A woman of character hid behind Clara Kimball Young’s screen image of a serene beauty. In her youth, she led an unconventional love life and was involved in several lawsuits. In the second half of the 1910s, she rebelled against being simply an actress and expressed the desire to be in charge of artistic and business decisions as far as her career was concerned. She was one of the major female film stars of the 1910s. In the 1920s, her career went into decline, mostly due to changing tastes, financial mismanagement and unfortunate professional choices. At the end of the 1930s, she was reduced to bit roles and supporting parts. But, despite all this, Clara Kimball Young never emerged as a vain, pathetic, bitter or ever-complaining figure. She remained cheerful, optimistic, engaging and emotionally healthy.
French postcard issued by the Paris subsidiary of The Vitagraph Co., no. 34. Photo: Stacy / Vitagraph. French postcard. Caption: Artist of the Vitagraph Co.
British postcard. Early Vitagraph portrait. Photo: Stacy.
A theatrical family
Clara Kimball Young was born on the 6th of September 1890 in Illinois, U.S.A.
The 1890 U.S. Census lists her first name as
Clarisa.
Her parents,
Edward Kimball and
Pauline Garrett, were travelling stock actors. Later, they would occasionally appear in their daughter’s films.
Edward Kimball claimed descent from legendary British actress
Sara Siddons (née Kemble), but genealogy research doesn’t seem to confirm this.
At age three, Clara made her stage debut and played child parts for some time. Thereafter, she spent several years at St. Francis Xavier Academy in Chicago to get formal schooling.
She then came back on stage and, at one point, married actor
James Young.
American Octochrome postcard by Commercial Colortype Company, Chicago, no. M64. Photo: Vitagraph.
Clara Kimball Young in
My Official Wife (James Young, 1914).
One of Vitagraph’s most popular female stars
Clara Kimball Young and
James Young soon showed interest in working in films and signed with Vitagraph. Several sources refer to their movie debut as early as 1909, but 1912 is a more plausible year. In his 1952 autobiography,
Albert E. Smith, one of the owners of Vitagraph, wrote: "
Clara Kimball Young was a natural for films and, before long, she was making $1000 a week".
She reminisced in 1922: "I began to see the motion picture industry with new eyes, and it dawned upon me that this was not a profession to use as a stop-gap until something on the legitimate stage loomed up, but was a tremendously important profession in itself".
Clara quickly became one of Vitagraph’s most popular female stars and showed great versatility by appearing in comedies as well as dramas. She was featured in numerous shorts such as
Half a Hero (1912),
The Picture Idol (1912),
A Vitagraph Romance (1912),
Lord Browning and Cinderella (1912),
The Little Minister (1913),
When Mary Grows Up (1913),
Delayed Proposals (1913),
The Wrath of Osaka (1913),
The Hindoo Charm (1913),
The Lonely Princess (1913),
Cupid Versus Women’s Rights (1913),
Goodness Gracious (1914),
Her Husband (1914),
The Violin of M’sieur (1914), … In several of these, she acted opposite her husband, who also successfully took the helm in directing.
Maybe inspired by rival Kalem studios’ trips to Ireland and the Middle East, Vitagraph sent her in December 1912, along with some other Vitagraph performers such as
Maurice Costello, on a 6-month marathon expedition to countries such as Japan, China, Egypt, India, and Italy to star in pictures displaying exotic settings. At the time, it was rather innovative for an American movie company to film in multiple overseas locations. They came back in the very beginning of June 1913.
At Vitagraph, she probably had her greatest success in the feature
My Official Wife (1914), as a Russian nihilist trying to assassinate the Czar. That same year, a poll conducted by Motion Picture Magazine named her the most popular film actress, just ahead of
Mary Pickford.
Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 943.
American promotional postcard for the screening of
The Common Law (Albert Capellani, 1916) at the Stambaugh Opera House on the 9th and 10th of December 1916. Photo: Lewis J. Selznick Productions.
Lewis J. Selznick
Lewis J. Selznick, vice-president of World Film Company, soon showed great interest in
Clara Kimball Young and signed her in 1914. They also became romantically involved.
