Talk:Dorothy Davenport

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Adelaideowens16. Peer reviewers: Evanpearl, Nicolelswords.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 19:45, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Bibliogprahy

Does anybody have advice/comments on these bibliography sources?

Anderson, Mark Lynn. "Dorothy Davenport Reid." In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. Center for Digital Research and Scholarship. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013. Web. September 27, 2013. <https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-dorothy-davenport-reid/>

A Pair Of Stellar Attractions. (1915). The Movie Magazine: A National Motion Picture Magazine, 1-2, 83-85. doi:Jun 9, 2015

Mahar, K. W. (2008). Women filmmakers in early Hollywood. Baltimore: Md. (p.148-153)

McMahan, A. (2000). FIRST LADIES: EARLY WOMEN FILMMAKERS, 1915—1925. Cinéaste, 26(1), 58-59. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41689323

Motion picture news: DOROTHY DAVENPORT. (1911, Oct 07). The Billboard (Archive: 1894-1960), 23, 15. Retrieved from https://login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/docview/1031435600?accountid=10747fil — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adelaideowens16 (talk • contribs) 00:11, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

Work on the Article

Do you all have any comments or suggestions about this draft I've made?

Lead Section work:

Fannie Dorothy Davenport, Dorothy Davenport (March 13, 1895 – October 12, 1977) was an American actress, screenwriter, film director and producer. Davenport was heir to the long theatrical tradition of her family. Her father Harry Davenport was a comedian and her mother Alice Davenport was a well known actress.[1] She began working in the fledgling film industry, and subsequently moved to California to work at Nestor Film Company. Davenport was a Hollywood star at age 17. While working at Nestor, Davenport met her future husband, actor Wallace Reid whom she married in 1913.[2]

After the birth of her son in 1917, Davenport's began to act less; however, she again gained notoriety when her husband Wallace Reid's career took off and he came under the spotlight as reports that he was a severely ill drug addict began to surface. Davenport became the source of information about his condition, and after his death in January 1923 she co-produced Human Wreckage(1923). The film dealt with the dangers of narcotics addiction, and Davenport played the role of a drug addict's wife. Billed as "Mrs. Wallace Reid", she followed its success with other social-conscience films such as Broken Laws (1924) and The Red Kimono (1925) .[2] After the release of The Red Kimono, Gabrielle Darley sued Davenport for 50,00 for using her name and life story without approval.[3]

As her on-screen roles continued to diminish, she transitioned to directing, producing and screenwriting. Davenport's successful transition is often attributed to her range of positions in life, including mother, widow, Hollywood producer and social activist. [2]

While Davenport's company dissolved in the late 1920s, she continued to take on traditional writing and directing roles. In 1929 Davenport directed Linda a film about a woman who gives up her happiness for the sake of men and social expectations. Davenport directed her last film in 1934; however, she continued in the film industry in other roles until her last known credit in 1956 as dialogue supervisor of The First Traveling Saleslady.[4]

Davenport died in October of 1977 at the age of 82.

Work On Early Career:

Davenport's family was well known in the theater. Her father, Harry Davenport, was a Broadway star and comedian, and her mother, Alice Davenport was a film actress who appeared in at least 140 films.[5] Dorothy's grandparents were 19th-century character actors, Edward Loomis Davenport, a successful tragedian stage actor and Fanny Vining Davenport, who began acting at the age of three.[6] Their daughter and Dorothy's aunt, Fanny Davenport, was considered one of the great stage actresses of the time.

