Jacqueline Logan
Encyclopedia
Jacqueline Logan was a star of the silent motion picture screen who was on board William Randolph Hearst
's yacht The Oneida in 1924 when film director Thomas Ince
died. The young actress was under contract to Ince at the time. Logan was a WAMPAS Baby Star
of 1922. She was born in Corsicana, Texas
on November 30, 1901. Her father was a noted architect and her mother was briefly an opera singer.
, who later became commissioner of Major League Baseball. Setting out to Chicago, Logan found employment dancing in a stage production of a theater. Her family believed she intended to visit an uncle in the windy city and also attend college. To get the job she lied about her age, and when her uncle found out, he was irate. She was let go from the stage job as a result.
She left Chicago and set out for New York City. Again Jacqueline was untruthful regarding her intentions. With her on her trip to New York was a theatrical troupe. She secured a small role in Floradora, a musical on Broadway
in 1920. At this time, Flo Ziegfeld noticed her and hired Logan for a job dancing on his Ziegfeld Roof. She replaced Billie Donovan who was leaving to act in films in Hollywood. Together with the Ziegfeld venture Jacqueline modeled as a prestigious Dobbs Girl in Alfred Cheney Johnston
photographs. There was also a part in a Johnny Hines' comedy short.
. Lyon was the husband of Hollywood actress Bebe Daniels
and became a prominent figure in the movies. Later he furthered the careers of such stars as Marilyn Monroe
. Working for Associated Producers, Logan was featured opposite Jane Peters, the future Carole Lombard
in the film The Perfect Crime (1921). Peters was only a youth, appearing as a pretty blonde child actress. The same year she played with Mabel Normand
in Molly O'
(1921).
Other features she starred in during the early 1920s include Burning Sands (1922), A Blind Bargain
(1922), Sixty Cents an Hour (1923), Java Head (1923), and A Man Must Live (1924). Among her co-stars were Thomas Meighan
, Milton Sills
, Ricardo Cortez
, Leatrice Joy
, Richard Dix
, Lon Chaney Sr., and William Powell
.
In 1926, Logan made Footloose Widow with Louise Fazenda
and Blood Ship in 1927 with Richard Arlen
. Other prominent leading men whom the actress worked with were Lionel Barrymore
, John Barrymore
, and Antonio Moreno
.
Logan was selected by Cecil B. De Mille for the role of Mary Magdalene
in the classic The King of Kings (1927). The part was much sought after by actresses of the era. The movie broke records for audience attendance. It was shown somewhere in the world each day for decades after its release. When talking pictures began the voice of Jacqueline was recorded to accompany her acting part in the original silent film.
The actress of silent films was largely unsuccessful in the new medium of talkies. In an early musical, Show of Shows (1929), Logan was a member of an all-star cast. This followed her work in some early and profitable sound films for Columbia Pictures
.
In the 1970s film historian Kevin Brownlow
interviewed Logan and possibly had her interview filmed for his documentary film Hollywood
(1980). In the segment of the documentary about DeMille's The King of Kings (1927), in which Logan appeared, narrator James Mason
can be heard mentioning Logan's name, with the viewer expecting to see Logan talking about the film, but her interview was never broadcast and is not in any of the home video versions of the series.
The new writer/director found herself less in demand behind the camera when she returned to Hollywood. Columbia Pictures
production chief Harry Cohn
was complimentary of her work but unwilling to sign a female director.
Logan retired from films entirely after her marriage in 1934. Just prior to this she was part of several Broadway plays like Merrily We Roll Along and Two Strange Women.
into the late 1960s. She spent her winters in Florida
where she visited
friends such as Lila Lee
and Dorothy Dalton
, both former actresses. The remainder of the year she resided in Bedford Hills, New York
with her prize Great Dane from the Lina Basquette
Kennels.
Jacqueline Logan became a champion of right-wing political causes after her movie career ended. She was a member of the John Birch Society
. Much of her life was devoted to fighting "One Worlders and the Treason Traders." She believed these factions were undermining the U.S. Constitution.
Her last film effort was in the role of Mrs. Donovan in Secrets of a Door-to-Door Salesman (1973). She died in Melbourne, Florida
on April 4, 1983 and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur, Illinois
.
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
's yacht The Oneida in 1924 when film director Thomas Ince
Thomas H. Ince
Thomas Harper Ince was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer of more than 100 films and pioneering studio mogul. Known as the "Father of the Western", he invented many mechanisms of professional movie production, introducing early Hollywood to the "assembly line"...
died. The young actress was under contract to Ince at the time. Logan was a WAMPAS Baby Star
WAMPAS Baby Stars
The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States which honored thirteen young women each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. They were selected from 1922 to 1934, and annual...
of 1922. She was born in Corsicana, Texas
Corsicana, Texas
Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45 some fifty-five miles south of downtown Dallas. The population was 24,485 at the 2000 census...
on November 30, 1901. Her father was a noted architect and her mother was briefly an opera singer.
