Arline Pretty

{{Short description|American actress (1885–1978)}} {{Infobox person | name = Arline Pretty | image = Arline Pretty (Feb 1923).png | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = September 5, 1885 | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = April 14, 1978 (aged 92) | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1913-1935 (film) }} '''Arline S. Pretty''' (September 5, 1885<ref name=":0">Some sources give 1893 as her birth year, and Washington, D.C. as her birth place.</ref> – April 14, 1978) was an American film actress of the silent era.<ref>Munden, Kenneth White. ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1''. (University of California Press, 1997): 616.</ref>

== Early life and education == Pretty was born September 5, 1885, in Philadelphia,<ref name=":0" /> the daughter of Edwin S. Pretty and Ellen (Nellie) Service Pretty.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1917-05-08 |title=Miss Pretty is Now a Movie 'Leading Lady' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-news-miss-pretty-is-now-a-mo/196631864/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The Evening News |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her father died in 1894. Her mother was a musician, and the name "Arline" was chosen from the opera ''The Bohemian Girl''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Rainey |first=Buck |url=http://archive.org/details/thosefabulousser0000rain |title=Those fabulous serial heroines : their lives and films |date=1990 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8108-1911-5 |location=Metuchen, N.J. |pages=395}}</ref> She may have attended a school in High Bridge, New Jersey.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1974-08-08 |title=Can it be That Only One Man Remembers The Pretty Girl from High Bridge Who Flashed Across the Silver Screen? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/echoes-sentinel-can-it-be-that-only-one/196630153/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=Echoes-Sentinel |pages=13 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1903 she delivered a dramatic monologue at a meeting of the District of Columbia League of Debating Societies.<ref>{{cite news|title=In Favor of the Negative|work=Washington Evening Star|date= March 5, 1903|page= 16}}</ref>

== Career == In 1903 Pretty was founding member of the Criterion Players (CP) in Washington D.C.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Criterion Players|work=The Washington Post|date= November 2, 1903|page= 4}}</ref> She appeared in this organization's first production as the wife in Sydney Grundy's ''Prince of Liars'' which was staged at National Rifle Hall in November 1903. ''The Washington Post'' stated her performance was "commendably done".<ref>{{cite news|title=Stage Gossip|work=The Washington Post|date= November 25, 1903|page= 5}}</ref> She performed with the CP in 1904 as Etta in ''Suzette'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Critierion Players in ''Suzette''|work=Washington Evening Star|date= March 2, 1904|page= 16}}</ref> the Widow in ''A Mouse Trap'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Criterion Players|work=The Washington Post|date= October 9, 1904|page= 30}}</ref> and Mrs. Hummingtop in M. E. Kahn's ''What Happened to Hummingtop''.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Criterion Players|work=The Washington Post|date= December 4, 1904|page= 30}}</ref> She was still actively performing in plays with the CP as late as 1907.<ref>{{cite news|title=Brookland|work=The Washington Times|date= February 3, 1907|page= 31}}</ref>

In 1908 Pretty performed in vaudeville in Washington D.C. in a sketch called "The Happy Pair" with John Hill.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nomads at the Show|work=The Washington Post|date= March 4, 1908|page=2}}</ref> For three years she acted on stage in Washington, with the Columbia Stock Company (CSC), before debuting in films in 1913.<ref name="am">{{cite web |last1=Wollstein |first1=Hans J. |title=Arline Pretty |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/arline-pretty-p57747 |website=AllMovie |access-date=2021-08-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831022556/https://www.allmovie.com/artist/arline-pretty-p57747 |archive-date=2021-08-31}}</ref> Some of her repertoire with the CSC included Paul Kester's ''When Knighthood Was in Flower'' (1911, as Jan Bollingbrook).<ref>{{cite news|title=At the Theaters|work=The Washington Post|date= August 1, 1911|page= 5}}</ref> David Belasco and Richard Walton Tully's ''The Rose of the Rancho'' (1912, as Beatriz),<ref>{{cite news|work=The Washington Post|title=Columbia—''The Rose of the Rancho''|date=March 19, 1912|page= 5}}</ref> Clyde Fitch's ''The Climbers'' (1912, as Jessica Hunter),<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements: Columbia|work=Washington Evening Star|date= June 25, 1912|page= 3}}</ref> and Charles H. Hoyt's ''A Contented Woman'' (1913, as Bella).<ref>{{cite news|title=Columbia– ''A Contented Woman''|work=The Washington Herald|date= July 20, 1913|page= 18}}</ref>

Her early film experience was as a supporting actress for King Baggot at Universal.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |date=1915-03-27 |title=Universal Program |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Nickelodeon/JnhJAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Arline+Pretty&pg=PA506&printsec=frontcover |journal=Motography |volume=13 |pages=506}}</ref> After that, she acted for the Vitagraph Company in leading ingenue parts.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1917-03-15 |title=Prefers Ingenue, but has Run the Gamut of Parts; Began Career in Stock; Has Been in the Movies for Three Years |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19170315.2.57&srpos=33&e=-------en--20--21--txt-txIN-Arline+Pretty------- |work=San Francisco Call |pages=5 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref> She appeared as the daughter of a jailer with Douglas Fairbanks in ''In Again, Out Again'' (1917).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">{{cite journal |title=This Week's Mirror Cover |journal=Dramatic Mirror |date=1917-04-07 |volume=77 |issue=1998 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWtDAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Arline+Pretty%22&pg=RA13-PA2 |access-date=2021-04-01}}</ref> Pretty's film work included the Vitagraph serial ''The Secret Kingdom'' (1917).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1917-02-15 |title='Secret Kingdom' Coming; Serial is Full of Romance |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-secret-kingd/196632117/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1917-01-23 |title=Amusements: At the Academy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fall-river-herald-amusements-at-the-aca/196630440/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=Fall River Herald |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In the serial ''A Woman in Grey'' (1919), she was tied to train tracks as a cliffhanger scene.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mooney |first=Tom |date=1985-01-07 |title=A bit of local film history returns to Valley |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-leader-a-bit-of-local-film-his/196639811/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The Times Leader |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Weiler |first=A. H. |date=1965-02-14 |title=Pauline Was a Cliff-Hanger (review) |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/02/14/97184719.html |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The New York Times |pages=109 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Her other costars included Jess Willard,<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=1919-06-30 |title=Spotlight and Screen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-news-spotlight-and-screen/196632367/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The Evening News |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Jack Mower,<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |date=1921-08-07 |title='Golden Snare', 'One a Minute', and 'Life' on Photoplay Bills |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-golden-snare/196632654/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |pages=45 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Thurston Hall,<ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=1921-11-12 |title=Story of the Far North with Arline Pretty at Kozy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-paducah-sun-story-of-the-far-north-w/196632914/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The Paducah Sun |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Huntley Gordon,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wing |first=Ruth |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Blue_Book_of_the_Screen/0GIGAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Arline+Pretty&pg=PA95&printsec=frontcover |title=The Blue Book of the Screen |date=1924 |publisher=Blue Book of the Screen, Incorporated |pages=95 |language=en}}</ref> Doris Kenyon,<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=1918-06-01 |title=New Serial Has Thrilling Situations |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-edmonton-bulletin-new-serial-has-thr/196639354/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The Edmonton Bulletin |pages=11 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Noah Beery, Betty Compson, and Leah Baird.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news |date=1924-11-30 |title=Great Crook Play Opens at Babcock Today; Tom Santschi, Noah Beery and Arline Pretty Starred |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-billings-gazette-great-crook-play-op/196630892/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The Billings Gazette |pages=15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Long after her last film in 1935, she appeared in a scene of ''Belles on Their Toes'' (1952), along with other silent film stars.<ref name=":10">{{Cite news |last=Pryor |first=Thomas M. |date=1951-09-16 |title=Heat in Hollywood |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/09/16/88457117.html |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The New York Times |pages=257 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Pretty was considered a fashionable screen beauty.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1917-02-16 |title=Hunt for Movie Heroine Has Most Fitting Reward; Acress is Ideally Fitted to Play the Part in Which She is Cast |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19170216.2.75&srpos=2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-Arline+Pretty------- |work=San Francisco Call |pages=7 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref> Her "hats and frocks" were described in detail, with diagrams and photographs, in a 1917 ''Harper's Bazaar'' feature, where she was described as "devoted to outdoor life" and "an expert horsewoman" who did her own on-screen stunts.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 1917 |title=Arline Pretty selects her hats and frocks with Jane Jarvis of Harper's Bazar Shopping Service |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Silent_Players/plpL_xdI6NoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Arline+Pretty&pg=PA318&printsec=frontcover |journal=Harper's Bazaar |pages=88}}</ref>