Davenport's first professional role was in a stock company at the age of just six. At age fourteen, Davenport continued in the entertainment industry, doing a type of burlesque.[7]

At the age of just 16, she moved from Boston to Southern California to pursue acting. At the time that she began her career she was one of the first in the fledgling film industry. She began her career in what is now known as Hollywood with the Nestor Film Company, later acquired by Universal Pictures. Her first known film appearance was in Life Cycle in which she was cast as the supporting actress.[7] By the time she was just 17 she was a star in the company, one of the outstanding members. She was a horsewoman of distinction, and did many of her own stunts in films.[8]

While with Nestor, Davenport met a young actor named Wallace Reid on the set of a film. Both were prominent within Nestor during the early years of the company and although Wallace Reid had left to pursue another film for six months, he promptly returned to Nestor and the pair married. They continued to work together as he directed and starred with her in two films per week for the next year.[9] After this year, the pair left universal to work on other films but returned in 1916. After the birth of her son Wallace Reid Jr. in 1917, Davenport took a break from acting to focus on being a mother.

Adding Section: Personal Life:

Dorothy Davenport was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1885. Davenport attended school in Brooklyn and in Roanoke Virginia. By six years old Davenport had her first professional role. As a young girl she loved riding horses and playing outside After performing vaudeville for a year and a half, Davenport moved to Southern California at the age of 16.[7]

She married fellow Nestor company actor Wallace Reid in October of 1913. "Called on to act with him in a film, she was frustrated by his apparent lack of acting ability on the first day, but was smitten with him on the third day of their work together."[9] The pair seemed to share a picturesque life as successful actors in the budding Hollywood. They worked on over a hundred films together the first year that they were married, and continued gaining notoriety.

On June 18, 1917 Davenport gave birth to her first son, Wallace Reid Jr, in Los Angeles California.[10] The birth of her son prompted Davenport to take a step back from her career, and become a full time mother. In 1919 Davenport gave birth to the couple's second child, daughter Betty Anna Reid.[11]

While filming on location in Oregon for The Valley of the Giants (1919), Davenport's husband, Wallace Reid was injured in a train wreck. As a remedy for the pain from this injury, studio doctors administered large doses of morphine to Reid to which he became addicted. Reid's health slowly grew worse over the next few years, and as the couple were prominent in the film industry, their personal lives also became a subject of the public's interest. Reid specifically was a target of speculation, when it was reported that he was put into a sanitarium for his drug addiction. Davenport became a sort of liaison between the media and her husband, reporting on his condition. Wallace Reid succumbed to his addiction on January 18th of 1923, prompting the beginning of her later career in the film industry, focused on social commentary films.

After the release of her film The Red Kimono in 1925, Davenport was sued by Gabrielle Darley for using her name and story. After this lawsuit Davenport's directing career began to collapse, as she was bankrupted by the settlement.[12]

Adding Section: Cinema:

Human Wreckage

Davenport's 1923 lost silent film Human Wreckage was the first film after the death of her husband earlier that year. Davenport and Thomas Ince directed the film in which Davenport stars as the wife of a drug addict.

"Ethel McFarland (Davenport) presents her attorney husband, Alan (Kirkwood), with the case of a dope addict named Jimmy Brown (Hackathorne). With the help of Alan's impassioned defense, Jimmy gets acquitted.

Alan feels the pressures of his job and is introduced to a doctor at his club. When he becomes addicted, he is blackmailed by his peddlers to represent their friends in court. Jimmy, now off the smack and a taxi driver, hears of these goings-on. When he discovers that his passenger is the leader of the dope ring, he resolves to aid the war on narcotics by crashing the vehicle head-on into an oncoming train, killing them both. Alan gets treated for his addiction and begins to fight the pushers in court, all the while pushing for stronger laws against addictive substances.

At the film's close, the film's producer, Dorothy Davenport, who plays Ethel, and who was Wallace Reid's wife, addresses the audience directly, imploring them to support her in her crusade to wipe out the menace of narcotics."[13]

This film is the first of her "social conscience" that followed the death of her husband.

The Red Kimono

Both written and directed by Davenport, the 1925 silent film starred Priscilla Bonner as a prostitute in New Orleans. (add more about the actual film). After the release of the film, Gabrielle Melvin sued Davenport, claiming that she had not given Davenport permission to use the details of her life in the film. She claimed that the film exposed her and left her subject to humiliation.[14]

Broken Laws

Davenport produced and starred in this 1924 silent film about the relationship between a mother and her son.

