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One of the prominent pioneers of the early film years, Mabel Norman's rambunctious and free spirited personality translated to the screen, and she continued to draw people in. She was influential for years but her name then faded into obscurity.
Mabel Normand: The Maverick Comedian
Considered to be the silver screen’s first comedian star, Mabel Normand was just as non-conformist off-screen. She was also Charlie Chaplin’s early mentor and friend, and directed some of his earliest films. Research indicates that she may have directed or co-directed 26 films in the period between 1912 and 1915, and she starred as an actress in at least 167 shorts and 23 full-length features during her career.
On gin soaked days she would taunt the press by lifting her skirt at them, or with jests like:
“Say anything you like, but don’t say I love my work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, that prissy bitch. Just say I like to pinch babies and twist their legs. And get drunk.”
She carried around a monogrammed Cartier flask to slip gin into her coffee, even after prohibition was instituted, and ate ice cream for breakfast. To dull the pain from injuries she had sustained doing stunts, she took what she called “goop," a mysterious pain killer.
Mabel Normand was often in the wrong place at the wrong time, though some speculated it was no mistake. In 1921 she was pulled into the scandal of the rape trial of her friend and co-star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. In 1922 Normand also visited her friend, the director William Desmond Taylor, the night he had been killed by an unknown assailant. She had been the last person to see him alive, and it was rumoured that she was involved in a love triangle, in which she and Miles Minter had vied for the affections of the deceased director.
At a party on New Year's Day in 1924, oil tycoon Courtland S. Dines said something offensive to Mabel Normand, and her chauffeur took offense, went to retrieve the actress’ pistol and shot the tycoon. Dines survived the shooting and dropped charges. Because of all the scandal surrounding Norman’s career it took a downturn in the mid-20s. She died from Tuberculosis in 1930, at the age of 37.
Thank you for reading!
One of the prominent pioneers of the early film years, Mabel Norman's rambunctious and free spirited personality translated to the screen, and she continued to draw people in. She was influential for years but her name then faded into obscurity.
Mabel Normand: The Maverick Comedian
Considered to be the silver screen’s first comedian star, Mabel Normand was just as non-conformist off-screen. She was also Charlie Chaplin’s early mentor and friend, and directed some of his earliest films. Research indicates that she may have directed or co-directed 26 films in the period between 1912 and 1915, and she starred as an actress in at least 167 shorts and 23 full-length features during her career.
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| Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand in "Gentlemen of Nerve" (1914). |
On gin soaked days she would taunt the press by lifting her skirt at them, or with jests like:
“Say anything you like, but don’t say I love my work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, that prissy bitch. Just say I like to pinch babies and twist their legs. And get drunk.”
She carried around a monogrammed Cartier flask to slip gin into her coffee, even after prohibition was instituted, and ate ice cream for breakfast. To dull the pain from injuries she had sustained doing stunts, she took what she called “goop," a mysterious pain killer.
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| Mabel Normand in "Mickey" (1918). |
Mabel Normand was often in the wrong place at the wrong time, though some speculated it was no mistake. In 1921 she was pulled into the scandal of the rape trial of her friend and co-star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. In 1922 Normand also visited her friend, the director William Desmond Taylor, the night he had been killed by an unknown assailant. She had been the last person to see him alive, and it was rumoured that she was involved in a love triangle, in which she and Miles Minter had vied for the affections of the deceased director.
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| Mable Normand as a director. |
At a party on New Year's Day in 1924, oil tycoon Courtland S. Dines said something offensive to Mabel Normand, and her chauffeur took offense, went to retrieve the actress’ pistol and shot the tycoon. Dines survived the shooting and dropped charges. Because of all the scandal surrounding Norman’s career it took a downturn in the mid-20s. She died from Tuberculosis in 1930, at the age of 37.
Thank you for reading!
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