Alice Howell (born Alice Florence Clark; May 20, 1886 – April 12, 1961) was a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

comedy actress from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. She was the mother of actress

Yvonne Howell Yvonne Howell (July 31, 1905 – May 27, 2010) was an actress whose career began in silent films. Biography Howell's mother was vaudeville performer and silent actress Alice Howell and her father was Benjamin Vincent Shevlin. In 1930, she bec ...

Biography

Early reviews of her movies describe her as ''"the scream of the screen".'' One reviewer likened her to a "sort of Charlie Chaplin,

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thie ...

, and

Max Linder Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

." All this was compressed into "one more or less diminutive package of femininity". Sometimes called "the girl Charlie Chaplin", she worked for

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in th ...

and later

L-KO Kompany The L-KO Kompany, or L-KO Komedies, was an American motion picture company founded by Henry Lehrman that produced silent one-, two- and very occasionally three-reel comedy shorts between 1914 and 1919. The initials L-KO stand for "Lehrman KnockO ...

. Her early comedies were often produced by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

Career

At Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company, Howell quickly worked her way up from crowd scenes to featured parts in shorts such as Charlie Chaplin's

Laughing Gas (1914 film) ''Laughing Gas'' is a 1914 film starring Charlie Chaplin. The film is also known as ''Busy Little Dentist'', ''Down and Out'', ''Laffing Gas'', ''The Dentist'', and ''Tuning His Ivories''. Plot We are told Charlie is a dental assistant workin ...

, and starred in at least one, ''Shot in the Excitement'' (1914). Hired away by Sennett's former second-in-command,

Henry Lehrman Henry Lehrman (March 30, 1881 – November 7, 1946) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Lehrman was a very prominent figure of Hollywood's silent film era, working with such cinematic pioneers as D. W. Griffith and Mack S ...

, when he set up the

, Howell was cast to support

Billie Ritchie William Hill, known professionally as Billie Ritchie (5 September 1874 – 6 July 1921), was a Scottish comedian who first gained transatlantic fame as a performer for British music hall producer Fred Karno — thus, a full decade before Stan L ...

and became popular in her own one-reelers. By 1917, she was such an audience favorite that Julius and Abe Stern formed Century Comedies to showcase her talents, making her, along with

Mabel Normand Amabel Ethelreid Normand (November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930), better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their K ...

and

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Great Depression, Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-lengt ...

, the third comedienne to have her own exclusive production unit. After Howell and Century parted ways in 1919, the company continued turning out comedy shorts and was renamed

Stern Brothers Stern's (originally Stern Brothers) was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The chain was in business for more than 130 years. In 2001, Stern's parent company Federated Department ...

Comedies in 1926. in 1919, Howell moved to the independent Emerald Company, which became part of the Reelcraft Corporation and released her still extant film,

Distilled Love ''Distilled Love'' is a 1920 American silent comedy film co-directed by Vin Moore and Richard Smith, and featuring Oliver Hardy, who was billed as "Babe Hardy" in this film. Cast * Alice Howell as The Milkmaid * Richard Smith as The Color Bli ...

(1920). Howell's last starring series was a group of 1924–25 domestic comedies for

featuring a married couple and their goofy butler. When this series ended, she appeared in one last short, ''Madame Dynamite'' (1926), for

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

Among more than 100 screen credits, Howell made such motion pictures as ''

Caught in a Cabaret ''Caught in a Cabaret'' is a 1914 short comedy film written and directed by Mabel Normand and starring Normand and Charles Chaplin. Plot Chaplin plays a waiter who fakes being the Prime Minister of Greenland to impress a girl. He then is invi ...

'' (1914), '' Mabel and Fatty's Married Life'' (1915), '' Neptune's Naughty Daughter'' (1917), '' Green Trees'' (1924), and '' Madame Dynamite'' (1926). '' Her Bareback Career'' (1917) was the first of 12 two-reel comedies for a new corporation which was formed to manufacture and distribute Alice Howell comedies. In this era, such female

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

stars as Howell,

Dorothy Devore Dorothy Devore (born Alma Inez Williams; June 22, 1899 – September 10, 1976) was an American silent film actress and comedian. Early life Born as Alma Inez Williams in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 22, 1899, her family soon moved to Los Angele ...

