Mary Nolan a.k.a. Imogene Robertson

Mary Nolan (1902–1948) was a Hollywood star who started her film career in the European cinema. She was a beautiful, ba-a-ad girl, who loved to party. The sexy blonde appeared on stage, on screen, and most of all in the tabloids. After a 'sex scandal', she fled to Germany where she starred in 17 silent films under the stage name Imogene Robertson. Her life ended tragically.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 370.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1516/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Süd-Film A.G., Berlin. Imogene Robertson a.k.a. Mary Nolan in Das süße Mädel / Sweet Girl (Manfred Noa, 1926).


Romanian postcard. Photo: Monopole / Lux-Film / Münchner Lichtspielkunst. Imogene Robertson (Mary Nolan) in Erinnerungen einer Nonne / Sister Angela (Arthur Bergen, 1927). Caption: The beautiful Imogene Robertson in the big film Sister Angela.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5721. Photo: Universal-Film, Berlin.


Dutch postcard by Croese Bosman Universal, no. 63. Sent by mail in 1933.

Jazz-age baby and party girl by nature

Mary Nolan was born Mariam Imogene Robertson in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., in 1902 (1905 according to IMDb). She was one of five children born to Africanus and Viola Robertson. Her mother died of cancer at the age of 46. Unable to care for five young children, Africanus Robertson placed Mary in a foster home. She eventually lived in Saint Joseph's Orphan Home, a Catholic orphanage in Missouri, where she earned the nickname 'Bubbles'.

The beautiful blonde arrived broke in New York in 1919. Eve Golden at Films of the Golden Age: "She really was breathtaking with her perfect bone structure, a cloud of thick blonde hair, and china-blue eyes. It wasn't long before Mary got work as an artist's model for such big shots as James Montgomery Flagg and Arthur William Brown." In Talking Picture Magazine, she told in 1929 that her musical comedy career started when Flagg gave her a note of introduction to theatre manager Arthur Hammerstein. According to other sources, famous Broadway producer Oliver Morosco launched her stage career in the choruses of 'Daffy Dill' and 'Lady Butterfly' (1923).

Bubbles proved to be a Jazz-Age baby and a party girl by nature. Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. signed her up for his Ziegfeld Follies revues of 1923 and 1924 on Broadway, and she became one of the most photographed women in America. As a showgirl, she performed under the stage name Imogene 'Bubbles' Wilson. For the next several years, she started a violent love/hate relationship with Ziegfeld comedian Frank Tinney, a popular blackface comedian. Tinney was married to the comedy star Edna Davenport. Tinney set Mary up in a West 72nd Street apartment and showered her with expensive gifts, but he also showered her with bruises, both physical and emotional. The abusive affair stirred up a major sex scandal in 1924. The tabloids exposed the tumultuous relationship when Mary was seriously hospitalised after one of their many arguments. The publicity cost Tinney his marriage and his career.

Mary was fired by Ziegfeld. She set sail for France, where she was scheduled to appear in Vaudeville. In October 1924, she moved to London and reunited with Frank Tinney. By December 1924, Tinney had resumed drinking and began to physically abuse her again. In early 1925, Nolan finally ended the relationship. She then travelled to Germany to work in the film industry under the new stage name Imogene Robertson. Her first German film was Verborgene Gluten / Hidden Fires (Einar Bruun, 1925) with Alphons Fryland. Later that year, she appeared in the title role of Die Feuertänzerin / The Fire Dancer (Robert Dinesen, 1925) for the Ufa. She received good reviews, and the Ufa offered her a contract for $1,500 a week.

Nolan worked steadily in Germany from 1925 to 1927 and continued to receive favourable reviews for her acting. Her best-known films include the mystery Das Parfüm der Mrs. Worrington / The Perfume of Mrs. Worrington (Franz Seitz, 1925) with Ernst Reicher as detective Stuart Webbs, Das süße Mädel / Sweet Girl (Manfred Noa, 1926) with Nils Asther, and the drama Die Abenteuer eines Zehnmarkscheines / The Adventures of a 10-Mark Note (Berthold Viertel, 1926). Lupu Pick directed her in another popular Stuart Webbs adventure, Das Panzergewölbe / The Armored Vault (Lupu Pick, 1927).


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 829. Photo: National / Mondial A.G., Wien. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 878/2. Photo: Vienna-Film.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5049. Photo: Mondial-Verleih / National-Film, Berlin. Probably a still for Die Königin des Weltbades / The Queen of the Baths (Victor Janson, 1926),  released in Germany by National-Film.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5316. Photo: Universal-Film.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5408. Photo: Universal-Film.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5722. Photo: Universal-Film.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5829. Photo: Universal-Film.

