Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses

Arline Pretty

ARLINE PRETTY Blanche Sweet is a real name, perfect for a silent film star, and so is Arline Pretty, which sounds too good to be true. (What was appropriate for silent films did not work later, and in the 1950s Britishfilm star Violet Pretty changed her name to Anne Heywood.) Arline Pretty (Philadelphia, September 5, 1885-Los Angeles, April 14, 1978) was educated in Washington, D.C., where she was a member of the Columbia Players. She wanted to be a Broadway star but instead was lured to Tampa, florida, to appear in local films aimed at promoting the city as a production center: "I don't think anyone eversaw those. I never heard of them, but I did get the experience which was good for me." The actress was briefly with Universal and then joined the Vitagraph Company in 1915. She was attractive enough that year to be elected Miss Brooklyn. Vitagraph had produced its first serial. The Goddess, in 1915 as a starring vehicle for Earle Williams and Anita Stewart. The silly story involved a modern Joan of Arc raised on a desert island in the belief that she was a goddess. Arline Pretty was starred in Vitagraph's 1917 serial. The Secret ffingdom, the first episode of which was released on January 1st. While neither as pretty as Pearl White nor as adventuresome as Ruth Roland, Arline Pretty made an appealing serial heroine and followed The Secret ffingdom with The Hidden Hand (1917) and A Woman in Grey(1920), both released by Pathe. "They did make you tremendously popular," she recalled. "Because they were sixteen episodes, and you were in a theatre for sixteenwhole weeks. I got thousands of letters and cards. "You know I was always being kidnapped and Charles Richman was always rescuing me. In The Secret ffingdom, they took me to a place in Brooklyn, the top floor of one of those brownstones. Charles was to get a room in the next house, let a rope down to me, and I was to jump out and he'd take me across. Naturally Iwas a little nervous about it. I'd never jumped out of a four-storey place in my life-and never expected to. I had an evening dress on and they did make a belt to go under the dress with a hook on it. A man whose name was Eddie Wentworth had charge of the stunts and he said, 'Don't jump out until I call all right.' I thought I heard 'all right' and I jumped out. I went zooming down to the first floor and I was stuck. I'd be smashed to pieces if I'd gone all the way. Charles and Eddie came down and they were white as sheets. Because when I jumped out. nobody had a hold of the rope on the roof. They had put it around the chimney so it wouldn't fall off. They saw it start to go and ran as fast as they could and stopped it. Eddie said, 'Why did you jump before I said all right?' He nearly fainted 318 Arline Pretty because he realized he'd called 'hold tight' and it sounded like 'all right' to me. Arline Pretty's feature films are not available for viewing, which is unfortunate as a few boast remarkable storylines. Her first. The Man Who Found Himsel£. released by World in 1915. has the hero. Robert Warwick. escape from SingSing by pretending to be a member of the World film crew shooting there. In Vitagraph's The Dawn ofFreedom (1916). Revolutionary War hero Charles Richman is held in suspended animation and revived to lead the workers in a rebellion against the current owner of a coalmine on his property. Arline Pretty was also a leading lady to Douglas fairbanks in In AgainOut Again. released in April 191 7. playing a pacifist fiancee to the war preparedness hero. In the Western The ChaJJenge of Chance. released in July 1919. Arline Pretty plays opposite heavyweight champion of the world. Jess Willard. In the 1920s. Arline Pretty's career was generally limited to second female leads in minor productions. She did appear in a couple of Metro films starring Viola Dana, for which her salary of $250 a week was not bad. Her last silent film was \tlrgin Lips. produced by Columbia in 1928. I interviewed Pretty in connection with my book...