Louella Maxam

Louella Maxam (also credited as Lola, Lula, Lulu, and Luella Maxim; June 10, 1891 – September 3, 1970) was an American actress who performed in over 50 silent films from 1913 until 1921. She was often cast in comedies and Westerns, most notably being identified in 1915 as a "leading lady" in a series of shorts starring Tom Mix, who during the silent and early sound eras was promoted as the "Cowboy King of Hollywood".[1][2][3] Later, she was a female lead in other films for various studios, including several productions featuring another early cowboy star, Franklyn Farnum. Following her departure from acting, Maxam worked in county and municipal government in California, including service with the Burbank police department, where in 1943 she was hired as that city's first "police woman".[4]

Louella Maxam
Born(1891-06-10)June 10, 1891[lower-alpha 1]
Saint Augustine, Florida
United States
DiedSeptember 3, 1970(1970-09-03) (aged 79)
Burbank, California
United States
OccupationFilm actress
Years active1913-1921
Spouse(s)John Joseph Keller
(m. 1910–div. 1914)
William Brunton
(m. 1915–div. 1920)
Modie
(m. after 1920–his death prior to 1930)
Children1 daughter, Norma Marguerite Keller
(later Merna Marguerite Modie Levack)

Early life

Born in Florida in 1891, Louella Marguerite Maxam was the elder child of Sue E. Maxam, a native of Illinois.[5] Little is known about Louella's father. According to government records, he was a native of Rhode Island and died prior to April 1910, when the federal census identifies Sue as a widow.[5] Louella later attended public schools in St. Louis, Missouri before moving with her mother and brother Lauren to California.[6] The federal census of 1910 shows that in Los Angeles Sue earned income for her family by renting rooms in their house to several boarders, and that Louella—just shy of 19 years old at the time—was employed as a bookkeeper in a nearby grocery store.[5] Within a few years, however, young "Lula" found work in Hollywood's rapidly growing film industry, initially performing in serials and in stand-alone shorts as an extra and in other small uncredited parts.[3]

Film career

By the latter half of 1913 Maxam was cast as a supporting character in The Adventures of Kathlyn, Hollywood's "first cliffhanger serial".[3] The absence of any 1914 releases in Maxam's known filmography suggests that more substantial roles continued to elude her until the following year, when she began to find steady, credited work in Westerns. In that genre she soon became closely associated on screen with cowboy star Tom Mix, and in 1915 she was recognized as a "leading lady" in his popular productions.[4]

Tom Mix shorts at Selig

Maxam performed in at least 13 of Tom Mix's films.[3][lower-alpha 2] In one of those Westerns, A Child of the Prairie, Maxam's own three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Norma is featured and identified in 1915 trade publications as a "Los Angeles product" and "the youngest member of the Selig Polyscope Company of players".[7][8][lower-alpha 3] In its April 23 issue that year, The Photoplayers' Weekly describes "Baby Norma Maxam" on the set:

She is at the studio on every possible occasion and is beloved and petted by all the cowboys, whom she loves in return...she is too fearless around horses and all animals. While working in "A Child of The Prairie," she gave the company a fright by grabbing hold of the tail of the big horse Mr. Mix was riding, just as he was about to dash into a scene....[7][lower-alpha 4]

Also in April 1915, the Chicago-based trade journal Motography reviewed another Tom Mix Western, The Conversion of Smiling Tom. In its assessment of the short, the publication recognizes Maxam's contributions to the growing quality of the cowboy star's films. "Mix", states Motography, "is ably supported by Louella Maxam" as Smiling Tom's love interest.[9] The journal then adds, "These two players and the others appearing in supporting roles make the film a convincing one by their acting."[9] In addition to the media's recognition of her acting talent, The Photoplayers' Weekly credited her professional success, especially in Westerns, to additional attributes she possessed, namely "her absolute lack of fear" in performing stunts and her excellent "horsewomanship".[10]

Maxam's association with Tom Mix continued to increase her popularity with moviegoers. Photoplayers' Weekly once again highlights Maxam in its July 8, 1915 issue, featuring a portrait of the actress on its front cover, an image that carries the tagline "Star of Western Dramas and Comedies". Yet, despite her screen success with Mix, she declined the offer in the summer of 1915 to relocate from California to work at new studio in Las Vegas, New Mexico, one being constructed specifically for the production of the cowboy star's lucrative films.[10] "Miss Louella Maxam", Photoplayers' Weekly reported, "one of the best known leading women in screen dramas of western life, refuses to sacrifice her home in Glendale, which is the reason she did not accompany Thomas Mix." The Los Angeles publication then added, "the talented young women is considering other offers".[10]

