She received some of her funding from a noted playwright, William C. deMille, older brother of Cecil B. DeMille, who assured an all-star cast for opening night.[3] She started the new theater in a building that had previously been a bowling alley, and was noted in magazines and the news as being modest.[4] The Los Angeles Times hailed the theater as "one of the most artistically conducted little theaters in America."[2] She received published, public praise for her accomplishment from many stars in England and the United States that included Sir J. M. Barrie, John Galsworthy, Charlie Chaplin, King Vidor, Douglas Fairbanks, and Katherine MacDonald.[5]
As part of a nationwide little theatre movement, her theater may have inspired Harold Lloyd's 1931 effort, the Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals. They both served as important incubators for new actors, and a means of helping established stage performers navigate to the burgeoning medium of cinema by getting them in front of Hollywood talent scouts. She advertised special coaching for those struggling to make the transition from silent to talking pictures.[6]
Her theater thrived for five years before losing its lease, and she continued as a successful teacher, sometimes continuing to use the Hollywood Community Theater name for subsequent productions.[7] Actors such as Lawrence Tibbett, Edward Everett Horton, Dana Andrews, and Academy Award winner Conrad Nagle got their start in Hollywood films by debuting in her productions.[8] Other actors who studied with her included Betty Grable, Robert Taylor, Julie Haydon, Rosella Towne, and Paulette Goddard.[8][9]