"Joan Allen (Davenport) is a loving mother who can't help indulging her son Bobby, spoiling him to the point where he is an irresponsible "jazz-mad" teenager on trial for vehicular manslaughter. She wakes up with a start at the end of the trial, with new resolve to provide the right amount of parental discipline."[15] Adelaideowens16 (talk) 17:51, 25 March 2018 (UTC) Adelaide

Peer Review by Evan

ALL THINGS IN BOLD I CHANGED

Lead Section work:

Fannie Dorothy Davenport, Dorothy Davenport (March 13, 1895 – October 12, 1977) was an American actress, screenwriter, film director and producer. Davenport grew up around theatrical people in her family. Her father Harry Davenport was a comedian and her mother Alice Davenport was a well-known actress.[1] She began working in the fledgling film industry, and subsequently moved to California to work at Nestor Film Company. Davenport was a Hollywood star at age 17. While working at Nestor, Davenport met her future husband, actor Wallace Reid, whom she married in 1913.[2]

After the birth of her son in 1917, the Davenport's began to act less; however, she again gained notoriety when her husband Wallace Reid's career took off. However, he soon came under the spotlight in a negative light as reports that he was a severely ill drug addict began to surface. She became the source of information about his condition, and after his death in January 1923 she co-produced Human Wreckage(1923). The film dealt with the dangers of narcotics addiction, and Davenport played the role of a drug addict's wife. Billed as "Mrs. Wallace Reid," she followed its success with other socially-conscience films, such as Broken Laws (1924) and The Red Kimono (1925).[2] After the release of The Red Kimono, Gabrielle Darley sued Davenport for 50,00 for using her name and life story without approval.[3]

As her on-screen roles continued to diminish, she transitioned to directing, producing and screenwriting. Davenport's successful transition is often attributed to her range of positions in life, including mother, widow, Hollywood producer and social activist. [2]

While Davenport's company dissolved in the late 1920s, she continued to take on traditional writing and directing roles. In 1929 Davenport directed Linda a film about a woman who gives up her happiness for the sake of men and social expectations. Davenport directed her last film in 1934; however, she continued in the film industry in other roles until her last known credit in 1956 as dialogue supervisor of The First Traveling Saleslady.[4]

Davenport died in October of 1977 at the age of 82.

Work On Early Career:

Davenport's family was well-known in the theater. Her father, Harry Davenport, was a Broadway star and comedian, and her mother, Alice Davenport was a film actress who appeared in at least 140 films.[5] Dorothy's grandparents were 19th-century character actors, Edward Loomis Davenport, a successful tragedian stage actor and Fanny Vining Davenport, who began acting at the age of three.[6] Their daughter and Dorothy's aunt, Fanny Davenport, was considered one of the great stage actresses of the time.

Davenport's first professional role was in a stock company at the age of just six. At age fourteen, Davenport continued in the entertainment industry, doing a type of burlesque.[7]

At the age of just 16, she moved from Boston to Southern California to pursue acting. At the time that she began her career, she was one of the first in the fledgling film industry. She began her career in what is now known as Hollywood with the Nestor Film Company, later acquired by Universal Pictures. Her first known film appearance was in Life Cycle in which she was cast as the supporting actress.[7] By the time she was just 17, she was a star in the company, one of the outstanding members. She was a horsewoman of distinction, and did many of her own stunts in films.[8]

While with Nestor, Davenport met a young actor named Wallace Reid on the set of a film. Both were prominent within Nestor during the early years of the company and although Wallace Reid had left to pursue another film for six months, he promptly returned to Nestor and the pair married. They continued to work together as he directed and starred with her in two films per week for the next year.[9] After this year, the pair left universal to work on other films, but returned in 1916. After the birth of her son Wallace Reid Jr. in 1917, Davenport took a break from acting to focus on being a mother.

