Ida St. Leon

Ida St. Leon, from a 1909 publication.
Ida St. Leon publicity photo with signature
Ida St. Leon and George Le Guere, in Mamma's Affair, from a 1920 publication

Ida St. Leon (16 January 1894 – 8 July 1961) was an Australian circus performer and actress.

Early life

Ida Jeannie Jones was born in Sydney, Australia, though some publicity suggested she was born in China.[1] Her parents were Alfred St. Leon and Vernon Ida St. Leon[2] of the "Famous St. Leon Family of European Acrobats".[3] As her parents' work suggests, the younger Ida and her siblings were working as circus performers from an early age.[4] When Ida was thirteen, the family were on Broadway, in Margaret Mayo's show Polly of the Circus (1907);[5] Ida St. Leon took over the lead role from Mabel Taliaferro in 1909,[6] and toured with the show for a few years after that.[7]

Career

Stage credits for Ida St. Leon included Finishing Fanny (1912),[8] Our Children (1913), Help Wanted (1914),[9] Little Women (1914),[10] Upstairs and Down (1916), Rachel Barton Butler's Mamma's Affair (1917),[11][12] The Wheel (1921),[13] and Lightnin (1923).[14]

Of her work in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1916), one unimpressed Los Angeles critic wrote that "Ida St. Leon drawls out her snippy lines in that nasal twang described as 'cute.'"[15] Photographers considered her photograph a "bestseller" in 1913.[16]

Personal life

Ida St. Leon's engagement to businessman Leo Maurice Rosenberg was announced in 1916.[17] The Rosenbergs had a son, Leo in 1917, were "estranged" from 1918 to 1920, then reunited.[18] She was named a co-respondent in the divorce of Eugenia and George McIntyre, with accusations that Ida St. Leon was being "overfriendly" with the husband, and accepting significant gifts of cash from him.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Circus Girl to be a Star" New York Times (7 June 1909).
  2. ^ "Circus in Australia – A way of life for 70 years, 1847–1917" About Australia.
  3. ^ Program, Polly of the Circus (1908), in the Chicago Public Library, Chicago Theatre Collection.
  4. ^ "Queen in Sawdust Ring Now is Stage Favorite" Los Angeles Herald (7 January 1911): 29. via California Digital Newspaper Collection Open access icon
  5. ^ George Jean Nathan, "Through a Star to Stardom" The Burr McIntosh Monthly (September 1909): 12-16.
  6. ^ "Miss Ida St. Leon, The Youngest Leading Woman" The Bega Budget (6 November 1909): 3. via TroveOpen access icon
  7. ^ Cover illustration, Town Talk (10 December 1910): 1.
  8. ^ "Theatrical: Ida St. Leon in Finishing Fanny" Greenville News (15 December 1912): 17. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  9. ^ "Tells How She Bounced from Circus to Legitimate Stage" New York Herald (15 February 1920): 42. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  10. ^ "'Little Women' Best Play" Tacoma Times (13 February 1914): 7. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  11. ^ Burns Mantle, "Ladies First" Green Book Magazine (April 1920): 65.
  12. ^ Thomas S. Hischak, Broadway Plays and Musicals (McFarland 2012): 281. ISBN 9780786453092
  13. ^ Gerald Bordman, American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama 1914-1930 (Oxford University Press 1995): 155. ISBN 9780195090789
  14. ^ "'Lightnin' at Germania Sunday" Freeport Journal-Standard (24 March 1923): 7. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  15. ^ Edwin Arthur Hunt, "Our 'Respectable' Actors" Out West Magazine (July 1916): 34.
  16. ^ "Her Face, Her Fortune" San Francisco Call and Post (24 December 1913): 4. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  17. ^ "Love God Tempts Star from Path of Stage Success" Oakland Tribune (14 August 1916): 14. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  18. ^ "Home and Baby Son Lure Actress from Stage" San Bernardino County Sun (15 August 1920): 5. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  19. ^ "Abandoned Wife Accuses Actress" Washington Times (4 May 1920): 1. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon