Vola Vale (February 12, 1897 - October 17, 1970)
George Katchmer said in 1993, that Vola Vale exists only in her films. She was an actress whose fame lies in the silent era. A casualty of the demise of the silent film, she has faded into the past and is today a lost player. It is time for this once popular actress who was the leading lady of such legendary stars as William S. Hart, Sessue Hayakawa, Charles Ray, Earle Williams, and Harry Carey to find her place in film history. When one looks at her film output, one canâ??t help but ask why has she been forgotten by all but a few film historians?
One of the great beauties of her era, Violet Irene Smith was born the daughter of Elizabeth Page and William Smith in Buffalo, New York, on February 12, 1897. Educated in Rochester, New York, she appeared in amateur stage productions in that city before embarking on a film career for the American Biograph Company in 1913 under the name of Vola Smith (the actress continued to use Smith in films until 1916 before changing Smith to Vale).
As a member of the Biograph stock company, Miss Vale appeared in a wide variety of roles in the companyâ??s two and three reelers. Between 1914 and 1916 under the direction of Lawrence Marston, J. Farrell MacDonald, Walter Coyle, and Traverse Vale Miss Vale appeared opposite Alan Hale in Masks and Faces, A Scrap of Paper, Captain Fracasse, Frederick Holmes' Ward, Heart Trouble, His Emergency Wife, The Passing Storm, The Inevitable, Cupid Entangled, His Romany Wife, The Smugglers Ward, and Alias Jimmie Barton. Other Biograph films included The Iron Master, The Black Sheep, The Harvest, Lorna Doone, Loves Enduring Flame, The Soul of Pierre, The Girl He Brought Home, Celeste, The Evidence of Chain, Merry Mary, Paths That Crossed, Felix Holt, and What Happened to Peggy.
After leaving Biograph in 1916 Miss Vale joined the Universal Company, and under the companyâ??s various brand names of Gold Seal, Bluebird, and Big U she appeared in a series of one- and two-reelers under the direction of Clifford S. Elfelt and Wallace Beery that included The Cry of Conscience, The Eternal Way, For Her Mother's Sake, From the Rogue's Gallery, A Great Love, Hired and Fired, The Sody Clerk, Song of the Woods, A Thousand a Week, Weapons of Love, and The Woman He Feared.
In 1916, after appearing in Nestorâ??s one reeler It Sounded Like a Kiss, Victorâ??s two reeler Topsy Turvy Twins and Impâ??s four reeler The Last Cigarette, Miss Vale moved into feature films in 1916-1917 as leading lady in The Price of Silence (Bluebird, with Dorothy Phillips and Lon Chaney), Each to His Kind (Paramount, with Sessue Hayakawa), The Secret of Black Mountain (Falcon, with Philo McCullough), Mentioned in Confidence (Fortune Photoplays, with R. Henry Grey), The Silent ManThe Son of His Father (William S. Hart Productions, the first of three films with Mr. Hart), (Paramount, with Charles Ray), The Winning of Sally Temple (Paramount, with Fannie Ward), and Zollenstein (Falcon, with Monroe Salisbury).
In 1918 William S. Hart sought Miss Vale as his leading lady in his production of The Wolves of the Rail, and her only other 1918 film was under the direction of Henry King in Oakdaleâ??s production of The Locked Heart with child actress Gloria Joy as the star. Miss Vale returned to the screen in 1919 in Happy Though Married (Paramount, with Enid Bennett and Douglas MacLean), A Heart in Pawn (Haworth, again with Sessue Hayakawa), Hearts Asleep (B. B. Features, with Bessie Barriscale), Six Feet Four (Pathe, with William Russell), and The Hornetâ??s Nest (Vitagraph, with Earle Williams).
Allison Rogers interviewed her for the Motion Picture Magazine (April 1919), and when asked who was her favorite actor, she replied without hesitation that it was Sessue Hayakawa and that one day she wanted to appear in Madame Butterfly with an all-Japanese cast and enjoyed working with William S. Hart for all the tricks played on each other while filming. She said that his nickname for her was the Pest.
Now one of the screenâ??s most popular leading ladies, her career in 1920 proved to be very productive with leads in Alias Jimmy Valentine (Metro, with Bert Lytell), Common Sense (Republic, with Ralph Lewis), The Iron Rider (Fox, with William Russell), A Master Stroke, and The Purple Cipher (Vitagraph, with Earle Williams), Overland Red (Universal, with Harry Carey), and Someone in the House (Metro, with Edmund Lowe).
1918 Miss Vale married actor-director Albert Russell, the brother of William Russell. The Russell brothers were active in film production and the social life of the film colony, and Miss Vale's marriage now made her one of Hollywoodâ??s social leaders. Married into a family noted for their western films, Miss Vale turned to the western genre and appeared as leading lady to Fred Stone in Metro's The Duke of Chimney Butte (1921), William Russell in Foxâ??s Singing River (1921), William S. Hart in his production of White Oak (1921), Harry Carey in R. C. Picturesâ??s Good Men and True (1922).and Crashin' Thru (1923).
When Miss Valeâ??s marriage to Mr. Russell ended in divorce, she forsook the westerns for primarily society melodramas. From 1923-1927 with her career in decline, Miss Vale appeared in support of Allen Forest and Edna Murphy in Finis Foxâ??s Production of The Man Between (1923), starred opposite Gaston Glass in the Nelson Production of The Midnight Flower (1923), supported Madge Bellamy in Thomas H. Inceâ??s Soul of the Beast (1923), supported Florence Vidor in the Regal Production of The Mirage (1924), starred in Sun Motion Picturesâ??s Heartless Husbands (1925), supported Mary Pickford in her production of Little Annie Rooney (1925), Who Cares (Columbia, 1926, with Dorothy Devore and William Haines), Her Big Adventure (Kerman Films, 1926), The Sky Pirate (Sun Motion Pictures, 1926), and Two Can Play (Encore Pictures, 1926).
For producer, director and writer John W. Gorman in 1927 Miss Vale starred in his production of Black Tears with Bryant Washburn. While the film was in production, Miss Vale married Mr. Gorman on December 8, 1926. Upon the filmâ??s completion Miss Vale retired from the screen. With the coming of sound, the actressâ??s career ended in 1927. She never tried for a comeback. Little can be found on her after her retirement. Her marriage to Mr. Gorman later ended in divorce. On January 21, 1932 she married Lawrence C. McDougal which ended with his death on February 15, 1970. Miss Vale followed her husband in death soon after from heart disease and diabetes in Hawthorne, California on October 17, 1970.
A forgotten silent film actress Miss Valeâ??s career lies in the long ago days of the silent films, but when seen upon the screen she proves herself to be an actress whose beauty and talent should now give her a place in film history.
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Originally Posted by Vlad