Adding Section: Personal Life:

Dorothy Davenport was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1885. Davenport attended school in Brooklyn and in Roanoke, Virginia. By six years old Davenport had her first professional role what do you mean by professional role?. As a young girl she loved riding horses and playing outside. After performing vaudeville for a year and a half, Davenport moved to Southern California at the age of 16.[7]

Years later, she married fellow Nestor company actor Wallace Reid in October of 1913. "Called on to act with him in a film, she was frustrated by his apparent lack of acting ability on the first day, but was smitten with him on the third day of their work together."[9] The pair seemed to share a picturesque life as successful actors in the budding Hollywood this sentence sounds opinionated, take out opinions. They worked on over one hundred films together the first year that they were married, and continued gaining notoriety.

On June 18, 1917 Davenport gave birth to her first son, Wallace Reid Jr., in Los Angeles California.[10] The birth of her son prompted Davenport to take a step back from her career, and become a full-time mother. In 1919 Davenport gave birth to the couple's second child, daughter Betty Anna Reid.[11]

While filming on location in Oregon for The Valley of the Giants (1919,) Davenport's husband, Wallace Reid, was injured in a train wreck. As a remedy for the pain from this injury, studio doctors administered large doses of morphine to Reid, with which he became addicted. Reid's health slowly grew worse over the next few years, and as the couple became prominent in the film industry, their personal lives also became a subject of the public's interest. Reid specifically was a target of speculation, when it was reported that he was put into a sanitarium for his drug addiction. Davenport became a sort of liaison between the media and her husband, reporting on his condition. Wallace Reid succumbed to his addiction on January 18th of 1923, prompting the beginning of her later career in the film industry, focused on social commentary films.

After the release of her film The Red Kimono in 1925, Davenport was sued by Gabrielle Darley for using her name and story. After this lawsuit, Davenport's directing career began to collapse, since she was bankrupted by the settlement.[12]

Adding Section: Cinema:

Human Wreckage

Davenport's 1923 lost silent film Human Wreckage was the first film after the death of her husband earlier that year. Davenport and Thomas Ince directed the film in which Davenport stars as the wife of a drug addict.

"Ethel McFarland (Davenport) presents her attorney husband, Alan (Kirkwood), with the case of a dope addict named Jimmy Brown (Hackathorne). With the help of Alan's impassioned defense, Jimmy gets acquitted.

Alan feels the pressures of his job and is introduced to a doctor at his club. When he becomes addicted, he is blackmailed by his peddlers to represent their friends in court. Jimmy, now off the smack (maybe use different words than off the smack, casual sounding and a taxi driver, hears of these goings-on. When he discovers that his passenger is the leader of the dope ring, he resolves to aid the war on narcotics by crashing the vehicle head-on into an oncoming train, killing them both. Alan gets treated for his addiction and begins to fight the pushers in court, all the while pushing for stronger laws against addictive substances.

At the film's close, Dorothy Davenport, the film's producer who also plays Ethel, addresses the audience directly, imploring them to support her in her crusade to wipe out the menace of narcotics."[13]

This film is the first of her "social conscience" that followed the death of her husband.

The Red Kimono

Both written and directed by Davenport, the 1925 silent film starred Priscilla Bonner as a prostitute in New Orleans. (add more about the actual film). After the release of the film, Gabrielle Melvin sued Davenport, claiming that she had not given Davenport permission to use the details of her life in the film. She claimed that the film exposed her and left her subject to humiliation.[14] (maybe add more details here about this law-suit, since this sounds almost the same as the overview section)

Broken Laws

Davenport produced and starred in the film Broken Laws in 1924, which is a silent film about the relationship between a mother and her son.

"Joan Allen (Davenport) is a loving mother who can't help indulging her son Bobby, spoiling him to the point where he is an irresponsible "jazz-mad" teenager on trial for vehicular manslaughter. She wakes up with a start at the end of the trial, with new resolve to provide the right amount of parental discipline."[15] Adelaideowens16 (talk) 17:51, 25 March 2018 (UTC) Adelaide — Preceding unsigned comment added by Evanpearl (talk • contribs)