Lilyan Tashman

Early work

Tashman worked as a model. Her blonde hair and a unique type of beauty appealed to artists, who employed her. From her earliest recollections she yearned to appear on the stage. By 1914, she had also starting working in vaudeville, on a bill that included the up-and-coming double act Eddie Cantor and Al Lee. Tashman and Lee were married in 1914, separated in 1920, and divorced in 1921. Cantor and Lee broke up, with Cantor going on to a successful solo career, Lee going on to become a manager for George White's Scandals and Tashman trying out for whatever Broadway show she could find.

On Broadway

In 1913, Tashman was in the chorus of Her Little Highness. She appeared in the 1916 and 1917 Ziegfeld Follies as well a series of other Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. musical productions, including The Century Girl (1916), Dance and Grow Thin (1917), and Miss 1917 (1917). Tashman also appeared in a number of stage comedies, including The Gold Digger (1930).^[4]

Entering the film business

Later in 1919, she was given a job by the producer David Belasco in a comedy called The Gold Diggers starring Ina Claire. The show was a success, and ran for two years and in addition to her own supporting role, Tashman acted as Claire's understudy.

In 1921, she made her first film Experience with Richard Barthelmess and Nita Naldi. After a period of misfortune in New York City in which one show closed, and she was fired from another, Tashman decided to move to Hollywood to further her film career.

On coming to Hollywood, Lilyan was cast in a supporting role in a Mabel Normand film, Head Over Heels (1922). When The Garden of Weeds (1924) came into production. Her part in the stage play secured for Lilyan the same place in the film. From then on Tashman appeared in many motion picture roles and became a prominent figure in the world of film. At first, she worked for independent film companies but later, she was featured in productions being made by the largest organizations in the industry.

Meeting Edmund Lowe

It was while acting in the film Ports of Call (1925) that the actress met her soon-to-be husband Edmund Lowe. By this time she and Al Lee had divorced. She married Lowe on September 21, 1925. The wedding occurred before the release of the film and the two made their home in Hollywood. Edmund and Lilyan resided in an Art Deco home thought to have been designed by Tashman. Both maintained their acting careers.

As a couple, Tashman and Lowe became more prominent in Hollywood than they had as single people. They entertained lavishly in their Beverly Hills home, and Tashman began appearing on "Best Dressed" lists. Their respective film careers began to improve as a result of the publicity they were beginning to generate.

Writer William J. Mann writes about their marriage in his book "Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood 1910–1969." "Marriage was an advantage for them—not so much for publicity purposes, as has been the assumption made by modern observers looking back, but rather for the greater social mobility marriage—as an institution—offered its members." "Just because both were gay shouldn't discount their affection and commitment."^[5]

Successful film actress

By 1925, Tashman had built a reasonable career as a film actress. She appeared in Pretty Ladies (Joan Crawford and Myrna Loy also taking small roles). Other film roles of note included "Seven Days" (1926), "Texas Steer" (1926), "Camille" (1927), "So This Is Paris" (1928), "Craig's Wife" (1928), "The Trial of Mary Dugan" (1929), "The Marriage Playground" (1929), and "The Gold Diggers of Broadway" (1929), and the pre-Production Code comedy "Girls About Town" (1931).

Over the next few years, Tashman appeared in numerous supporting roles, and several starring roles and, with the advent of talking pictures, made an easy transition. She had a rich contralto voice and a confident delivery of dialogue after years spent on the stage.

Funeral in New York City

Tashman was 37 years old when she died at 2:15 at Doctor's Hospital,^[6] 170 East End Avenue, on March 21, 1934. She had undergone an operation the previous Friday. Rabbi Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Goldenson of Temple Emanu-El performed the funeral service at the Universal Funeral Chapel, 597 Lexington Avenue in New York City. Tashman was later interred at the plot of the Palestine Lodge 71, I.O.S.B., Washington Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.^{[citation needed]}