Juanita Hansen
Encyclopedia
Juanita C. Hansen was an American
silent film
actress. Beginning as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties, she appeared in a variety of serials
through the late 1910s. She was well known for her troubled personal life and struggle with addiction to cocaine and morphine. In 1934 she became clean and traveled lecturing on the evils of drugs. She wrote a book about addiction and started her own charity to help raise awareness about drug abuse.
. Her family moved to California
when she was a girl and Juanita graduated from Los Angeles High School
. There she secured her first acting job with L. Frank Baum's
"Oz Film Manufacturing Company". She appeared in the The Patchwork Girl of Oz
, a film based on Baum's book. Given a minor role as the bell ringer, Hansen had a major role in her next "Oz" film that same year titled The Magic Cloak of Oz
. This was an adaptation of Queen Zixi of Ix
, in which she played the title role.
Early in her career the actress was also associated with Famous Players-Lasky
and acted opposite Jack Pickford
. In 1915 Juanita appeared in six films. One was her first feature role starring opposite Tom Chatterton
in "The Secret of the Submarine
." The following year her good looks landed her work as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties doing comedy
shorts at Keystone/Triangle Studios
. Although she told reporters she liked working for Mack Sennett
, she wanted to do more than slapstick
comedy.
. Miss Hansen became famous as the star of the eighteen episode action/adventure serial
called "The Brass Bullet
." The actress made seven films in 1919. Soon she was cast in the starring role of "Princess Elyata" in a fifteen episode serial called "The Lost City." It was produced by William Selig
and the three Warner brothers, Harry
, Jack
, and Sam
. The successful serial was edited down to seven reels and re-released in the form of a feature-length film with the title "The Jungle Princess." However, during this time, Hansen's increasingly reckless lifestyle led to a cocaine
addiction that would quickly overwhelm her life.
Hansen's performance in the Universal productions led to a 1920 deal with Pathé
to star with Warner Oland
and William Bailey
in a fifteen episode serial titled "The Phantom Foe
." She made a second Pathé serial called "The Yellow Arm (1921)," again with Oland and Bailey plus Marguerite Courtot
. In 1921 Juanita retired from movies after she was scalded in a bathroom accident in a New York City
hotel. She was given $118,000 in damages following a long legal battle.
against Jack Clifford. Clifford left Nesbit in 1918 and she divorced him in 1933.
She began working in live theatre, appearing in 1928 in the short-lived Broadway
production, "The High Hatters." Ten years after her last film in 1933, she was given a secondary but important role in a Monogram Pictures
B-movie
. This, her first talkie, would be her last film and the ensuing years were marked by a continual struggle with her drug addiction. In 1934 Juanita tried a comeback in movies but it was unsuccessful.
At one point, she attempted suicide
with an overdose of sleeping pills
. She survived and the experience helped turn her around. Although her acting career was long over, and her drug habit had left her penniless, she took a job as a clerk for a railroad company. She also worked in the Works Progress Administration
during the Great Depression
.
In 1938 she wrote the book, The Conspiracy of Silence, arguing that drug addicts should be sent to specialized medical institutions for treatment, instead of being sent to prison.
Juanita Hansen died in 1961 at her home in West Hollywood, California
of heart failure
. Her residence was 858 Hilldale Avenue. Her body was found by her maid, Pearl Edwards, who told deputy sheriffs the actress was suffering from a heart ailment. She was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery
in Culver City, California
. In the years prior to her death she resided in a neighborhood only a few miles from where she once made motion pictures.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
actress. Beginning as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties, she appeared in a variety of serials
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
through the late 1910s. She was well known for her troubled personal life and struggle with addiction to cocaine and morphine. In 1934 she became clean and traveled lecturing on the evils of drugs. She wrote a book about addiction and started her own charity to help raise awareness about drug abuse.
Early life
She was born in Des Moines, IowaDes Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
. Her family moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
when she was a girl and Juanita graduated from Los Angeles High School
Los Angeles High School
Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are blue and white and the teams are called the Romans....
. There she secured her first acting job with L. Frank Baum's
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
"Oz Film Manufacturing Company". She appeared in the The Patchwork Girl of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum, is a children's novel, the seventh set in the Land of Oz. Characters include the Woozy, Ojo "the Unlucky", Unc Nunkie, Dr. Pipt, Scraps , and others. The book was first published on July 1, 1913, with illustrations by John R. Neill...
, a film based on Baum's book. Given a minor role as the bell ringer, Hansen had a major role in her next "Oz" film that same year titled The Magic Cloak of Oz
The Magic Cloak of Oz
The Magic Cloak of Oz is a 1914 film directed by J. Farrell MacDonald. It was written by L. Frank Baum and produced by Baum and composer Louis F. Gottschalk. The film is an adaptation of Baum's novel, Queen Zixi of Ix....
. This was an adaptation of Queen Zixi of Ix
Queen Zixi of Ix
Queen Zixi of Ix, or The Story of the Magic Cloak is a children's book written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Frederick Richardson. It was originally serialized in the early 20th century American children's magazine St. Nicholas from November 1904 to October 1905, and was published in book...
, in which she played the title role.
Early in her career the actress was also associated with Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company created on July 19, 1916 from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company -- originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays -- and Jesse L...
and acted opposite Jack Pickford
Jack Pickford
Jack Pickford was a Canadian-born American actor. He was best known for his tabloid lifestyle, marriage to the top starlets of his day, and being of the famous Pickford acting family.-Early life:...