== Legacy == Pretty died in 1978, at the age of 92, at her home in Hollywood.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1978-04-19 |title=Services for Arline Pretty, 92, Star of Silent Movies, Slated |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-services-for-arlin/196640122/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=21 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''A Woman in Grey'' (1920) was on the program of the Kansas Silent Film Festival in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maue |first=Savanna |title=Silent film festival focuses on women |url=https://www.cjonline.com/story/entertainment/local/2018/02/18/kansas-silent-film-festival-to-focus-its-22nd-annual-event-on-women-in-film/14378746007/ |access-date=2026-05-01 |website=The Topeka Capital-Journal |language=en-US|date=2018-02-17}}</ref> In 2022, a restored print of one of her later films, ''The Primrose Path'' (1925), was shown at the Museum of Modern Art's International Festival of Film Preservation<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 2022 |title=Clara Bow and Ina Ray Hutton, Newly Rediscovered! |url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/7496 |access-date=2026-04-30 |website=The Museum of Modern Art |language=en}}</ref> and at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with live musical accompaniment.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-06 |title=The Primrose Path |url=https://silentfilm.org/event/the-primrose-path/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |website=San Francisco Silent Film Festival |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected filmography== * ''One Best Bet'' (1914) * ''One Night'' (1915)<ref name=":3" /> * ''The Man Who Found Himself'' (1915)<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Silent_Players/plpL_xdI6NoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Arline+Pretty&pg=PA318&printsec=frontcover |title=Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses |date=2010-09-12 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-2708-8 |pages=318 |language=en}}</ref> * ''The Dawn of Freedom'' (1916)<ref name=":11" /> * ''The Thirteenth Girl'' (1916)<ref>{{Cite news |date=1916-03-06 |title=Vitagraph Night at Empire |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/san-antonio-express-news-vitagraph-night/196630652/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=San Antonio Express-News |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite news |last= |date=1916-03-04 |title=Photoplay Houses (advertisement) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/san-antonio-express-news-photoplay-house/196639247/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=San Antonio Express-News |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * ''The Surprises of an Empty Hotel'' (1916)<ref name=":12" /> * ''In Again, Out Again'' (1917)<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /> * ''The Hidden Hand'' (1917)<ref name=":8" /> * ''The Challenge of Chance'' (1919)<ref name=":5" /> * ''A Woman in Grey'' (1920)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lahue |first=Kalton C. |url=http://archive.org/details/boundgaggedsto00lahu |title=Bound and gagged; the story of the silent serials |date=1968 |publisher=A. S. Barnes |others=Internet Archive |location=South Brunswick, N.J. |pages=77, 147, 174, 301}}</ref> * ''Life'' (1920)<ref name=":6" /><ref name="bfi">{{cite web |title=Arline Pretty |url=http://www.bfi-staging.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba692b304 |website=British Film Institute |access-date=2021-04-01 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210401003955/http://www.bfi-staging.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba692b304 |archive-date=2021-04-01 |url-status=live }}</ref> * ''The Valley of Doubt'' (1920)<ref name=":7" /> * ''When the Devil Drives'' (1922)<ref name=":9" /> * ''Love in the Dark'' (1922)<ref name=":9" /> * ''Stormswept'' (1923)<ref name=":9" /> * ''The White Flower'' (1923)<ref name=":9" /> * ''Bucking the Barrier'' (1923)<ref name="bfi" /> * ''Tipped Off'' (1923)<ref name=":9" /> * ''Rouged Lips'' (1923) * ''A Fool's Awakening'' (1924)<ref name="bfi" /> * ''Barriers Burned Away'' (1925) * ''The Girl on the Stairs'' (1925) * ''The Primrose Path'' (1925)<ref name="bfi" /><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1926-01-02 |title=Graham Wilcox Offerings for 1926 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Film_Renter_and_Moving_Picture_News/L5hRA28kaQ4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Arline+Pretty&pg=PP132&printsec=frontcover |journal=The Film Renter & Moving Picture News}}</ref> * ''Virgin Lips'' (1928)<ref name=":11" /> * ''Shipmates Forever'' (1935) * ''Belles on Their Toes'' (1952, cameo)<ref name=":10" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Arline Pretty}} *{{IMDb name|0696569}} *John Verzi, [https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/142772/ "Arline Pretty at home" (1962 photograph)], in the collection of the Los Angeles Public Library

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pretty, Arline}} Category:1885 births Category:1978 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Washington, D.C. Category:American stage actresses Category:Film serial actresses