In an interview in November 1934, a shattered and disillusioned Edwina made a heart-rending statement: "I’ve been away so long that nothing matters now. I went home to die, but I wasn’t that fortunate. I’ve only learned what it means to die, to be away, to be denied life, to know that I may just remain like this, so weak that you cry when you want to talk; to have pain so shooting through your head; to want to walk and be unable; to lie on your back in a darkened room, away from the sunshine you hate, and know that outside, the parade has passed you by and that you’ll never be able to catch up with it again".
When she passed away in 1991, her brother declared: "Her death has been wrongly reported so many times. But this time, she really did die".
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5341/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
French postcard nu A.N., Paris, no. 640. Photo: Goldwyn-Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5781/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Beginnings
Edwina Booth was born Josephine Constance Woodruff on the 13th of September 1904 in Provo, Utah, U.S.A.
Her parents were James Lloyd Woodruff and Josephine Diantha Booth. The family finally settled in California.
There, in 1926, the young and pretty Josephine Constance was noticed by assistant film director E.J. Babille, who worked for the Metropolitan Pictures Corporation. So, she made her screen debut in a bit part in a Marie Prevost vehicle, For Wives Only (Victor Heerman, 1926).
She chose Edwina Booth as a pseudonym, 'Edwin' being the first name of an uncle and 'Booth' being the family name on her mother’s side. Over the next few years, she had some more uncredited roles in several films.
She also worked as a chorus girl in the 'Music Box Revue' in Hollywood and, thanks to actress Lucille La Verne, she appeared in two stage plays in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C172.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Trader Horn
At the end of the 1920s, M.G.M. decided to bring to the screen the bestselling book 'Trader Horn' and to make it the first non-documentary film shot on location in Africa.
Harry Carey and Duncan Renaldo were signed for the two male leads. The heroine, a missionary’s daughter who had been kidnapped as a kid by an African tribe and who had grown up to become their beautiful and fiery White Goddess, was more difficult to find.
Director W.S. Van Dyke wanted a lovely blonde able to display a volatile temperament on screen and finally chose Edwina Booth. The crew began their long trip to Africa at the end of March 1929 and arrived in May.
Filming Trader Horn became a nightmare for Edwina, whose fragile skin was bruised by sharp weeds and who suffered from severe sunburns and various insects' bites. When she came back to the U.S.A. in December, her health had deteriorated.
She spent most of 1930 doing Trader Horn retakes at M.G.M. At the end of the year, Duncan Renaldo’s wife filed a suit against the actress for alienation of her husband’s affection. Edwina won the case in September 1931.
Belgian postcard by P.I.A. Belgaphot, Bruxelles, no. 62. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 891. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
A promising movie career was quickly cut short
Trader Horn premiered on the 22nd of January 1931 and was a crowd-pleaser upon its release. Edwina Booth was now a household name.
Unfortunately, she wouldn’t enjoy her success for long. After M.G.M. had released Edwina from her contract, she only could find work at Poverty Row studios.
For Mascot Pictures, she was featured in two serials, The Vanishing Legion (1931) and Last of the Mohicans (1932), both with Harry Carey again.
At Monogram, she appeared in The Midnight Patrol (1932), alongside two other female stars on the wane, Betty Bronson and Mary Nolan.
She was then reunited with Duncan Renaldo in Trapped in Ti Juana (1932), produced by Action Pictures, which marked the end of her film career.
British postcard in the Picturegoer series, no. 560.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 658. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Her battle with the disease
Her health worsening, Edwina Booth subsequently spent most of her time in seclusion in darkened rooms. The costs of medical bills led the family to apply for public assistance.
In October 1933, she filed suit against M.G.M. for $1.000.000, claiming that she was permanently injured and incapacitated from further work due to the health impairments she had suffered from during the filming of Trader Horn. Three medical experts stated that the African sun and insect’ bites had shattered her nervous system and caused her invalidity.
The case was settled out of court for much less money than she had asked for. In 1935, she travelled to Europe to seek medical advice from tropical disease specialists in England, Switzerland, and Austria.
In a letter she wrote at the time to her former nurse, Edwina stated that a Viennese physician had found that her blood had been poisoned by bites of tsetse flies and that the nerve centre situated in her neck had been burned out by the sun. One of Edwina’s cousins remembered that she was diagnosed with sleeping sickness.
She came back to the States in April 1936. In June, she rallied enough to speak to the press about a possible screen comeback, but it would never happen, as her health never improved enough for her to work in movies again.
Belgian postcard by P.I.A. Belgaphot, Bruxelles.
Dutch postcard, no. 156. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Drifting into obscurity
Edwina Booth then drifted into obscurity. Over the years, her death would be wrongly reported several times, but she didn’t even bother to dispel those unfounded rumours.
In 1951, she married widower Uriel Higham. He was not her first spouse as her marriage to Anthony Schuck was annulled in 1930.
After her husband died in 1956, she devoted much time to the Los Angeles Latter Day Saints Temple.
She remarried in 1959 with Reinold Fehlberg, who passed away in 1984. Edwina Booth died on the 18th of May 1991 of a heart failure.
Considering the serious health problems she had encountered in her life, she amazingly had reached the age of 86 years.
Cigarette card, no. B.80.
Spanish postcard by Editorial Fotografica, Barcelona, no. A. 169. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Edwina Booth and Lillian Bond.
Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.
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