. In 1915 Juanita appeared in six films. One was her first feature role starring opposite Tom Chatterton
Tom Chatterton
Tom Chatterton was an American actor.Born in Geneva, New York, Chatterton began his film career in 1913 at the New York Motion Picture Company under director Thomas H. Ince. Although never a major star, Chatterton had several leading roles in early silent films...
in "The Secret of the Submarine
The Secret of the Submarine
The Secret of the Submarine is a 1915 adventure film serial directed by George L. Sargent. All of the chapters of the film are considered to be lost.-Plot:The heroes must keep the titular submarine from falling into the hands of the Russians or Japanese....
." The following year her good looks landed her work as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties doing comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
shorts at Keystone/Triangle Studios
Keystone Studios
Keystone Studios was an early movie studio founded in Edendale, California in 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman, owners of the New York Motion Picture Company...
. Although she told reporters she liked working for Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
, she wanted to do more than slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
comedy.
Serial career
She left Keystone. She was soon doing serious roles for Universal StudiosUniversal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. Miss Hansen became famous as the star of the eighteen episode action/adventure serial
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
called "The Brass Bullet
The Brass Bullet
The Brass Bullet is a 1918 adventure film serial directed by Ben F. Wilson. It is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Juanita Hansen - Rosalind Joy* Jack Mulhall - Jack James* Charles Hill Mailes - Homer Joy* Joseph W. Girard - Spring Gilbert...
." The actress made seven films in 1919. Soon she was cast in the starring role of "Princess Elyata" in a fifteen episode serial called "The Lost City." It was produced by William Selig
William Selig
William Nicholas Selig was a pioneer of the American motion picture industry.-Biography:Selig was raised in Chicago. He worked as a vaudeville performer and produced a traveling minstrel show in San Francisco while still in his late teens. One of the actors was Bert Williams, who went on to become...
and the three Warner brothers, Harry
Harry Warner
Harry Morris Warner was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three brothers Warner played a crucial role in the film business and played a key role in establishing Warner Bros...
, Jack
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
, and Sam
Sam Warner
Samuel Louis "Sam" Warner was an American film producer who was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Studios. He established the studio along with his brothers Harry, Albert, and Jack Warner. Sam Warner is credited with procuring the technology that enabled Warner Bros...
. The successful serial was edited down to seven reels and re-released in the form of a feature-length film with the title "The Jungle Princess." However, during this time, Hansen's increasingly reckless lifestyle led to a cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
addiction that would quickly overwhelm her life.
Hansen's performance in the Universal productions led to a 1920 deal with Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
to star with Warner Oland
Warner Oland
Warner Oland was a Swedish American actor most remembered for his screen role as the detective Charlie Chan.-Biography:He was born Johan Verner Ölund in the village of Nyby, Bjurholm Municipality,...
and William Bailey
William Bailey
William Bailey was an American actor. He appeared in 222 films between 1911 and 1959. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Bailey died in Hollywood, California in 1962 at the age of 76.-Selected filmography:...
in a fifteen episode serial titled "The Phantom Foe
The Phantom Foe
The Phantom Foe is a 1920 adventure film serial directed by Bertram Millhauser.-Cast:* Warner Oland - Uncle Lew Selkirk* Juanita Hansen - Janet Dale* Wallace McCutcheon Jr...
." She made a second Pathé serial called "The Yellow Arm (1921)," again with Oland and Bailey plus Marguerite Courtot
Marguerite Courtot
Marguerite Gabrielle Courtot was an American silent film actress.Courtot was born in Summit, New Jersey of French ancestry. She became a child model and in June 1912, while not yet fifteen years old, joined the Kalem Company, appearing in 1913's "The Riddle of the Tin Soldier" alongside star Alice...
. In 1921 Juanita retired from movies after she was scalded in a bathroom accident in a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
hotel. She was given $118,000 in damages following a long legal battle.
Personal problems
When she returned to work, behavioral problems caused by her drug addiction disrupted filming and ended her relationship with Pathé. She appeared in secondary roles in two more films, but by 1923 her film career was over at the age of twenty-eight. Her life became a series of constant ups and downs fighting her addictions. Miss Hansen was named as one of two co-respondents in a divorce suit brought by Evelyn NesbitEvelyn Nesbit
Evelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.-Early life:...
against Jack Clifford. Clifford left Nesbit in 1918 and she divorced him in 1933.
She began working in live theatre, appearing in 1928 in the short-lived 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...
production, "The High Hatters." Ten years after her last film in 1933, she was given a secondary but important role in a Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...
B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
. This, her first talkie, would be her last film and the ensuing years were marked by a continual struggle with her drug addiction. In 1934 Juanita tried a comeback in movies but it was unsuccessful.
At one point, she attempted suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
with an overdose of sleeping pills
Sleeping pills
Sleeping pills may refer to:*Hypnotic, a drug used to induce sleep*Sleeping Pills , an American film by Michael Lauter...
. She survived and the experience helped turn her around. Although her acting career was long over, and her drug habit had left her penniless, she took a job as a clerk for a railroad company. She also worked in the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Later career and charitable work
Eventually the former actress went public with her story. She created the Juanita Hansen Foundation to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs. Juanita was jailed in 1937 on a narcotics charge. She was cleared when she gave testimony that tablets which police found in her purse were prescribed to her for medical purposes. She went on a lecture tour, crusading against traffic in illegal drugs.In 1938 she wrote the book, The Conspiracy of Silence, arguing that drug addicts should be sent to specialized medical institutions for treatment, instead of being sent to prison.
Juanita Hansen died in 1961 at her home in West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
of heart failure
Congestive heart failure
Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...
. Her residence was 858 Hilldale Avenue. Her body was found by her maid, Pearl Edwards, who told deputy sheriffs the actress was suffering from a heart ailment. She was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Holy Cross Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery at 5835 West Slauson Avenue in Culver City, California, operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles....
in Culver City, California
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
. In the years prior to her death she resided in a neighborhood only a few miles from where she once made motion pictures.