katharine W. De Forest (1888-1975), a writer for Harper's Bazaar, and John Logan (1875-unknown).[2] She had a brother, Thomas Joseph Logan, born in 1908, who died in 1976. It is unknown if her parents divorced or her father died. Her mother later married John M. Liesch, a WWI veteran and US Army sergeant, and both are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[3]

Film career

[edit]

Logan was occasionally known as "Baby Rosana," sometimes misspelled Rosanna (see misspelling section below).[4] She appeared in Solomon's Son (1912), Half a Chance (1913), The Wager (1913), Diversion (1913), The Dream Home (1913), His Fireman's Conscience (1914), and Under the Gaslight (1914).[5][6] In 1914 she was in the play "The Revolt," a melodrama in three acts by Edward Locke, touring the northeast; it was later made into a 1916 film.[7] She played the part of the dying child, Nannie Stevens in the stage play, but not the film. As a ten-year-old she was in the film The Lady of Dreams (1915).[6]

Personal life

[edit]

On June 27, 1929, she married Joel Gutman Cahn (1885-1950) in a ceremony at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Bayside, Queens.[2] He had previously married Constance Stern in 1910, and it is unknown when they divorced; she died in 1975.[8] Joel and Constance had one son, Chester, in 1914, and he and Rosana had a son, Robert, born in 1933. Joel and Rosana lived in Flushing, Queens. Joel Cahn was a stockbroker who died in 1950 at age 65 when he crashed his car into a tree in New York.[9] Rosana remarried in 1951 to John J. Kelly.[10] She died in June, 1967, in Dade, Florida.[11] Rosana and her mother Katharine showed chihuahuas bred by Mathilde M. Shaw of Flushing, New York, "Rosana's Bonita," and "Liesch's Ginger" (both 1950).[12][13]

Mispelling and age change

[edit]

Her first name is often mis-spelled Rosanna (in IMDB, Ancestry, and some film reference books and movie magazines), but it was consistently spelled Rosana in her publicity photos, in the New York Times announcement of her first marriage, and on official documents.

Additionally, her stated age fluctuated. Some sources give her birth date as 1907 rather than 1905, and either she or her parents may have lowered her age by two or more years for the demands of the film industry.[14] For example, in 1914 she is listed as being six, when she probably would have been closer to nine but was small for her age.[15] Yet another film magazine in 1913 lists her as four, when she would have been at least twice that.[16] I

Rosana Logan in 1912

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Our Roving Commissioner" (6 January 1912). "A Visit to the Studio of the Reliance Film Company". The Moving Picture News. V (I): 23 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b "Marriages". The New York Times. 29 June 1929. p. 17.
  3. ^ Burial detail, Liesch, John M., grave 1722; Liesch, Katherine L., grave 1723, Arlington National Cemetery.
  4. ^ "Players' Personalities: Facts of Interest About Players Whose Photographs Appear in this Number". The Photoplay Magazine. IV (1): 113. 1 February 1913 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ "Rosana Logan". The Photoplay Magazine. IV (I): 8. February 1913 – via The Internet Archive.
  6. ^ a b Braff, Richard E. (2002). The Braff Silent Short Film Working Papers: Over 25,000 Films, 1903-1929, Alphabetized and Indexed. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 197, 276, 543. ISBN 0786410310.
  7. ^ "The Dramatic Stage". The Billboard. 26 (40): 4. 3 October 1914 – via The Internet Archive.
  8. ^ New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018 for Joel Cahn.
  9. ^ "J. G. Cahn Dies in Crash: Retired Stock Broker Drives Car Into Tree on Parkway". The New York Times. 9 September 1950. p. 19.
  10. ^ New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018 for Rosana L Cahn.
  11. ^ Florida, U.S., Death Index, 1877-1998
  12. ^ "Chihuahuas, "Rosana's Bonita"". The American Kennel Club Stud Book Register. 67 (3): 383. 1 March 1950 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ "Chihuahuas, "Liesch's Ginger"". The American Kennel Club Stud Book Register. 67 (9): 323. 1 September 1950 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ "Rosana Cahn," female, married, b. January 21, 1907, New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, 21 February 1932. This was a trip to Havana, Cuba.
  15. ^ "Helen Ware Cast Secured". Variety. XXXV (13): 11. 28 August 1914 – via Internet Archive.
  16. ^ "Trouble in J. V. Ritchey's Camp". The Moving Picture News. VII (21): 8. 24 May 1913 – via The Internet Archive.