Tragic Griffith Stars: Clarine Seymour and Robert Harron

Clarine Seymour and Robert Harron in "True Heart Susie"

In 1919, both Bobby Harron and Clarine Seymour were the pets of director D.W. Griffith. Other than super-pet Lillian Gish, no one in the Griffith stock company seemed to have held a more secure place than Bobby. While not in the Lillian category, nor in the same favored position as personal pet Carol Dempster, Clarine Seymour was an up-and-comer who stole the show. Griffith knew a good thing when he saw it. Yet, by 1920, Griffith was attending their funerals.

Clarine Seymour

Not your typical Griffith heroine, Clarine Seymour was feisty where Miss Lillian was fragile, full of personality where Miss Dempster seemed to have none. Youthful and spunky, she was a modern sort of gal who would have made a fabulous flapper.

Clarine started her career in films as a teenager, moving from Thanhouser to Pathe to Hal Roach. While working for Roach she claimed that she was fired for refusing to do her own stunts. Like the feisty pre-flapper she was, Clarine filed a suit against Roach and was awarded the tidy sum of $1,325 in damages.

Here is Clarine with Stan Laurel in "Just Rambling Along," a film made while she was working for Hal Roach.

In 1918 she crossed paths with Griffith and he paired her with his leading man, Robert Harron, in 1919’s “The Girl Who Stayed Home.” Playing good-time girl Cutie Beautiful, Clarine made everyone sit up and take notice. Clarine seemed the embodiment of fun.

The adorable Clarine Seymour

It wasn’t easy for a gal to find her place in the Griffith stock company, what with Lil and Carol getting the good parts. However, Griffith cast her in a showy supporting role 1919’s “True Heat Susie,” and in “Scarlet Days” and as the lead in 1920’s “The Idol Dancer.” Although the last film was not a favorite of the critics, Clarine again received great notices. She was clearly on her way to stardom.

Getting ready for stardom

In 1920, Clarine was getting ready to play a leading role in Griffith’s classic “Way Down East” when she fell ill and was admitted to the hospital in April. 4 days later she was dead at age 21 of what was termed “intestinal strangulation.” Other than this mysterious description, there seems to be no reliable information regarding her illness and death. However, her former employer, Hal Roach, seemed to think drugs and/or alcohol may have played a part. In an interview with author Betty Harper Fussell for her book “Mabel” (1982), Roach blamed Clarine’s death on Mabel Normand. He said that “Mabel ‘was the wildest girl in Hollywood’ and ‘the dirtiest talking girl you ever heard.’ Roach was not amused, however, because he felt that Mabel and her (friends) had helped destroy younger girls like starlet Clarine Seymour.”

“‘Clarine ran around with these gals for about a year,’ Roach explained, ‘and then kicked the bucket in 1920.’ Some said she died of drugs. Roach blamed Mabel.”

Whatever her cause of death, Clarine Seymour was a bright star whose light never got the chance to fully shine.

ROBERT HARRON

Young and innocent Bobby Harron

 Bobby Harron owed everything to D.W. Griffith. At age 14 he began working as an errand boy for the Biograph Studios. He was noticed by Griffith, who began using Bobby in front of the cameras. As a teen-ager he embodied the youthful innocence Griffith loved. Graduating from shorts to feature films, Bobby was cast in some of Griffith’s greatest films: “Judith of Bethulia” (1914), “Birth of a Nation” (1915), and “Intolerance” (1916). It was his performance of The Boy in the modern story of “Intolerance” that elevated him to real and respected stardom. Today, almost 100 years after the film’s release, his performance, along with those of of Mae Marsh and Miriam Cooper, remains compelling and heartbreaking.

Harron's greatest performance in "Intolerance"

After “Intolerance,” Harron was Griffith’s leading man of choice in such Griffith productions such as “True Heart Susie” (with Clarine Seymour), “Hearts of the World” (Griffith’s propaganda film for WWI) and “The Romance of Happy Valley.” Although he often partnered Lillian Gish, he enjoyed an off-screen romance with the lovely Dorothy Gish. Things were going well for Bobby Harron, the former errand boy.

Bobby and Lillian  were so charming in "True Heart Susie"

However, youth fades, even when you are only 27, and Griffith found a new preferred leading man in Richard Barthelmess. In 1920, mentor Griffith was done with Bobby and loaned him to Metro Pictures. By all accounts, Harron was deeply hurt.

On September 1, 1920 Harron arrived in New York to support Lillian Gish at the premier of “Way Down East” and to also preview his first Metro picture. While alone in his hotel room he shot himself.   According to all accounts, the gun discharged accidently. Initially he requested a doctor come to the hotel room, but after he had lost too much blood he was taken to Bellevue Hospital. While he was being treated for his wound he was arrested for the possession of a gun without a permit. While rumors began to swirl that Bobby had intentionally shot himself, he and his many friends denied this. He seemed to be on the road to recovery, but on September 5^th, four days after the accident, he died at age 27. The name of the New York hotel he had checked into was the Hotel Seymour. The name of his first Metro film (and last film) was “Coincidence”.

so much talent lost

In 1920, Hollywood lost not only Clarine Seymour and Robert Harron, but also actress Olive Thomas and daredevil movie stunt pilot and actor Ormer Locklear. A memorial service was held for all four of these fallen stars on September 26, 1920. The eulogy was delivered by director William Desmond Taylor who would be murdered in 1922.

