Virginia Norden
American actress (1879–1948)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Virginia Norden (May 4, 1879 – January 17, 1948), born Violet Alice Dalton, was an American actress on stage and in silent films.
May 4, 1879
Virginia Norden | |
|---|---|
Virginia Norden, from a 1916 publication | |
| Born | Violet Alice Dalton May 4, 1879 Washington, D.C. |
| Died | January 17, 1948 (aged 68) Los Angeles, California |
| Other names | Violet A. Potts, Violet A. Nickel, Violet A. Bubeck (married names) |
| Occupations | Actress, costume designer, modiste |
Early life
Violet Dalton was from Washington, D.C.,[1] the daughter of William Newton Dalton and Olivia Alice Williams Dalton.[2] Her father was a major in the United States Army.[3][4] She studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.[5][6]
Career
Acting
Norden acted on the stage, making her Broadway debut in 1913, in Poor Little Rich Girl by Eleanor Gates.[7][8] She also wrote a play, Making the Movies (1916).[9] In 1916, she contributed a recipe for "Virginia Chow Chow" to a charity cookbook, assembled by Mabel Rowland.[10]
Norden's silent film credits included roles in Baby Hands (1912), For the Mikado (1912),[5] Freddy the Fixer (1916),[11] The Destroyers (1916, also known as Peter God),[12] The Ancient Blood (1916),[13] The Dupe (1916),[14] The Deluded Wife (1916), The Combat (1916), The Dawn of a New Day (1916), Virtuous Wives (1918), and The Mind the Paint Girl (1919).[15]
Clubwork during World War I
Norden formed and led a garden club in Brightwaters, Long Island in 1917, to encourage women to grow vegetables and market their produce locally.[16] The "Patriotic Gardeners", as they were known, also gave benefit shows[17] and raised funds for sending comfort kits, candy, cigarettes, and other supplies to Long Island men serving in World War I.[18][19]
Fashion design
In 1913, Norden gave an interview on the subject of beauty, predicting that "Soon a rational era will come," when women "will revert to simple clothes, stop daubing their faces with cosmetics ... and use the time thus saved to cultivate heart and mind qualities."[3] While working with director Ralph Ince in 1916, she also designed costumes and headed the wardrobe department at Ince Productions.[20] After she left acting, she began a dress and millinery business with her cousin Martha Schorbach and her sister Olivia Dalton[21] in New York,[22][23][24] and was described as a "modiste" in 1928.[25]
Personal life
Violet Dalton married three times. Her first husband was Howard A. Potts; they married in 1898. She married Henry Nickel, in 1906; they divorced in 1928. She married a businessman, Otto Christopher Bubeck, in 1928.[26] She was widowed by 1940, and she died in Los Angeles, California, in 1948, aged 68 years.[27]