Universal and Keystone

Later in 1915, after declining the move to New Mexico and leaving Selig, Maxam began working for Universal, performing there in Her Prey, Manna, The Phantom Fortune, The Measure of Leon Du Bray, and The Fair God of Sun Island, which was filmed on location at Laguna Beach.[11] In late November, Louella spent two weeks on location again with other "Universalites" in the snowy "Bear Lake regions" of Southern California filming and co-starring with Sydney Ayres in John o' the Mountains, a three-reel "Canadian Northwest" drama written by F. McGrew Willis.[12][13]

Maxam as "Nell" with Edgar Kennedy as "Diamond Dan" in the Keystone two-reel short His Bitter Pill, 1916

In January 1916, after completing John o' the Mountains and The Sting of Conscience for Universal, Maxam signed a contract with Keystone Studios to be in a series of shorts.[14][15] One of those releases is His Bitter Pill, a parody of Western films in which she co-stars with Mack Swain.[16][17] In May 1916, Keystone "loaned" Maxam to Signal Film Corporation so she could accompany her husband, fellow actor William Burton, to Honolulu and Hilo, Hawaii to film the five-reeler The Diamond Runners.[18] Maxam resumed her work at Keystone by late July and was cast in His Lying Heart, Vampire Ambrose, and Ambrose's Rapid Rise.[19] While filming Ambrose's Rapid Rise, in a scene of a burning schoolhouse, the hair of actor Tom Kennedy caught fire. It is reported that when Maxam noticed "the cruel flames were licking up locks from his noble brow, she made a dash at him with a bucket of water and put him out."[20] After that short's release in September 1916, Motion Picture News published an extensive "Motion Picture Studio Directory" in which Maxam's entry includes information about her life, some of her films, leisure activities, physical traits, and even her home address:

MAXAM, Louella, leading woman, Keystone...Recreations, riding, swimming, all out-door sports, music, and domestic science. Hght., 5 ft. 6 in., wght., 130; blonde hair, blue eyes. Home ad., 138 E. 2nd st., Glendale, Cal. Studio ad., Keystone, Los Angeles, Cal.[6]

Maxam's contract with Keystone was a relatively brief one. In early November 1916, shortly after Motion Picture News published the noted directory, Motography announced she had left Keystone "to join her husband [Brunton], who is one of the Signal players."[21] The widely read fan magazine Photoplay subsequently offered a less discreet explanation for Maxam's separation from Keystone, reporting that she was "axed" as part of cost-cutting measures and widespread restructuring within the motion picture industry:

The retrenchment axe was swung with vigor at many of the studios during [October], the casualties having been very large at American in Santa Barbara and at Keystone. Harry Gribbon and Louella Maxam were among the victims at the latter....[22]

Selig, American, and Triangle

After leaving Keystone, Maxam returned to Selig and was cast in Only a Rose, Out of the Shadows, Paradise for a Day, and in several other shorts through mid-1917, mostly in minor roles.[23] One of the few co-starring credits she had at Selig during those months was in Won in the Stretch, a one-reeler.[24] Possibly in a move to obtain work again in longer, more complex films, Maxam accepted roles in several five-reel productions with the American Film Company and Triangle Film Corporation during the latter half of 1917 and 1918. In one of those films, Because of a Woman, Maxam is one of three major supporting characters. Peter Milne, film critic for Motion Picture News, gives a rather vague assessment of the actors' performances in his September 22, 1917 review: "The principal roles are handled by Jack Livingston, Louella Maxam and George Ches[e]bro, a trio who distinguish themselves averagely."[25][26]

For the American Film Company, Maxam performed with J. Gordon Russell in portraying a poor starving couple in The Mantle of Charity, a five-reeler initially released for preview in September 1918.[27][28] In the Western Deuce Duncan, another five-reeler released in November 1918, she co-stars with William Desmond.[29][30] The influential entertainment paper Variety gives that film a mixed review, as it does the performance of "Luella Maxim": "Miss Maxim...makes a pleasing appearance and acts with intelligence, although she could get more out of her part than she does."[31]