, and

Billie Rhodes Billie Rhodes (born Levita Axelrod) was an American actress who appeared in nearly 200 films during her career. Biography Born in San Francisco, Rhodes starting her acting career with the Morrison Stock Company, a local theatre troupe. She w ...

were inhibited by second-rate films and the absence of genuine star buildup. Howell's film career continued into the sound-movie era with a role as a mute servant of the master murderer in the motion picture ''The Black Ace'' (1933).

Death

Howell died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

, in 1961, aged 74.

Partial filmography

* '' Tillie's Punctured Romance'' (

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It also saw the first airline to provide schedule ...

) as Guest (uncredited) * ''

Bombs and Bangs A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mecha ...

'' (1914) * ''

Lover's Luck ''Lover's Luck'' is a 1914 American short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle. Cast * Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as Fatty * Minta Durfee as The Girl * Al St. John as Fatty's Rival * Josef Swickard as The Girl's Father * Phyllis A ...

'' (1914) * ''

Laughing Gas Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...

'' (1914) * ''

Caught in the Rain ''Caught in the Rain'' is a 1914 American comedy silent film starring Charlie Chaplin. This film was the first of many movies in which Chaplin both directed and played the lead. The short film was produced by Mack Sennett for Keystone Studios w ...

'' (1914) * '' Shot in the Excitement'' (1914) * Alice Howell - Apr 1920 EH

'' (1914) * '' Mabel and Fatty's Married Life'' (

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

) * ''

Father was a Loafer A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fath ...

'' (1915) * ''

Under new Management ''Under New Management'', also known as ''Honeymoon Hotel'', is a 1946 British comedy film directed by John E. Blakeley and starring Nat Jackley, Norman Evans and Dan Young. The screenplay concerns a chimney sweep inherits a hotel and calls o ...

'' (1915) * '' How Stars are Made'' (1916) * '' Her Bareback Career'' (1917) * '' Neptune's Naughty Daughter'' (1917) * '' In Dutch'' (1918) * ''

'' (

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own m ...

) * ''

His Wooden Legacy His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School ...

'' (1920) * '' Her Lucky Day'' (1920) * '' Cinderella Slippers'' (1920) * '' A Convict's Happy Bride'' (1920) * ''

Love Is an Awful Thing Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...

'' (1922) * '' Wandering Daughters'' (1923) * '' Green Trees'' (1924) * ''

The Pride of the Force ''The Pride of the Force'' is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Norman Lee and starring Leslie Fuller, Patrick Aherne, Faith Bennett and Hal Gordon. The plot concerns a farmworker who inadvertently becomes the pride of the Metropolita ...

'' (1925) * '' Under a Spell'' (1925) * '' Madame Dynamite'' (1926)

References

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

Republican, ''At The Theaters'', October 8, 1926, Page 3. *

Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River in Northeast Ohio 23 miles southwest of Cleveland. As of the 2020 cen ...

Chronicle Telegram, ''Public Will Always Love Laughmakers'', July 6, 1978, Page 24. *

Janesville, Wisconsin Janesville is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat and largest city in the county. It is a principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin, Metropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Madison–Jan ...

Daily Gazette, ''News Notes From Movieland'', August 31, 1917, Page 6. *

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

, ''Book Alice Howell Comedies-Superba'', September 23, 1917, Page III17. *Los Angeles Times, ''Actress Gets Half Job'', March 24, 1933, Page 7. *Slide, Anthony: She Could Be Chaplin!: The Comedic Brilliance of Alice Howell. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2016.

External links

*
Alice Howell
at Women Film Pioneers Project
Alice Howell
at Virtual History
Alice Howell DVD Project
at Kickstarter {{DEFAULTSORT:Howell Alice 1886 births 1961 deaths American silent film actresses Actresses from New York City Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Silent film comedians 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American comedians Comedians from New York City Women film pioneers