Florence Lawrence: Hollywood’s First Movie Herione
Florence Lawrence is not to be misunderstood as the first movie star, generally speaking. That was Max Linder. Florence was, however, the first female movie star, which is what really makes her quite special to show biz history fans like me. As I like to call her, she was the screen's First Lady.
Born Florence Annie Bridgwood on January 2, 1886, in Hamilton, Ontario, she was the youngest of three children. Her father was a carriage-builder, and her mother was Lotta Lawrence, a vaudeville actress. Through the connection with her mother, she developed acting syndrome early and debuted on stage at the age of three. Not only was her mother an actress, but she was also the manager of the Lawrence Dramatic Company, an uncommon position for a woman back then. Looks like Florence inherited some legendary genes! Her first professional job was to memorize dialogues and perform songs and dances with her mother and other members of the company, and before you already knew it, she was becoming a baby sensation. At the age of six, she earned the nickname, "Baby Flo, the Child Wonder."
Lamentably, Flo's father died from an accidental coal gas posing when she was 12 years old. As a result, Lotta moved to Buffalo, New York to be with her mother (Florence's grandmother). For a few years, Flo and her family took a hiatus from acting, but they eventually began to tour again with the Lawrence Dramatic Company before it disbanded in 1906. Within a year later, Florence sought work in motion pictures. She made her debut in the 1907 short Daniel Boone for the Edison Manufacturing Company. Apparently, the reason behind her getting hired for the part was because she was the only girl who knew how to ride a horse.
Flo bounced around to and fro for various film companies, but it was the Biograph Company that she would become renowned for being associated with. Given time after making numerous films, the public began to question who this bequeathing beauty was. (Pictures were so young at the time that actors weren't credited for their appearances/performances.) Due to the studio's fear of paying their players higher wages, they reluctantly refused to announce her name to the public, so she was billed as "The Biograph Girl." Ultimately, the public's demands overthrew the studio's greedy rules, and her true identity was released. From that day forward, actors earned the proper recognition and salaries they deserved. But still, the Biograph company continued to treat her defectively, so she gave into the lures of Carl Laemmle, head of the IMP company, and began to work for them instead. And that's where it all began...After she signed with IMP, Laemmle began to promote her tirelessly and organized various publicity stunts to see how famous she could possibly get. On the surface, it may sound like he was just trying to promote her career, but deep down, it was all for the benefit of how much money and fame he could attain for his own business. There was also a bit of experimenting with how to control the public by observing their reactions involved.
The first publicity stunt he concocted was to spread a rumor in the papers that Florence had died in an automobile accident. After the public reacted mournfully, it was later announced in an ad that Florence was still alive during the first publicity tour in film history. When Flo emerged from a streetcar and fans saw that she wasn't dead after all, they went hysterical. It was then that studio executives began to realize how much power they now had, and it brought forth the birth of the "star system."
In 1912, she formed the Victor Film Company with Laemmle and her then-husband, Harry Solter. Florence and her husband established their own film studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where they made some films with Lawrence and Owen Moore. Relational problems began to ensue between the couple, however, and they separated for a while. While Harry spent some time in Europe, Flo went on a hiatus from acting. After writing to each other every day, they reunited and Flo expressed her desire to retire. The two remained together until Harry's death in 1920. She returned to IMP in 1916, which was now Universal, and completed Elusive Isabel. Following her husband's death, Flo tried to make a comeback but the success was zilch compared to what she had in her heyday. All films she appeared in post-1924 were bit, uncredited parts.
Something interesting about Florence was that she took on her hobby of inventing although, she never patented any of her inventions. She had a passion for cars and is credited for designing the "auto signaling arm" -- a predecessor of the modern turn signal as well as the break signal.
Sadly but unsurprisingly, Flo's personal life was plagued with tragedy like a majority of Hollywood celebrities. She had suffered some serious traumatic health issues during a stage fire in 1915. A year later after trying to return to work, she suffered a relapse and became paralyzed for four months. Since the studios refused to help pay her medical expenses, she felt deeply distressed. After all her contributions they double-cross her -- yep, that's Hollywood. In her later years, she experienced the pain of losing her mother, with whom she was very close, and the economic downfalls of the Depression. She was able to earn some money through bit parts, but they barely paid the bills.
In 1936, MGM began to offer 75-dollar-per-week salaries to former actors of the silent era who struggled to make good. Flo signed with them and remained working for the studio until her death. Around mid-1937, she was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, an incurable disease. Although her health was deteriorating, she was persistent in continuing to work, but the pain she was feeling began to overtake her. At 1pm on December 28, 1937, she ingested ant poison and died shortly after. She left a suicide note for her partner, Bob Brinlow, that read:
Dear Bob,
Call Dr. Wilson. I am tired. Hope this works. Goodbye, my darling. They can't cure me, so let it go at that. Lovingly, Florence -- P.S. You've all been swell guys. Everything is yours.
Her funeral was held on December 30, and she was buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Up until 1991, she was lying in an unmarked grave but British actor Roddy McDowall bought a memorial marker for her that read, "The Biograph Girl/First Movie Star."
All in all, I’m sure she had lived through some very happy, memorable times. I hate to cut everything down to just tragedy despite her story being very much so. Florence was a sensation who broke barriers. She practically invented (and I’m not only talking about the car signals) movie star hysteria. Her contributions are timeless. Let’s remember her for that. A true pioneer and legend.