Ethel having a bad hair day

Rebecca - from whom I have cribbed most of what is in my tree about the Precious side of the family - tells me that Ethel went to Hollywood as understudy to Pearl White. That fitted in with the vague idea my sister and I had that the name "White" came into it somewhere. Pearl White was born in 1889 and Ethel in 1892 so they would have been close enough in age. Pearl's movie career spanned from 1910 to 1924, all silents. But all her movies were made in East Coast studios and it is believed she never visited Hollywood. So perhaps there is more to the story that we do not know yet. The Beverly Hills pictures I have posted here show Ethel and her family enjoying the fruits of their success. Did she start out on the other side of the continent? Husband Bob was a New Englander, so he might well have begun his movie career in studios on the East Coast.

Ethel and Bob, Clark Drive, after 4 p.m. Sunday

There are two sets of pictures here. The first two prints are slightly smaller and the writing on the back looks a bit different. Maybe one set went to Ada and the other to Fred. (I think Fred must have been Ethel's brother James. See more in a future post.) She tells us their house is on Clark Drive. But did they move house? See my notes on the 'Ethel's "baby"' post.

Around the margins on tha back of one picture, she writes "Remember old 'Bobbie' Bolder at Essanay Chicago? They have lived on Clark for about 20 years. Bobbie died at 78 a little while ago. Bolders (Edney's) house is about where X is. Old Bobbie was for all his 78 years a spry white haired chubby John Bull type. He was a Christchurch boy in his youth - nice old Bobbie. Bobbie loved to tell Peter and Jack what a rosy cheeked fair lass I was when he met me." Bobbie Bolder was a movie actor. I cannot shed any more light on the "X" - perhaps a map or similar was enclosed. This also tells us that Ethel spent some time in Chicago. Leo appeared in a number of Charlie Chaplin movies for Essanay. Bobbie Bolder died 10 December 1937.

Updates:
Bobby Bolder/Edney must be the actor Robert Bolder (1859-1937), born Robert Jospeh Edney.
Ethel refers to 'Bobo' as 'good old New England Yankee'. As noted elsewhere (More About Ethel 3) he was actually George Lewis Cooke White. His father was born in Massachusetts, his paternal grandparents in New Hampshire and his mother in Rhode Island, which all fits the New Hampshire tag.
Ethel gives the name of her bulldog as "Whiskie" or in full "Leatherneck Gaiety Girl". This link topline-bulldogs.com/bulldog_pedigrees shows her as the grandmother (or whatever the correct term is) of Champion Cockney Gorblimey (dob 2/2/1942)

Ethel's boy Jack in the army

Ethel's "baby" - John Frederick

One of these pictures went to Ada and the other to Fred (who I think must be Ethel and Ada's brother - see later posts), but they are both part of Ada's archive. Ethel is asking for photos of Ada's son Donald in uniform, so presumably this is some time during WWII. She mentions that these were taken a few months ago "over on Clark Drive". In the "after 4 p.m." pictures, she tells us that they lived on Clark Drive. The "Easter Sunday" pictures were taken outside their house and part of Arnaz Drive is visible. Clark Drive and Arnaz Drive run parallel and are fairly close together, but Robertson Boulevard runs between the two and I don't think you could see one from the other. Did they move house? I really need to go on a fact-finding visit to Beverly Hills to sort this one. Any sponsorship deals would be most welcome! References to studios and rehearsals tell us that Jack and Peter both followed in their parents' footsteps into movie acting.

Ethel, Bob and Peter - Easter Sunday

Ethel McCann emigrated to the USA for a career in the movies. Ethel's first husband was Leo White (originally Leo Weiss). She went under the stage name of Blanche White. These pictures show Ethel, her son Peter and Bob/Bobo, who I presume is her second husband. (Her other son John does not feature here, presumably as he was on army service at the time.) I have no pictures of Leo in my archive, but have found a few of him on the web. John and Peter show a family resemblance to Leo, so I presume they are his sons. If we assume Ethel was in her mid to late forties, then these pictures were taken in the late 1930s or early 1940s. Arnaz Drive is partially visible in some pictures. That would place them in what is now Beverly Hills 90211. Captions to other photos give some other street names. With luck and some help from Google maps, I hope to get a fix on where exactly they lived. Whilst Ethel and Bob may not have been "A" list stars, they certainly seem to have been earning a good living from what they did; they are very well dressed and living in a quite affluent area. She mentions Bob was letting his hari grow for a picture he was working on, which indicates that he is a movie actor.

[Update. 1930 census data for Ethel's family reveals that Peter was actually Leo H. I have therefore indexed him as "Leo H White II" in this and subsequent posts.]
[Further update. Bob/Bobo was George Lewis Cooke White. See More About Ethel 3 for further details. Ethel makes the comment 'Old Captain Cooke must have been like his grandson. It is a bit of a stretch to imagine that Bob/George is the grandson of British explorer Captain Cook (usually spelt without a final ‘e’ and died in 1779), but I think the use of ‘Cooke’ here is significant as it was one of George’s middle names and his mother’s maiden name. It provides further evidence that Bob/Bobo is George White.]

Ethel mentions "Bostal Heath" - this is a wooded area in Abbey Wood, not too far from Woolwich, where the McCanns had lived in England. She also describes Bob as looking like a hopper in Kent. Back then (and I can even remember it in the 1960s) some less affluent Londoners would take working holidays hop picking in Kent. Jack (presumably brother John Frederick) is addressing Peter as an "exemptee" - maybe that is a reference to him being exempt from army service.

This little lad has been in the wars

Notice the plaster casts on both feet. Another photo from Ada's archives. The fashions look 1920s or 1930s. I don't think mum is one of the McCann girls - definitely not Ada, Annie, Ethel or Linda. I have not seen any pictures of Elizabeth, but she was born in 1880 so would have been in her 40s or 50s when these photos were taken. Or it could be one of Bill Warden's family. Or somebody not related at all.

An odd Australian photo

What is this picture about? I thought the chap in the background looked a bit Australian. There is a stamp on the back "J.H. Carr & Co, Bunbury" so I did a Google search on that. Bunbury is a city in Western Australia. And there was a Chemist's called J.H. Carr there (Victoria Street [76-78] cnr Wellington Street). Collectibles from J.H. Carr turn up on eBay or similar sites.

The only Australian connection I know of is Velda, a granddaughter of Annie Precious (nee McCann.) I have a few pictures from her in the archive, but this is not the kind of happy family snap (often helpfully labelled with names) I associate with her. And I don't think she emigrated until the 1960s at least; this picture looks much older.