Stage career included Broadway
Jacqueline traveled to Colorado Springs for her health. While there she took a course in journalism from Ford FrickFord Frick
Ford Christopher Frick was an American sportswriter and executive who served as president of the National League from to and as the third Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1951 to . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
, who later became commissioner of Major League Baseball. Setting out to Chicago, Logan found employment dancing in a stage production of a theater. Her family believed she intended to visit an uncle in the windy city and also attend college. To get the job she lied about her age, and when her uncle found out, he was irate. She was let go from the stage job as a result.
She left Chicago and set out for New York City. Again Jacqueline was untruthful regarding her intentions. With her on her trip to New York was a theatrical troupe. She secured a small role in Floradora, a musical on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1920. At this time, Flo Ziegfeld noticed her and hired Logan for a job dancing on his Ziegfeld Roof. She replaced Billie Donovan who was leaving to act in films in Hollywood. Together with the Ziegfeld venture Jacqueline modeled as a prestigious Dobbs Girl in Alfred Cheney Johnston
Alfred Cheney Johnston
Alfred Cheney Johnston was a New York City-based photographer known for his portraits of Ziegfeld Follies showgirls as well as of 1920s/1930s actors and actresses....
photographs. There was also a part in a Johnny Hines' comedy short.
Motion pictures
Jacqueline was awarded a screen test with the then unknown actor Ben LyonBen Lyon
Ben Lyon was an American film actor and a 20th Century Fox studio executive.-Life:Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lyon entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway opposite Jeanne Eagels. He attracted attention in the highly successful film Flaming Youth , and steadily developed into...
. Lyon was the husband of Hollywood actress Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain...
and became a prominent figure in the movies. Later he furthered the careers of such stars as Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
. Working for Associated Producers, Logan was featured opposite Jane Peters, the future Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...
in the film The Perfect Crime (1921). Peters was only a youth, appearing as a pretty blonde child actress. The same year she played with Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
in Molly O'
Molly O (1921 film)
Molly O' is a silent film starring Mabel Normand and directed by F. Richard Jones.-Cast:*Mabel Normand ... Molly O'*George Nichols ... Tim O'Dair*Anna Dodge ... Mrs. Tim O'Dair *Albert Hackett ... Billy O'Dair...
(1921).
Other features she starred in during the early 1920s include Burning Sands (1922), A Blind Bargain
A Blind Bargain
A Blind Bargain is a silent horror film starring Lon Chaney and Raymond McKee, released through Goldwyn Pictures. The movie was directed by Wallace Worsley and is based on Barry Pain's 1897 novel, The Octave of Claudius...
(1922), Sixty Cents an Hour (1923), Java Head (1923), and A Man Must Live (1924). Among her co-stars were Thomas Meighan
Thomas Meighan
Thomas Meighan was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading man roles opposite popular actresses of the day including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. At one point he commanded $10,000 a week....
, Milton Sills
Milton Sills
Milton Sills was a highly successful American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century....
, Ricardo Cortez
Ricardo Cortez
Jacob Krantz , known by his stage name Ricardo Cortez, was an American film actor who began his career during the silent era.-Life and career:...
, Leatrice Joy
Leatrice Joy
Leatrice Joy was an American actress most prolific during the early silent film era.-Early life and career:...
, Richard Dix
Richard Dix
Richard Dix was an American motion picture actor who achieved popularity in both silent and sound film. His standard on-screen image was that of the rugged and stalwart hero.-Early life:...
, Lon Chaney Sr., and William Powell
William Powell
William Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
.
In 1926, Logan made Footloose Widow with Louise Fazenda
Louise Fazenda
Louise Fazenda was an American film actress, appearing chiefly in silent comedy films.-Early life:Of Portuguese ancestry, she was born in Lafayette, Indiana. Her father, Joseph Fazenda, was a merchandise broker. After moving west Louise attended Los Angeles High School and St. Mary's Convent...
and Blood Ship in 1927 with Richard Arlen
Richard Arlen
-Biography:Born Sylvanus Richard Van Mattimore in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. His first job after the war was with St. Paul's Athletic Club...
. Other prominent leading men whom the actress worked with were Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
, John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
, and Antonio Moreno
Antonio Moreno
Antonio "Tony" Moreno was a notable Spanish-born American actor and film director of the silent film era and through the 1950s.- Biography :...
.
