Pearl White

Pearl Fay White, born March 4, 1889 in Greenridge, Missouri, United States ? died August 4, 1938 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy, France, was a singer and star of silent film.

The daughter of a poor Missouri farmer, Pearl White grew up in Springfield, Missouri where in High School she became interested in acting and participated in a local theatre company. At age 18, she joined the Trousedale Stock Company as a part-time performer, working the evening shows while keeping her day job to help support her family. Before too long she was able to join the company full time, touring with the group throughout the American Midwest. In 1907 she married fellow actor Victor Sutherland (1889-1968) but they soon separated and eventually divorced.

In 1910, Pearl White was offered a chance by Pathé Frères to perform in The Girl From Arizona, the French company's first American film produced at their new studio in Bound Brook, New Jersey. She then worked at Lubin Studios and several other of the independents until the Crystal Film Company in Manhattan, gave her top billing in numerous short films. Having gained some degree of public recognition, in 1914 the Pathé director Louis J. Gasnier (1875-1963) offered Pearl White the starring role in The Perils of Pauline, a film based on a story by playwright, Charles W. Goddard (1879-1951). The film was not about a helpless woman, but one where "Pauline" was the central character in a story involving considerable action for which the athletic and unblinking Peal White proved ideally suited.

The Perils of Pauline consisted of twenty episodes that enlarged upon the heroine-in-jeopardy cliffhanger style of film. An enormous box-office success, it made Pearl White a major celebrity and she was soon earning the astronomical sum of $3,000 a week. She followed this major achievement with an even bigger box-office winner, The Exploits of Elaine. While flying airplanes, racing cars, swimming across rivers, and other assorted feats, she did four more successful serials based on the same theme. For these action-packed films, Pearl White did much of her own dangerous stunt work and as a result she suffered a number injuries that forced her to begin using a stunt double in her later films.

By 1919, Pearl White was a wealthy young woman when she met and married World War I veteran Major Wallace McCutcheon (1880-1928) who had become an actor, director and cinematographer. This marriage did not last and they divorced in 1921 and two years later White made her last American film. Influenced by the French friends she made while working for Pathé, and someone who appreciated different cultures, Pearl White was drawn to the great gathering of artistic genius happening in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France. While living there she made her last film for her friend, the Belgian-born director Edward José (1880-1930), who had directed her in several serials in the USA. Silent films could be made in any country and because White was a highly recognizable star worldwide, in France she was offered many roles but chose to perform live on stage in a Montmartre production called, "Tu Perds la Boule" (You Lost the Ball). Enjoying this type of performance, in 1925 she accepted an offer to star with comedian Max Wall in the "London Review" at the Lyceum Theatre in London.

Pearl White's childhood poverty made her frugal with money. A shrewd businesswoman, she invested in a successful Parisian nightclub, a Biarritz resort hotel/casino, plus a profitable stable of thoroughbred race horses. Living in a fashionable town house in the exclusive Parisian suburb of Passy, she also owned a villa in Rambouillet. The poor girl from Missouri hobnobbed with the elite of European society, and in time became involved with Greek businessman, Theodore Cossika who shared her interest in travel. Together they acquired a home near Cairo, Egypt and White further expanded her cultural horizons by touring with her companion throughout the Middle East and the Orient.

Over the years, White's alcohol use increased substantially, possibly in an attempt to numb the chronic pain from the injuries resulting from her film stunts. In 1933 she had to be hospitalized which led to an addiction to the drugs used to lessen her suffering. Her last few years were spent in a painful alcoholic haze and she died from cirrhosis of the liver at age 49 in the American Hospital in the Paris suburb of Neuilly. She was buried in the Cimetière de Passy.

Pearl White's place in film is seen as a benchmark in the evolution of both cinema genres and the role of women. Her film, The Exploits of Elaine, has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. All her films were made at East Coast studios and it is believed White never visited Hollywood who would honor her contribution to the film industry with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Selected filmography:

• The Perils of Pauline(1914)
• The Exploits of Elaine (1914)
• The New Exploits of Elaine (1915)
• The Romance of Elaine (1915)
• The Iron Claw (1916)
• Pearl of the Army (1916)
• The Fatal Ring (1917)
• The House of Hate (1918)
• The Lightning Raider (1919)
• Plunder (1923)
• Perils of Paris (1924)it:Pearl White