Laura Guerite (born Laura Leon Garrett; March 3, 1879 – February 2, 1947) was an American actress, dancer, singer, comedian, playwright, and vaudeville performer. She was also an enthusiastic boatwoman and a licensed pilot.
Early life Laura Leon Garrett was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Lawrence Garrett and Julia M. Jardee Garrett. Her father was a sailor on the Great Lakes. She was sometimes described as French by birth,Untitled item, The Washington Post (October 9, 1910): 3. via Newspapers.com"Laura Guerite, New Tivoli Star" The Sun (February 7, 1915): 13. via Trove an impression she may have encouraged with the respelling of her surname. Her maternal grandparents were from France and Switzerland; her paternal grandparents were Canadian.
Film actress Clara Kimball Young was Guerite's niece, the daughter of her sister Pauline Garrette Kimball."Just Like a Plot" The Los Angeles Times (November 12, 1917): 16. via Newspapers.com
Career
Guerite's stage credits included roles in Mr. Wix of Wickham (1904),"Mr. Wix of Wickham" Broadway Weekly (September 28, 1904): 8. The Gay White Way (1907–1908),"The Season's Plays" Harper's Weekly (October 26, 1907): 1570. The Orchid (1907–1908), Mr. Hamlet of Broadway (1908–1909),"Miss Guerite at the Casino" New York Star (December 19, 1908): 17. A Broken Idol (1909),John-A-Dreams, "Drama Under the Dog Star" The World Mirror (October 1909): 96. Dick Whittington (1910),"Complete Cast of Dick Whittington" New York Dramatic Mirror (January 1, 1910): 4. Get Busy with Emily (1910),"New Haven Police Get Busy" New York Dramatic Mirror (May 14, 1910): 9. The Girl in the Taxi (1910),"Astor: The Girl in the Taxi" Theatre Magazine Advertiser (December 1910): xxi-xxii. and Peg O' My Heart (1917)."Laura Guerite as 'Peg' Wins Heart of Honolulu at the Bijou" Honolulu Star Bulletin (April 26, 1917): 6. via Newspapers.com
She went on an extended world tour from 1914 to 1923."Miss Guerite Returns" The Indianapolis Star (June 17, 1923): 60. via Newspapers.com In London she appeared in the revue Oh! La! La! (1915–1916).J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013). In the 1930s, she was performing in vaudeville, variety and cabaret shows in Singapore"Laura Guerite; Vaudeville Entertainment at Victoria Theatre" The Straits Times (October 9, 1931): 14. via NewspapersSG. and India."Miss Laura Guerite; Cabaret Season Opened in Calcutta" The Straits Times (January 22, 1932): 14. via NewspaperSG.
She was known for her "Salome" dance in a minimal gauzy costume."M. B. Haas, "Glimmerings" New York Star (October 17, 1908): 18.Archie Bell, "Anecdotal Histories of Great Roles: Salomania" The Green Book Album (July 1911): 119."'Not Much', Admits Laura Guerite" Oakland Tribune (August 26, 1908): 8. via Newspapers.com She designed her own gownsAnn Randolph, "The Home" National Magazine (June 1912): 392-394. and wore the "latest Parisian creations", as reported in the entertainment press: "Miss Guerite need never hesitate to don any costume that shows the grace of her lines, for she has undoubtedly one of the best figures on the American stage."Ethel Powers, "Miss Guerite's Latest" New York Star (November 28, 1908): 8-9. She contributed a recipe for preparing Brussels sprouts and chestnuts to a 1918 actors' cookbook, to raise funds for war relief."Brussel Sprouts Guerite" Celebrated Actor Folks' Cookeries (Mabel Rowland 1916): 67.
She wrote a one-act play, The Flivver (1916).Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916 (Library of Congress Copyright Office 1918): 2716.
Boats and planes Guerite was known for her interest in automobiles, boats, and airplanes. In 1910, Guerite, her husband, actress Edna Wallace Hopper and two others ran their motor boat, named the Laura G., aground at Little Hell Gate and almost sank."Motor Boat Near Wreck" Detroit Free Press (June 12, 1910): 1. via Newspapers.com"Stage Stars Near Death as Boat is Stranded" Oakland Tribune (June 12, 1910): 18. via Newspapers.com Two years later, again in her namesake motor boat, she and another actress, Rose Parnett, interrupted their tennis game to rescue thirteen men from a foundering yacht, the Count, in Flushing Bay."The Summer Heats Up in 1912 Queens" The Queens Gazette (June 19, 2013)."Two Actresses Save 13 Men About to Drown" New-York Tribune (June 17, 1912): 5. via Newspapers.com
By 1917, Guerite had a pilot's license and was flying a stunt plane over a fundraising show at the Sheepshead Bay Speedway."Honolulu Favorite Stars in Actor's Fund Benefit Show" Honolulu Advertiser (July 9, 1917): 6. via Newspapers.com In 1921 and 1922, she flew an airplane over Adelaide and Melbourne, while she was touring in Australia."Laura Guerite to Fly" The Register (July 6, 1921): 8. via Trove"Bijou–Miss Laura Guérite" The Argus (March 7, 1921): 8. via Trove She designed her own aviation costume too."Types of the Gentler Sex who by Daring Have Won Fame in the Air" Air Travel (May 1918): 861. "I wish I could wear trousers all the time," she explained of her practical aviator gear, "Women are adopting them all over England and France. It would be dangerous to wear skirts when flying."
Personal life Laura Guerite married businessman John J. Parker in 1904.Ethel Powers, "One Happy Life" New York Star (October 24, 1908): 20. She was married a second time by 1922,"Actress Loses Diamonds" Everyone's (May 3, 1922): 20. via Trove to H. M. Craig. Laura Garrett Craig died in 1947, aged 67, in Los Angeles, California. Her gravesite is in Glendale, California.
References
External links A photograph of Laura Guerite in the collection of the American Vaudeville Museum Archive, University of Arizona Libraries. Sheet music for "The Ragtime Violin" (1911) by Irving Berlin, featuring a photograph of Laura Guerite on the cover; from the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University. Sheet music for "If You Must Make Eyes at Someone Won't You Please Make Eyes at Me" (1907), featuring a photograph of Laura Guerite on the cover; from the ASU Sheet Music Collection, Arizona State University.