Daphne Pollard
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Daphne Pollard, real name Daphne Trott, (b.1892, Fitzroy, Australia, d.1978), was an Australian actress in American films, mostly short comedies. She was also a vaudeville performer and dancer.
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[edit] Diminutive stage star
She came to New York City with a company in October 1908. They performed musical and dramatic shows such as The Thief, The Chorus Lady, The Witching Hour, and Girls. The productions were staged at the Grand Opera House. Among her fellow actors were Harry Macdonough, Frank Doane, Charles Halton, Edward Craven, and Joseph Herbert. Pollard appeared with the Ziegfeld Follies and in Winter Garden Theatre shows. In 1909 Pollard was with a group which entertained at Keith and Proctor's Fifth Avenue Theater.
Pollard came to Los Angeles, California at the age of 16 in July 1907. She played a role in The Bohemian Girl at the Los Angeles Theater that September, at $60/show. Pollard appeared to Humane Officers as no more than seven years of age. She looked very young because she was small and not well-developed for her age. She told officers that she was sixteen years old the previous August.
Pollard traveled to America with her sister, Ivy, who was twenty or more years of age. As a child Ivy brought Daphne to rehearsals of the Pollard Lilliputian Opera Company. Pollard joined when she was six years old and remained with the organization for eight years. The company featured youth performers whose ages ranged from six to sixteen years. This is how Daphne Trott became Daphne Pollard.
In 1914 Pollard was the petite star of The Girl Behind The Counter at the Morosco Theatre on Broadway (Manhattan). The production also featured actor Al Shean. She followed this success with performances in A Knight For A Day (1915) and The Passing Show of 1915. The latter play was staged at The Mason Theater in Los Angeles and also featured Marilyn Miller. Pollard returned to New York while touring with the Keith Circuit vaudeville players in 1924.
[edit] Screen comedian
Pollard was cast in Mack Sennett girl comedy two-reel productions for the 1927-1928 season. There were four comedy units operating at once at one point on the set. Other actresses featured in the comedy shorts are Carole Lombard, Anita Barnes, Leota Winters, and Kathryn Stanley. The first title to be released was Why Is A Bathing Girl? In this movie Pollard demonstrated her talent as a dancer. (Lombard and Pollard were extremely close friends during the time they were working for Sennett. Stories of wild practical jokes have been written about over the years.)
She memorably appeared in several Laurel and Hardy films of the mid-1930s, mostly as a shrewish wife of Oliver Hardy. Her screen credits continue into the early 1940s. Her final role was in Kid Dynamite (1943).
Daphne Pollard died in Los Angeles in 1978.
[edit] References
- Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, The Littlest Soubrette On Broadway, Sunday, July 4, 1915, Page 8.
- Los Angeles Times, Sad Hunt For Baby Actress, September 29,1907, Page II1.
- Los Angeles Times, Bare Legs Catch Eye, April 13, 1914, Page III4.
- Los Angeles Times, Show World Review, May 11, 1916, Page II6.
- Los Angeles Times, Daphne Pollard With Sennett, June 4, 1927, Page A6.
- Los Angeles Times, Three Comedy Units Under Way At Sennett Studio, July 17, 1927, Page C11.
- New York Times, Brooklyn Amusements, October 4, 1908, Page X2.
- New York Times, Vaudeville, April 18, 1909, Page X8.
- New York Times, News And Gossip Of Vaudeville, May 18, 1924, Page X2.