Carnival sideshow dancer

While in Germany, Imogene Robertson received offers from Hollywood producers to appear in American films but turned them down. She finally relented after Joseph M. Schenck offered her a contract to United Artists. She returned to the United States in January 1927. To avoid a connection with her scandalous past, United Artists suggested she change her name to Mary Nolan. For United Artists, she appeared in an uncredited bit part in Topsy and Eva (Del Lord, 1927), and a supporting role in Sorrell and Son (Herbert Brenon, 1927). In 1928, Universal Pictures signed Nolan. Her first film for the company was Good Morning, Judge (William A. Seiter, 1928), starring Reginald Denny. Nolan received good reviews. Universal loaned her out to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the Horror film  West of Zanzibar (Tod Browning, 1928), about a cuckolded magician (Lon Chaney) paralysed in a brawl with his rival (Lionel Barrymore). Nolan played Chaney's defiled daughter Maizie, a prostitute from the 'lowest dive in Zanzibar'. In the film, she becomes an alcoholic and is set to be burned on a funeral pyre before escaping via a trick coffin. The film was a hit, and Nolan received favourable reviews for her work.

The following year, she was loaned to MGM again for the romantic drama Desert Nights (William Nigh, 1929), with John Gilbert. Two thieves (Noland and Ernest Torrence) victimise a diamond mine and kidnap its manager (Gilbert), but he gains the upper hand (and falls in love with Nolan) when they flee into the hostile desert. Desert Nights was another financial success and boosted Nolan's career. Shortly after signing with Universal in 1927, Nolan began a relationship with another married man, studio executive Eddie Mannix, who used his clout for her MGM loan-outs. Shortly after Desert Nights was released in 1929, Mannix abruptly ended the relationship. This angered Nolan, who threatened to tell Mannix's wife Bernice of their affair. Mannix became enraged and beat her unconscious.

Nolan later said that she was hospitalised for six months and required fifteen surgeries to repair damage Mannix inflicted on her abdomen. While hospitalised, Nolan was prescribed morphine for pain. She eventually became addicted, which contributed to the decline of her career. In the Universal production Young Desire (Lew Collins, 1930), Nolan played Helen Herbert aka 'La Belle Helene', a carnival sideshow dancer. She falls in love with wealthy, wet-behind-the-ears Bobby Spencer (William Janney), who whisks her off to his hometown of Spencerville and stakes her to an apartment and a job. But Helen's sordid past catches up with her...

By then, Nolan's acting career had begun to decline due to her drug abuse and reputation for being temperamental. She was fired from the film What Men Want (1930). Nolan argued with the film's director, Ernst Laemmle, after she learned she was the only cast member who hadn't received a close-up shot. Laemmle, a nephew of Universal’s founder, banned Nolan from the set. Universal fired her. After threatening to file a lawsuit, the studio bought her out of her contract in January 1931. She married stockbroker Wallace T. McCreary on 29 March 1931. One week before they married, McCreary lost $3 million on bad investments. The couple used McCreary's remaining money to open a dress shop in Beverly Hills. The shop went out of business within months, and Nolan filed for bankruptcy in August 1931. Nolan divorced McCreary in July 1932.

Mary Nolan could not secure film work with the other major studios. She spent the remainder of her acting career in low-budget films for independent studios. She made her final film appearances in File 113 (Chester M. Franklin, 1933), for Allied Pictures Corporation. From then on, Nolan appeared in Vaudeville and performed in nightclubs and roadhouses around the United States. Later, Nolan suffered several nervous breakdowns, and her health declined. In 1941, she told her story in an memoir, 'The Real Life Follies of ‘Bubbles’ Wilson, by Herself'. It was published in eigh weekly parts in The American Weekly, the Hearst Sunday supplement. She tried to revive her career in Vaudeville and nightclubs — briefly performing again under yet another name, Mary Wilson — but with little success. In 1948, she died of an overdose of the barbiturate Seconal in her Hollywood apartment. The police said her death was either suicide or an accident. She was only 45. Her final resting place was the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, not far from the studios. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "Mary became just one more Hollywood tragedy - an incredible beauty whose life turned absolutely beastly."


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1190/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Emelka Films / Süd-Film. Bayern Films. Imogene Robertson in Erinnerungen einer Nonne / Sister Angela (Arthur Bergen, 1927).


Polish postcard by Polonia, Krakow, no. 1362. Photo: Universal.


Dutch postcard by Croese Bosman. Sent by mail in 1932. Photo: publicity still for Young Desire (Lew Collins, 1930).


Dutch postcard, no. 60. Photo: Croeze Bosman Universal.


Spanish postcard in the Estrellas del Cine Series by Editorial Gráfica, Barcelona, no. 6. Photo: Universal Film.


French postcard by Europe, no. 776. Photo: Universal Film.

Sources: Bill LeFurgy (Stories of the Jazz Age), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Eve Golden (Films of the Golden Age), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 18 October 2026. Special thanks to Bill LeFurgy. On his site he offers a link Mary Nolan’s 1941 confessions: 'The Real Life Follies of ‘Bubbles’ Wilson'.