Logan was selected by Cecil B. De Mille for the role of Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
in the classic The King of Kings (1927). The part was much sought after by actresses of the era. The movie broke records for audience attendance. It was shown somewhere in the world each day for decades after its release. When talking pictures began the voice of Jacqueline was recorded to accompany her acting part in the original silent film.
The actress of silent films was largely unsuccessful in the new medium of talkies. In an early musical, Show of Shows (1929), Logan was a member of an all-star cast. This followed her work in some early and profitable sound films for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
.
In the 1970s film historian Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent...
interviewed Logan and possibly had her interview filmed for his documentary film Hollywood
Hollywood (documentary)
Hollywood is a 1980 documentary series produced by Thames Television which explored the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and its impact on 1920s culture....
(1980). In the segment of the documentary about DeMille's The King of Kings (1927), in which Logan appeared, narrator James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
can be heard mentioning Logan's name, with the viewer expecting to see Logan talking about the film, but her interview was never broadcast and is not in any of the home video versions of the series.
Writer and director of films
She went to England to do stage work such as Smoky Cell. This gained for her some good reviews. After completing the English film Middle Watch Jacqueline was awarded a Command Performance. British International Pictures signed her to write and direct. She wrote Knock-Out (1931) and wrote and directed Strictly Business (1931). Both were successful movies.The new writer/director found herself less in demand behind the camera when she returned to Hollywood. Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
production chief Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
was complimentary of her work but unwilling to sign a female director.
Logan retired from films entirely after her marriage in 1934. Just prior to this she was part of several Broadway plays like Merrily We Roll Along and Two Strange Women.
Conservative activist
After divorcing her industrialist husband in 1947, Jacqueline resided in Westchester County, New YorkWestchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
into the late 1960s. She spent her winters in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
where she visited
friends such as Lila Lee
Lila Lee
Lila Lee was a prominent screen actress of the early silent film era.-Early life:Lila Lee was born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel in Union Hill, New Jersey into a middle-class family of German immigrants who relocated to New York City when Lila was quite young...
and Dorothy Dalton
Dorothy Dalton
Dorothy Dalton was an American silent film actress and stage personality who worked her way from a stock company to a movie career. Beginning in 1910, Dalton was a player in stock companies in Chicago and Holyoke, Massachusetts. She joined the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation vaudeville circuits...
, both former actresses. The remainder of the year she resided in Bedford Hills, New York
Bedford Hills, New York
Bedford Hills is an unincorporated hamlet in the Town of Bedford, New York.-History:When the railroad was built in 1847, Bedford Hills was known as Bedford Station. Bedford Hills extends from a business center at the railroad station to farms and estates, eastward along Harris, Babbitt and Bedford...
with her prize Great Dane from the Lina Basquette
Lina Basquette
Lina Basquette was an American actress noted as much for her more than 75 years in entertainment beginning in the silent film era, as her tumultuous personal life and nine marriages.-Early years:...
Kennels.
Jacqueline Logan became a champion of right-wing political causes after her movie career ended. She was a member of the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
. Much of her life was devoted to fighting "One Worlders and the Treason Traders." She believed these factions were undermining the U.S. Constitution.
Her last film effort was in the role of Mrs. Donovan in Secrets of a Door-to-Door Salesman (1973). She died in Melbourne, Florida
Melbourne, Florida
Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. As of 2009, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 78,323. The municipal area is the second largest by size and by population in the county. Melbourne is a principal city of the Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, Florida...
on April 4, 1983 and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur, Illinois
Decatur, Illinois
Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...
.
Selected filmography
- Ebb TideEbb Tide (1922 film)Ebb Tide is a 1922 silent film adventure produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by George Melford. It is taken from the novel The Ebb-Tide by Robert Louis Stevenson and his step-son Lloyd Osbourne...
(1922) - The Dawn of a TomorrowThe Dawn of a TomorrowThe Dawn of a Tomorrow is a 1924 silent film drama produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on the 1906 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett and stars Jacqueline Logan. George Melford directed the story which had been filmed before in 1915 with Mary...
(1924) - The Blood ShipThe Blood ShipThe Blood Ship is a 1927 silent drama film directed by George B. Seitz. The seventh and final reel of the film is missing.-Cast:* Hobart Bosworth as Jim Newman* Jacqueline Logan as Mary Swope Newman* Richard Arlen as John Shreve...
(1927) - The Middle WatchThe Middle Watch (1930 film)The Middle Watch is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Norman Walker and starring Owen Nares, Jacqueline Logan, Jack Raine and Dodo Watts...
(1930)
Source
- Whatever Became Of...? Vol. II, pages 156-157 by Richard Lamparski, 1968, IMDB.com Webpage.