{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person | name = Irene Franklin | image = IreneFranklin1908.tif | alt = | caption = ''Bohemian Magazine'', 1908 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|6|13}} | birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|1941|6|16|1885|6|13}} | death_place = Englewood, New Jersey, US | other_names = | occupation = Stage and film actress · singer | years_active = 1929–1939 | spouse = Burton Green (1907–1922) (his death) (2 children)<br>Jerry Overton Jarnigan (1925–1934) (his death)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://vaudeville.sites.arizona.edu/node/68 | title=Irene Franklin: Pioneer of Female Stand-Up Comedy by David Soren | the American Vaudeville Museum }}</ref> }} '''Irene Franklin''' (June 13, 1885 – June 16, 1941) was an American actress of stage and screen, vaudeville comedian, and singer.
==Biography== Irene Franklin was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1885. While many sources have suggested her birth year as 1875 or 1876, subsequent census records, ship manifests, and official documents all point to 1884 or 1885, and her official birth record from Saint Louis confirms 1885.<ref name="dob">1910 to 1940 census records and Missouri Birth Certificates on FamilySearch.com and Ancestry.com</ref> A mention in the New York Sun in early 1890 as a four-year-old helps to confirm this point.<ref name="nys">{{cite web|url=https://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%25209%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201890%2520Feb-July%2520Grayscale%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201890%2520Feb-July%2520Grayscale%2520-%25200398.pdf%23xml%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Dffffffffa805a416%26DocId%3D1133752%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520T%26HitCount%3D5%26hits%3Da68%2Ba69%2Ba6a%2Ba6b%2Ba6c%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&uri=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%25209%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201890%2520Feb-July%2520Grayscale%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201890%2520Feb-July%2520Grayscale%2520-%25200398.pdf&xml=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Dffffffffa805a416%26DocId%3D1133752%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520T%26HitCount%3D5%26hits%3Da68%2Ba69%2Ba6a%2Ba6b%2Ba6c%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false|title=The Stage and The Foyer|work=The New York Sun|page=8|date=March 6, 1890|accessdate=March 13, 2021}}</ref>
Franklin began her stage career at the age of six months when her parents carried her on stage in a production of ''Hearts of Oak''.<ref name="v">{{cite book |last1=Cullen |first1=Frank |last2=Hackman |first2=Florence |last3=McNeilly |first3=Donald |title=Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America |date=2007 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-93853-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&q=%22Irene+Franklin%22&pg=PA411 |accessdate=January 26, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> She appeared on Broadway at age six in ''The Prodigal Father'', which ran for five years. Her mother died while Franklin was touring Australia in vaudeville, and when she returned to the United States to be with her father, she learned that he also had died.<ref name=v/>
Franklin performed in variety theaters in London in 1894 and debuted in vaudeville in the United States in 1895. She was named Most Popular Woman Vaudeville Artist in a contest organized by Percy G. Williams in 1908.<ref name="ev">{{cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |title=The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville |date=2012 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-61703-250-9 |pages=191–193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu3nNSmRjZ0C&q=%22She+sang+the+plight+of+the+unmarried+woman+in+%22If+I+Don%27t+Lock&pg=PA192 |accessdate=January 27, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
Franklin's Broadway credits included ''Sweet Adeline'' (1929), ''The Greenwich Village Follies'' (1921), ''The Passing Show of 1917'' (1917), ''Hands Up'' (1915), ''The Summer Widowers'' (1910), and ''The Orchid'' (1907). She wrote lyrics for ''Sweet Adeline'' and ''The Passing Show of 1917'' in addition to performing in those productions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Irene Franklin |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/irene-franklin-41183 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=January 27, 2020 }}</ref>
Her first screen appearance was in ''Irene Franklin, the American Comedienne'' (1929) in which she performed a bit of her vaudeville routine. She remembered meticulously planning her performance down to how clearly she said certain words so the punchlines would resonate. <blockquote>The quiet hurt my ears, the heat was frightful. I swallowed. Heavens, I had an Easter egg in my throat... then a tiny sound, the husky little grind of the recording machine... good Lord, my throat began to tickle. I must clear it or I would cough. It was getting worse. At the end of the chorus there was a second's pause. I managed to clear my throat. I could hear the faintly smothered cough. Had anyone else noticed it? Our little army marched back to the room to hear the playback. It was a bit clearer, the muddled words were a bit over-stressed, the boys were laughing; I could feel my head swelling. Suddenly a bloodhound barked from the machine. The crowd roared. I turned to [director] Roth, bewildered. 'That was your little smothered cough,' he said. 'Without it this would have been a perfect record. We'll do it again, and try not to cough.'<ref>Eyman, Scott. The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926–1930. Simon and Schuster, New York: 1997.</ref></blockquote>
== Personal life and death == During her tenure in Los Angeles, Irene Franklin resided at 3093 Lake Hollywood Drive, built in 1927.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3093-Lake-Hollywood-Dr-Los-Angeles-CA-90068/20805450_zpid | title=3093 Lake Hollywood Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90068 }}</ref>
Irene Franklin died in 1941, aged 56, having outlived both of her husbands, pianists Burton Green (died 1922) and Jerry Jarnagin (died 1934).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wuBRAAAAIBAJ&pg=4978,728349|title=Irene Franklins' Husband, "Burt Green", Dies In Night|date=November 18, 1922|accessdate=May 22, 2011|page=8|work=The Youngstown Daily Vindicator}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FDYuAAAAIBAJ&pg=4173,3932884|title=Actress Irene Franklin Dies In Theatrical Home|work=The Miami News|page=3B|date=June 16, 1941|accessdate=May 22, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=December 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
==Filmography== * ''Fast Workers'' (1933) * ''The Women in His Life'' (1933) * ''The Cat and the Fiddle'' (1934) * ''Registered Nurse'' (1934) * ''Finishing School'' (1934) * ''Strictly Dynamite'' (1934) * ''Lazy River'' (1934) * ''Down to Their Last Yacht'' (1934) * ''The Affair of Susan'' (1935) * ''Death Flies East'' (1935) * ''Ladies Crave Excitement'' (1935) * ''Timothy's Quest'' (1936) * ''The Garden of Allah'' (1936) * ''Wanted! Jane Turner'' (1936) * ''Blazing Barriers'' (1937) * ''Flirting with Fate'' (1938) * ''Fixer Dugan'' (1939)
==References== {{reflist}} * Film Star Who's Who on the Screen 1938
==External links== {{commons category|Irene Franklin}} * {{IMDb name|0291445}} * {{IBDB name|41183}} * [http://ragpiano.com/comps/ifranklin.shtml Irene Lucille Marguerite Franklin Green Jarnagin Biography] (Bill Edwards, Curator) * [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=518606 Irene Franklin portraits] (New York City Public Library, Billy Rose collection) * [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/sayre/searchterm/irene%20franklin/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/ Portrait gallery] (University of Washington, Sayre collection)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Irene}} Category:1885 births Category:1941 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:19th-century American actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American vaudeville performers Category:American women comedians Category:Comedians from St. Louis