Her first film for World was
James Young’s
Lola (1914), in which a gentle young girl who dies in a car accident is brought back to life by her scientist father and, in the process, unexpectedly transforms into a heartless adventuress. It was followed by
The Deep Purple (1915),
Hearts in Exile (1915),
Marrying Money (1915),
Trilby (1915),
The Heart of the Blue Ridge (1915),
Camille (1915),
The Yellow Passport (1916),
The Feast of Life (1916),
The Dark Silence (1916) and
The Heart of Susan (1916).
Of these eleven films, she made for World, five were directed by
James Young. By early 1916, he sued Selznick for alienation of affection.
In 1916, Selznick was ousted from World by its board and left to create his own production company. He also took Clara with him.
He soon founded the Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation, with Clara as vice-president and famous filmmaker
Albert Capellani as director general. So, she starred in four films, all distributed by Selznick’s company:
The Foolish Virgin (1916),
The Common Law (1916),
The Price She Paid (1917) and
The Easiest Way (1917).
British postcard in the Famous Cinema Stars series by Beagles, no. 104-A.
Craving for creative control
But things were going sour as
Clara Kimball Young had found a new love interest, a Detroit exhibitor named
Harry Garson, who soon took charge of her business affairs.
James Young, still obviously unhappy with Clara’s infidelities, attacked Garson with a penknife in February 1917. Clara boldly declared at the time: "I have no use for my husband". The Youngs’ divorce became final in 1919.
In June 1917, Clara sued Selznick, considering that he dominated her namesake company and that she had no authority over it. He countersued. Later that year,
Adolph Zukor bought a half share of the Selznick Pictures Company and renamed it Select Pictures, with Selznick remaining as head of the studio.
A new C.K.Y. Film Corporation was created: Clara would produce her movies under her company but would distribute them through Select. It was said that she selected her own stories and plays, her own directors and her own supporting company. She could now exercise the most creative control she ever had up to that time.
She starred in, for example,
Magda (1917),
Shirley Kay (1917),
The Marionettes (1918),
The House of Glass (1918),
The Savage Woman (1918), Cheating Cheaters (1919),
The Better Wife (1919), …
British postcard in the Famous Cinema Stars series by Beagles, no. 104-B.
The end of the C.K.Y. Film Corporation and the birth of Garson Productions
In January 1919,
Clara Kimball Young announced that she had served notice upon the C.K.Y. Film Corporation for flagrant violations of the terms of the contract.
Nevertheless, Selznick pointed out that Select owned all the stock in the C.K.Y. Film Corporation and that her contract ran until mid-1921.
In April 1919, Selznick bought out Zukor’s half share in the Select Company.
An agreement was reached in June 1919: Clara was released from her contract but had to pay Selznick $25.000 for each of her next 10 pictures. She started to work under a new banner, Harry Garson Productions, named after her paramour, and her films would be distributed by Equity Pictures, which was run by
Herbert K. Somborn, who was
Gloria Swanson’s husband from 1919 to 1923.
It all began well:
Eyes of Youth (1919) was released in November 1919 and was a hit. The sexual magnetism
Rudolph Valentino displayed in this movie, in a small part as a seductive con-man hired to compromise Clara, allegedly brought him to the attention of screenwriter
June Mathis, who campaigned to get him his breakthrough role in
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921).
French postcard in the 'Collection des vedettes de la Select Pictures' series.
Decline
Unfortunately,
Harry Garson decided to turn to directing.
He took the helm of Clara’s next eight pictures:
The Forbidden Woman (1920),
For the Love of Rafael (1920),
Mid-Channel (1920),
Hush (1921),
Straight from Paris (1921),
Charge It (1921),
What No Man Knows (1921 and
The Worldly Madonna (1922).
Garson was not the best of directors, but Clara was still in love and stood by him. However, for someone who had earlier worked with such experienced filmmakers as
James Young,
Maurice Tourneur,
Albert Capellani,
Emile Chautard,
Robert G. Vignola and
Allan Dwan, it didn’t bode well.
The suits were reactivated when, in November 1920, Selznick claimed that Clara and
Harry Garson had not sent him $25,000 per picture per their agreement. The Judge ruled in his favour. That same year, a bank sued her to recover an overdue loan.