Canyon Pictures

Louella, also billed as Lola Maxam, performed her final roles co-starring in a series of Westerns produced in 1919 and 1920 by Canyon Pictures Corporation, films that include The Two Doyles, The Desert Rat, and Brother Bill. The lead in those two-reelers was Franklyn Farnum, who in the decade after World War I became another cowboy star of Hollywood.[3] In October 1920—after Maxam's co-starring role with Farnum in Vengeance and the Girl—trade publications advertised six more of Canyon's popular Westerns.[32] Other actresses, however, were cast in those films, including Helene Chadwick and Mary Anderson. Maxam left the film industry by 1921, a departure date that is corroborated by her complete absence from the 1921 edition of the Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual.[33] One 2019 online reference includes Maxam, without a cited source, as a cast member in the May 1921 Canyon release The Raiders, a lost film that starred Farnum and Claire Windsor.[34][35] Yet, no review, cast listing, or news item alluding to Maxam's participation in The Raiders has been found in a 1921 film-industry publication.[36] In fact, in its disparaging review of The Raiders in July that year, Variety refers to only "the lone woman [Claire Windsor] of the cast".[37]

Post-film career

Maxam remained in California after her work in motion pictures. During the 1920s and throughout the 1930s, she was employed by Los Angeles County as a welfare worker or "investigator".[38][39] She continued in public service into the 1940s although she moved from a county position to a municipal job. In 1943 Maxam joined the police department in Burbank, becoming that city's first female employee in law enforcement.[4]

Personal life and death

Maxam married three times. In 1910 in Los Angeles, she wed John Joseph Keller, a bookkeeper and a native of Chicago.[8] The couple had a daughter, Norma Marguerite, born on April 23, 1911.[8] After divorcing Keller prior to 1915, Maxam married actor William Brunton, a union that lasted until 1920.[40] Information is scant about her third husband, whom she married sometime in the 1920s. His surname was Modie, and census records indicate he died before April 1930, when Louella is listed as a widow and living with her mother in a rental home at 2446 Hidalgo Avenue in Los Angeles.[38] By then and for the remainder of her life, she identified herself as Louella Maxam Modie. She also continued to live with her mother until Sue's death in December 1957.[41]

Louella died of undisclosed causes in September 1970 in a hospital in Burbank, California, and she was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in nearby Hollywood Hills.[4] When Maxam's only child, Merna M. Levack, died in 1996, her body was placed next to Louella's with a memorial plaque inscribed "Devoted Daughter".[42] California death records document that Merna Marguerite [Modie] Levack was born April 23, 1911 in Los Angeles—the same day, year, location, and of the same parents as cited on the birth certificate of Norma Maguerite Keller.[43] That certificate also verifies Norma's delivery as a singular birth, not a twin.[8] Those records and Louella's gravesite memorial therefore indicate that Merna and Norma were the same person. Why "Baby Norma" later altered her birth name to Merna is unknown.[43][44]

Partial filmography

The following list is compiled from various sources, including news items and reviews in film-industry trade papers and journals published between 1913 and 1921, Larry Langman's A Guide to Silent Westerns (1992), and Buck Rainey's Sweethearts of the Sage: Biographies and Filmographies of 258 Actresses Appearing in Western Movies (1992):

