More about Ethel

I haven't been active for a while, but recently a lot more information has come to light about my great aunt Ethel White nee McCann for which I am indebted to Margaret (granddaughter of Ethel's sister Elizabeth) and Alan Miles.

To recap, Ethel married actor Leo White and had a theatrical career under the stage name Blanche White. Her film output was relatively modest http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0924527/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm. So far, I had not seen any movies that included Ethel. So I was particularly delighted to be directed to this 1917 short "The Chief Cook" where Blanche appears as Maggie the 'slavery maid'.
Here is a synopsis
http://www.lordheath.com/index.php?p=1_963_The-Chief-Cook
And here is the movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdaQry_z_34

Margaret and Alan also directed me to an online forum where some else had been researching Blanche/Ethel http://www.voy.com/225534/4/9313.html . "Jesse" had found my blog and compared it to his or her own researches. Working through Jesse's links:

Marriage of Leo and Ethel's elder son Leo Herbert James White to May Emanuella Oddo, 23 November 1947. (As mentioned in previous entries, young Leo is always referred to as Peter or a diminutive in correspondence from Ethel to her sister Ada.) I had not been aware of this marriage and it opens up new avenues for research:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K8KK-8HD
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-29947-66158-80?cc=1804002
At the time, Leo was living at 202 North, La Peer Drive, Beverly Hills. Here it is on Google Streetview
202 No, La Peer Drive (although you do sometimes need to take with a pinch of salt just how accurate Google is at pinpointing individual houses.) But it gives an idea of the location. His occupation is shown as singer.

May is shown as divorced and this is her second marriage, but her father's name is shown as Charles Joseph Oddo, so presumably she reverted to her maiden name after divorcing. Her address is given as North Curson Avenue, Loss Angeles; the house number is indistinct. Her birthplace is Connecticut. So far, no trace of her first marriage,

Ethel's birth
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/2FMX-FPM
Woolwich 2Q 1892, matches what I already have.

Ethel in 1901 census
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X98P-1DF
This is Ethel, her parents, siblings and niece at 49 Marmadon Road, Plumstead (which is listed here as being in Middlesex). This property is still in existence. Search Google Maps and take a virtual tour with Street View. Postcode is SE18 1EA. It is the last house on the north side before Barth Mews and the wheelie bin outside is numbered 49. (In 1891, prior to Ethel's birth, the family was at 39 Marmadon Road, now demolished. You can see its position on this 1959 OS map)

Jesse thinks this could be Ethel arriving in America.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XP29-63L
Ethel McCann, age given as 21, arriving at Niagara Falls, New York in June 1910 via a border crossing from Canada. Birthplace London, England and "Race" Irish. I hadn't been having much luck finding when Ethel left the UK, not least because I didn't know where and when she married Leo, so not sure whether I should be looking for her as McCann or White. And if she travelled via Canada, that would further confound the issue. In June 1910 Ethel would actually have been 17. That does seem rather young to be making such an epic journey. Maybe she was adding a few years to her age to avoid awkward questions, but surely she would have needed a passport. All this does raise questions about how she came to leave her family and start a new life across the Atlantic while still in her teens. Possibly she went over with a travelling theatre company. And did she meet future husband Leo in the USA or England? According to IMDB "Leo White started in comedy on the boards of English music hall in the late 1890's. He accompanied theatrical producer Daniel Frohman (later a partner of Adolph Zukor in Famous Players Lasky) to Hollywood in 1910". Since Ethel and Leo arrived in the USA at about the same time, they may have already known each other and might even have travelled together.

As to the rather odd classification of her "race" (rather than nationality) as Irish, her mother Mary was born in Belfast. Father James was born in Mauritius while his parents were there on military service. James's father John was a gunner in the Royal Artillery, born in Seago, Lurgan, Co Armagh. So maybe by the logic of the time, that made Ethel Irish.

Ethel with sons Leo and John, 1930 census at Hedvig Apartments, 1819 North Kingsley Drive, Los Angeles.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XCV9-5LK
https://archive.org/stream/californiacensus00reel134rs#page/n254/mode/1up
This matches what I was told previously by E.J. Fleming.

To be continued...