As the 1920s went by, Clara’s career went into decline. Her acting style gradually appeared old-fashioned. Her increasingly mature and matronly appearance didn’t help. Nor did
Harry Garson’s uninspired handling of direction.
British postcard in the Famous Cinema Stars series by Beagles, no. 104-D. Photo: Walturdaw Pictures.
Her last silent films
In 1922,
Clara Kimball Young signed with independent producer
Samuel Zierler. She starred for him in five films, all distributed by Metro:
The Hands on Nara (1922), which was her last one under
Harry Garson’s direction,
Enter Madame (1922),
The Woman of Bronze (1923),
Cordelia the Magnificent (1923) and
A Wife’s Romance (1923).
Metro did its best to promote them, but it was probably too late.
1925 saw the release of her last silent movie, Ivan Films Productions’
Lying Wives (1925), in a villainous role opposite
Madge Kennedy.
She then appeared for some time in Vaudeville.
At some point, she finally separated from Garson and married dentist
Arthur Fauman in 1928. Her husband would pass away in 1937.
Spanish postcard in the Kursaal series. Photo: Witzel, L.A.
A comeback in talkies
In 1931, she came back to the screen in a
Dorothy MacKaill vehicle,
Kept Husbands (1931).
Then came offers from Poverty Row studios for leading roles in two movies:
Mother and Son (1931) was distributed by Monogram, and
Women Go on Forever (1931) by Tiffany. Those low-budget offerings didn’t relaunch her career. In 1932, she had to sell some of her belongings at an auction due to financial problems.
Thereafter, she played bit parts and supporting roles until 1941. She notably was
Bela Lugosi’s sister in
The Return of Chandu (1934), supported the
Three Stooges in the short
Ants in the Pantry (1936) and appeared opposite
William Boyd in three Westerns from the Hopalong Cassidy series,
Three on the Trail (1936),
Hills of Old Wyoming (1937) and
The Frontiersmen (1938). She was even a brothel madam in the cheaply made exploitation film
The Wages of Sin (1938).
However, she didn’t complain and remained objective and philosophical about her plight. In 1934, she said: "Fame is fleeting, particularly so in the movies, and actresses must accept what Fate gives them. I had my share of glory".
She retired after
Mr. Celebrity (1941), in which she played herself, opposite another old-timer,
Francis X. Bushman. One critic said: "Many persons will be touched at seeing again the old favourites,
Francis X. Bushman and
Clara Kimball Young, who appear throughout the picture". About stopping working in films, she declared: "I think I deserve the chance to quit and just enjoy life".
British postcard in the Pictures Portrait Gallery series, no. A 21.
I’m living today. I’m in the rocket ship era
In the 1950s,
Clara Kimball Young began to make the rounds of early film conventions. On such an event in Westhampton in 1956, publicist and author
John Springer noticed: "Miss Young was tireless - the first to arrive, the saltiest conversationalist, and the last to leave".
Clara was never nostalgic. In 1955, she had declared: "I’m living today, I’m in the rocket ship era".
In 1956, she signed on as a Hollywood correspondent with
Johnny Carson’s TV show on CBS. An enthusiastic and cheerful Clara stated, "I hope my reporting does more than entertain. Nobody has to be old at sixty, and I think senior citizens will get the idea when they see how full of pep I am. You have to keep your mind trained on the present and your eyes to the future if you want to stay young. I’ve seen my ups and downs, and I haven’t regretted a minute. I’ll be working with current stars and newcomers, so I don’t have to worry about getting old".
In 1960, she entered the Motion Picture Country Home. Among the other residents was
Gareth Hughes, who had played her younger brother in
Eyes of Youth (1919). Under the religious name of 'Brother David', he had become a Christian missionary to the Paiute Indians in 1946.
Clara Kimball Young died of a stroke on the 15th of October 1960, and
Gareth Hughes co-officiated at the rites upon her funeral.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 828/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Bafag (British-American Films A.G.).
Postcard probably produced for the Cuban market, stamped on the back 'Photo Cinema Star Co. Habana'. Photo: Witzel.
Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.