The Vamps - Part 1

A Fool There Was....

Virginia Pearson: a 2nd string vamp with big props

When the flapper exploded into popular culture in the 1920s, women in film suddenly became more complicated. Before the woman of the 20^th century appeared, there were usually only 2 types of women depicted in film: the virgin or the vamp. The virgin was good, but the vamp was more fun.

The vamp of the silent screen was a vixen, a temptress and a heartless wench. The term “vamp” referred to Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 poem “The Vampire”

A FOOL there was and he made his prayer (Even as you and I!) To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair (We called her the woman who did not care) But the fool he called her his lady fair— (Even as you and I!) Oh, the years we waste and the tears we waste And the work of our head and hand Belong to the woman who did not know (And now we know that she never could know) And did not understand! A fool there was and his goods he spent (Even as you and I!) Honour and faith and a sure intent (And it wasn’t the least what the lady meant) But a fool must follow his natural bent (Even as you and I!) Oh, the toil we lost and the spoil we lost And the excellent things we planned Belong to the woman who didn’t know why (And now we know that she never knew why) And did not understand! The fool was stripped to his foolish hide (Even as you and I!) Which she might have seen when she threw him aside— (But it isn’t on record the lady tried) So some of him lived but the most of him died— (Even as you and I!) “And it isn’t the shame and it isn’t the blame That stings like a white hot brand — It’s coming to know that she never knew why (Seeing, at last, she could never know why) And never could understand!”

The poem was inspired by this Sir Philip Burns-Jones’ painting of The Vampire.

Allegedly, the inspiration for the woman was famed actress Mrs.
Patrick Campbell, who evidently broke the painter's heart

You can see she was a voracious creature – so unlike Lillian Gish.

As movies became the popular entertainment of choice, the vamp was shown in full flower – heartless, beautiful, a woman of the world who took what she wanted and moved on, leaving her victims broken and bowed.

There were many bad movie ladies in those early days, but 2 ladies notably pushed the vamp-meter to its highest level.

Theda Bara

Watch out!

Even today, the name of Theda Bara is associated with the vamp. Almost none of her films survive, yet the fame still persists.

Struggling actress Theodosia Goodman (of a proper Cincinnati family) landed the part of The Vampire in 1915’s “A Fool There Was” and her fame was sealed. Thankfully, this film does survive and even in the crude technology of the day, her absolute audacity shines through.  Compared to Mary Pickford, this gal was a handful!

Theodosia had changed her name to Theda Bara for the lowly movies (Bara being part of a family name Barranger), but by 1917 the sexpot’s allure was so great that the masterminds at Fox declared it was really an anagram for “Arab Death” and that his mysterious minx was born in the shadow of the Sphinx, possibly the daughter of an Italian sculptor or a Sheik and a French temptress. She was always to appear mysterious in public and never a just the American girl she was. And so the movie publicity machine was born.

Theda was a hot ticket at the box office from 1915 – 1919, when such blockbusters as Cleopatra and Salome wowed ‘em across the country. Once she left her home studio, Fox, in 1919, she couldn’t keep the momentum going. Being so heavily identified with the vamp, she founds non-vamp parts hard to come by. She tried the stage and a few minor productions, but the world of cinema had passed her by. The truth was, she probably wasn’t much of an actress, but she sure was a terrific movie star.

Sadly, all that remain from Theda's blockbusters are still photos that make the loss of such films especially painful. What would you give to see Theda in action as Cleopatra in these duds?

Theda married director Charles Brabin in 1921 and they remained married until her death in 1955. She always listed herself as available for employment until the day she died.

Nita Naldi

On the heels of Theodosia Goodman came Mary Dooley, better known as Nita Naldi. Nita was a lovely Ziegfeld Girl who, after a few minor films, made a splash in 1921’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with John Barrymore. She and Barrymore became great and lasting pals.

Nita really hit the big time when she was chosen to play Dona Sol in 1922’s Blood and Sand, starring opposite Rudolph Valentino. 

Although she was a New York gal, Nita exuded a continental and exotic appeal that a vamp required. She and Rudy had great screen chemistry and they went on to star in 3 films together. Nita became friends with Rudy and his wife, Natacha Rambova, but when they split, the friendship failed.

Nita as "The Cobra"

As quickly as her star rose, it fell at the end of the silent period. Nita never made a talking film. Unlike Theda, Nita was inable to secure a comfortable retirement. The Depression hit her hard, but she managed to find occasional work and some successes on the stage. She even coached Carol Channing on the ABCs of vamping for the 1955 Broadway musical "The Vamp."

The emergence of a more three dimensional feme fatale put an end to the reign of the vamp. Stars like Garbo, Negri and Dietrich offered the public a more complex woman of mystery. No more skulls and mysticism, but it was sure fun while it lasted.

Next up: The Silent Italian Divas: Vamping with a Vengeance!