Item Info

Publication Date: 6/30/1914
Media Type: House Organs
Source: Theatre Collection
Notes:

Velma Whitman

   The Old South, with all its gracious charm and delightful chivalry, has a worthy representative on the great staff of Lubin players, in the person of Miss Velma Whitman. Very much of a Southern girl is this popular player, for her full name is Velma Virginia Whitman. She was born in the grand old city of Richmond. 

   Like so many of the players who have made film productions notable, Miss Whitman had a thorough course of training in the legitimate before taking up the silent drama. 

   For some time, Miss Whitman was associated with Corse Peyton in stock. Her admirable work under the direction of this noted producer of the legitimate attracted the attention of Henry Miller, distinguished playwright and actor. As a result, Mr. Miller featured Miss Whitman for a season as the lead in that notable play, “The Servant in the House.” 

   Miss Whitman has been engaged in moving-picture work for about a year. During that entire time, she has been at the head of one of the companies at the Lubin Western Branch, in Los Angeles, California. 

   Versatility is one of her strong points. She may be a Western girl one week, a Mexican senorita the next, then an Indian maid or a society girl. In all her work, she has the happy faculty of portraying type and atmosphere. 

   Again, she has loads of courage, an asset that is so necessary in many phases of photoplay endeavor. She has been carried through a raging mass of flames, has calmly jumped into a lake and stayed under to register innumerable footage in the form of bubbles on the surface, has risked her life in a mad dash on a real runaway horse, has stood over an exploding gasoline stove with the result that her clothing accidentally caught fire. And the next time something spectacular is on the bill, Miss Whitman will be ready to play her part to the limit. 

   Miss Whitman’s attractive personality, her beauty and her capabilities as an actress have won her countless friends and admirers in all parts of the world. 

   So satisfactory has been her work that she has just been re-engaged by the Lubin Western Branch. During the present year, Miss Whitman will play the leads in a notable series of multiple reel productions, with the incomparable natural beauties of the Golden State as a background.

   Wilbert Melville, the director of the Los Angeles Lubin plant, is very proud of his leading lady, and, in fact, proud of his company, who are mostly products of the Golden West. He can count several sons and daughters of the pioneers. Also Mexicans, Indians and Chinese. His rough riders are noted and most of his actresses are expert horsewomen. Melville looks for strange types, fitted for a line of photo plays that are foreign to the Western studios. He has two assistant directors and three scenario writers on his staff and every week sends two pictures to the Philadelphia plant that are always cheerfully accepted.

Call Number: Lubin - Bulletin I:13