  • The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913)
  • A Child of the Prairie (1915) Mrs. Martin / Ruth, her daughter
  • The Man from Texas (1915) Tex's sister
  • The Stagecoach Driver and the Girl (1915)-Edythe
  • Ma's Girls (1915)-Rose
  • Getting a Start in Life (1915)-Elizabeth Spunk
  • Mrs. Murphy's Cooks (1915)
  • The Conversion of Smiling Tom (1915)-Maude
  • An Arizona Wooing (1915)-Jean Dixon
  • Saved by Her Horse (1915)-Nell Dodge
  • A Matrimonial Boomerang (1915)-Grace
  • The Heart of the Sheriff (1915)-Grace Martin
  • With the Aid of the Law (1915)-Rose Butler
  • The Child, the Dog, and the Villain (1915)
  • Foreman of Bar Z Ranch (1915)-Fern Watkins
  • The Taking of Mustang Pete (1915)-Ruth Bradley
  • His Good Name (1915)-Mrs. William Brunton
  • The Phantom Fortune (1915)-Dixie Coday
  • In the Sunset Country (1915)-Nan Thorpe
  • Her Slight Mistake (1915)
  • Her Prey (1915)-Grace
  • The Fair God of Sun Island (1915)-Alice
  • Manna (1915)-Maggie
  • The Measure of Leon DuBray (1915)-Janet
  • John o' the Mountains (1915)
  • A Movie Star (1916)-Nell
  • An Oily Scoundrel (1916)-station agent's daughter
  • Bucking Society (1916)-Shorty's sweetheart
  • His Bitter Pill (1916)-Nell
  • The Diamond Runners (1916)-Helen, the maid
  • The Sting of Conscience (1916)-Anne McDonald
  • His Lying Heart (1916)-manicurist
  • Vampire Ambrose (1916)
  • Ambrose's Rapid Rise (1916)-schoolteacher
  • Only a Rose (1916) - Kate Phelps
  • The Gilded Son (1916)
  • Out of the Shadows (1916) - Rose Morton
  • The Saddle Girth (1917) - Mary
  • Won in the Stretch (1917) - Mary Hughes
  • Because of a Woman (1917) - Muriel
  • The Lost Express (1917 serial)
  • The Luck That Jealousy Brought (1917) - Rose
  • The Mantle of Charity (1918) - Anna Houlahan
  • When Pals Fall Out (1918) - Anne
  • Deuce Duncan (1918) - Ann Tyson
  • Uphill Climb (1919) - Josephine Marsden
  • The Two Doyles (1919) - Bessie Brown
  • Brother Bill (1919) - Ruth Salisbury
  • The Desert Rat (1919) - Frisco Sadie
  • Vengeance and the Girl (1920) - Henrietta Mitchell

Notes
  1. In various records, the year cited for Maxam's birth ranges from 1891 to 1896. Only a death year is inscribed on her grave marker, but film-industry directories in 1916, 1917, and 1918 cite 1894 as her birth year. However, her noted age in the 1910 United States Census and on the April 23, 1911 birth certificate of her child, Norma Marguerite Keller, establish 1891 as Maxam's actual birth year.
  2. One of the 1915 Tom Mix shorts with Maxam was not released by the Selig until January 1917. See "Brief Stories of the Week's Film Releases / The Luck That Jealousy Brought", Motography, February 3, 1917, p. 269. Retrieved June 12, 2019?
  3. Norma M. Keller's birth certificate and the federal census of 1920 confirm the child to be Louella's daughter. The latter documents Norma living with Sue Maxam and identifies her as Sue's granddaughter.
  4. The 1915 film A Child of the Prairie should not be confused with the 1913 Tom Mix short The Child of the Prairies in which Maxam was not cast. See Wikimedia Commons image of the 1913 film's release flier, which includes cast listing.

References
  1. Jensen, Richard Douglas. Tom Mix: Cowboy King of Hollywood. Nashville, Tennessee: Raymond Street Publishers, 2013.
  2. "Louella Maxam, Ex-Actress, Dies", The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), September 5, 1970: A15. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  3. Rainey, Buck. Sweethearts of the Sage: Biographies and Filmographies of 258 Actresses Appearing in Western Movies. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 1992, pp. 56-57.
  4. "Silent Screen Actress Dead", Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), September 5, 1970, p. 4. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  5. "The Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910", copy of original enumeration page, Los Angeles, California, April 26, 1910. U.S. Bureau of the Census. FamilySearch. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  6. "Motion Picture Studio Directory", entry for Louella Maxam under "Actresses—Leads", Motion Picture News (New York, N.Y.), October 21, 1916, pp. 80-81. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  7. "BABY NORMA MAXAM/Who Plays With Tom Mix...", special interest item, The Photoplayers' Weekly (Los Angeles, California), April 23, 1915, p. 9. Internet Archive. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  8. "California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994", image of original birth certificate of Norma Marguerite Keller, April 23, 1911, Los Angeles, California. California State Archives, Sacramento. FamilySearch. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  9. C.J.C. (1915). "The Conversion of Smiling Tom", review, Motography (Chicago, Illinois), April 24, 1915, p. 674. Internet Archive. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  10. "Home Life Holds Actress Here", Photoplayers Weekly, July 8, 1915, p. 6. Internet Archive. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  11. "Universal City News Bulletins/The Fair God of Sun Island", The Photoplayers' Weekly (Los Angeles), September 5, 1915, p. 14. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  12. "Notes From All Over", Motography, December 18, 1915, p. 1301, col. 1. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  13. "Ayres Producing 'John o' the Mountains'", The Moving Picture World (New York, N.Y.), December 18, 1915, p. 451. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  14. "The Sting of Conscience", Motion Picture News (MPN), July 1, 1916, p. 4091. Retrieved June 18, 2019. This film was not released by Universal until months after Maxam joined Keystone.
  15. Sherk, Warren M.; compiler and editor. The Films of Mack Sennett. Lanham, Maryland and London: The Scarecrow Press, 1998, pp. 22, 144, 148.
  16. A full digital copy of "His Bitter Pill (1916)" is available for free viewing on YouTube, originally posted by Mark Laferriere, n.d. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  17. "His Bitter Pill (1916)", article, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  18. "Signal Back From Honolulu", Motography, July 1, 1916, p. 26. Retrieved June 27, 2019. In 1916, Signal was a subsidiary of Mutual Film Corporation.
  19. Sherk, pp. 4, 94.
  20. "Who's Who And Where", Film Fun (New York, N.Y.) November 1915; entire issue has unnumbered pages, but the quoted text is on the fourth and fifth pages from the back cover. Retrieved June 10; 2019.
  21. "Sifted from the Studios: Pacific Coast Notes", Motography, November 11, 1916, p. 1099. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  22. York, Cal (1915). "Plays and Players", Photoplay (Chicago, Illinois), December 1916, p. 90. Internet Archive. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  23. "'Out of the Shadows'", a review that also includes "Paradise for a Day", MPN, November 4, 1916, p. 2868. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  24. "Won in the Stretch", MPN, June 2, 1917, p. 3472. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  25. Milne, Peter (1917). "Because of a Woman", review, MPN, December 1917, p. 4399. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  26. "Two Dramas on Triangle Program: Belle Bennett's Beauty Helps Make 'Because of a Woman'...", Motography, December 22, 1917, p. 1288. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  27. "Mantle of Charity", review, Wid's Daily (New York, N.Y), September 25, 1918, p. [4]. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  28. "Mantle of Charity—American", MPN, October 12, 1918, p. 2457. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  29. Langman, Larry. A Guide to Silent Westerns. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, p. 120.
  30. "Heffron Directs Desmond in 'Deuce Duncan'", MPN, November 30, 1918, p. 3242. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  31. "Deuce Duncan", Variety (New York, N.Y.), November 22, 1918, p. 46. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  32. "Vengeance and the Girl (1920)", catalog, American Film Institute (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  33. Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual, 1921, Motion Picture News, Inc., New York, N.Y. Internet Archive. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  34. "Louella Maxam", filmography, Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Amazon, Seattle Washington. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  35. "Canyon Series on Big Circuits", MPN, June 18, 1921. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  36. A 1921 theater advertisement for The Raiders that depicts Farnum and Windsor. "Claire Windsor", The Cawker City Hesperian Historical Society, Cawker City, Kansas. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  37. "The Raiders", review, Variety, July 8, 1921, p. 27. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  38. "Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930", Los Angeles, California, April 11, 1930. Family Search. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  39. "Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940", Los Angeles, California, April 15, 1940. Family Search. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  40. William and Louella [Maxam] Brunton are documented still living together in Glendale in January 1920. "Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920", Glendale City, California, January 10, 1920.
  41. "Deaths, Funeral Announcements", Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California), December 25, 1957, p. A7. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  42. "Louella 'Lula' Maxam Modie", photograph of memorial plaque at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California. Find a Grave site. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  43. "California Death Index, 1940-1997", Norma Maguerite Levack, child of Keller and Maxam, born April 23, 1911, died January 24, 1996 in Riverside, California. California Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Section, Sacramento. FamilySearch. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  44. An unreferenced 1954 newspaper obituary for John Joseph Keller—Norma's (and Merna Levack's) father—is provided at Find A Grave. It reports that Mr. Keller was survived by his daughter, "Mrs. Myrna Howard" of Burbank, California. Retrieved June 12, 2019. That obituary suggests that Myrna's (Merna's) marriage to a Mr. Howard later ended in divorce or due to his death, and she subsequently married a Mr. Levack.
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