Stella Adams

{{short description|American actress}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Stella Adams | image = Stella Adams.jpg | caption = Stella Adams (from Motion Picture Magazine, January 1915) | birth_date = {{birth date|1883|4|24}} | birth_place = Sherman, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1961|9|17|1883|4|24}} | death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S. | birth_name = | occupation = Actress | spouse = James Whittendale | years_active = 1909–1936 }}

'''Stella Adams''' (April 24, 1883 – September 17, 1961) was an American actress. Born in Sherman, Texas, she moved to Oakland, California in her childhood and was educated in schools in that city. She made her stage debut at the Tivoli Theatre in San Francisco in 1899 and had an active career with American stock theatre companies until 1912. During that period she appeared in the chorus of two Broadway musicals in New York, and also portrayed the role of Javotte in the original Broadway production of Alfred Baldwin Sloane and Sydney Rosenfeld's comic opera ''The Mocking Bird'' in 1902-1903. While working in stock theatre in Los Angeles she was cast in her first leading role in a film, starring in ''In the Sultan's Power'' (1909). She continued to work as a stage actress in her home state of California until joining the Nestor Film Company in 1912. She made more than a 100 short silent films over the five year period, and also some feature length pictures. After her marriage in 1917 she stopped performing for the next nine year, but resumed performing in pictures from 1926 until her retirement in 1936. In her later career she appeared in sound films.

==Early years== The daughter of Thomas Adams and Mary E. Carr (later Mary Flynn), Stella A. Adams was born in Sherman, Texas on April 24, 1883.{{sfn|Doyle|1999|page=3}}<ref>Stella A Adams in the ''California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997''</ref> By 1895 she was residing in Oakland, California where she was a student at the Franklin School.<ref>{{cite news|title=Roll of Honor|work=The Oakland Times|date= June 21, 1895|page= 2}}</ref> In Oakland she gave several artistic recitations at local events sponsored by the Baptist Church in her growing up years.<ref>{{cite news|title=Members Receptions|work=Oakland Enquirer|date= June 13, 1896|page= 6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=King's Daughter's Entertain|work=Oakland Tribune|date= May 30, 1896|page= 7}}</ref> She also sang in the choir of 10th Avenue Baptist Church; then the largest volunteer chorus in the city.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Prince of Peace|work=Oakland Enquirer|date= January 2, 1897|page= 6}}</ref>

==Early career== Adams made her professional debut as an actress in 1899 at the Tivoli Theatre in San Francisco, California.<ref>{{cite news|title=Great Rush of California Girls to Go On the Stage in San Francisco|work=The San Francisco Examiner|date=April 23, 1899|page= 27}}</ref> In 1900 she was performing in Salt Lake City, Utah.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hotel and Personal|work=Deseret News|date= February 8, 1900|page= 2}}</ref> prior to appearing at the Burbank Theatre in Los Angeles where she portrayed Dora La Farge in Mary F. Stone's ''A Social Highwayman'' in March of that year.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Playhouses: Burbank Theatre|work=Los Angeles Times|date= March 6, 1900|page= 8}}</ref> In May 1900 she performed with John Drew Jr.'s theatre company at the Columbia Theatre in San Francisco in C. Haddon Chambers's ''The Tyranny of Tears''.<ref>{{cite news|title=New Bills at the Theatre|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date= May 21, 1900|page= 10}}</ref> In December 1900 she made her Broadway debut at the Victoria Theatre in the chorus of John Golden's musical ''Miss Prinnt''.<ref name="BW">{{cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Stella-Adams/|title=Stella Adams|website=broadwayworld.com|access-date=May 2, 2026}}</ref> She next performed as Mrs Clasher in Charles E. Blaney and Max Hoffman's new musical ''A Railroad Ticket'' which opened at the Bijou Theatre in Richmond, Virginia in May 1901.<ref>{{cite news|title=At the Bijou|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch|date= May 12, 1901|page= 24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Academy and Bijou|work=Richmond Dispatch|date= May 12, 1901|page= 13}}</ref> Later that year she appeared at the New Gillis Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri as Belle Macy in Charles A. Taylor's ''The King of the Opium Ring''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Attractions for the Week|work=Kansas City Journal|date= December 8, 1901|page= 31}}</ref>

In 1902 Adams created the role of Javotte in the original production of Alfred Baldwin Sloane and Sydney Rosenfeld's comic opera ''The Mocking Bird'';<ref>{{cite news|title=The Mocking Bird|work=Chicago Tribune|date= November 11, 1902|page= 5}}</ref> regarded as Sloane's greatest achievement as a composer.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|date=2002|author=Gerald Bordman|entry=Sloane, A(lfred) Baldwin|encyclopedia=Grove Music Online|publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.47018}}</ref> It had a successful runs at Broadway's Bijou Theatre in 1902 and again 1903, and also played at the Grand Opera House in Manhattan in the intermittent period.{{sfn|Dietz|2022|pages=129-130}} She returned to Broadway in 1904 in the ensemble of ''The Rogers Brother in Paris''.<ref name="BW"/>

In 1906 Adams performed in stock theatre in Los Angeles; starring in Jack Golden's ''A Disturbed Hpneymoon''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stella Adams at the Unique|work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record|date= May 12, 1906|page= 8}}</ref> In 1907 she performed in James P. Lee's play ''The Baby'' at People's Theatre in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite news|title=Shooting Stars Are Feature at People's|work=Los Angeles Herald|date=August 7, 1907|page= 3}}</ref> She appeared in stock theatre with the Howard Dorsett company prior to appearing at the Majestic Theatre in Chico, California in the 1908-1909 season.<ref>{{cite news|title=Will Play Long Season Here|work=The Chico Enterprise|date= December 1, 1908|page= 5}}</ref> After this she performed as the leading actress with Ed Redmond's stock company in California theaters.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ed Redmond Makes A Hit|work=The Modesto Bee|date= February 9, 1909|page= 3}}</ref>

Adam's first film acting credit was in 1909's ''In the Sultan's Power'',<ref group=note>A 1934 newspaper article gives the film's name as ''Power of the Sultan''.</ref><ref name="arn">{{cite news|last1=Coons|first1=Robbin|title=Sights and Sounds|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12655196/stella_adams/|work=Abilene Reporter-News|date=June 1, 1934|location=Texas, Abilene|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 26, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> in which she had a starring role.<ref name="VL">{{cite news|title=Vacant Lot Birthplace of Pictured|work=The Tacoma Daily Ledger|date= March 15, 1925|page= 49}}</ref> Filmed in a vacant lot behind a Chinese laundry in Los Angeles,<ref name="VL"/> the movie was remarkable because it was the first film shot entirely on the west coast of the United States.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=36409 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=In the Sultan's Power | accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> At this point in the film industry, most films were still shot in New Jersey and New York.<ref name="VL"/> Adams would not appear in another film for three more years.{{sfn|Lowe|2014|page=1}} In 1910 she performed as the leading actress of the Girton Stock Company in California theaters,<ref>{{cite news|title=Unique|work=The Evening Index|date= January 3, 1910|page= 7}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=''St. Elmo'' at Fraternal Aid Tonight|work=The Pomona Progress|date= January 24, 1910|page= 3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Stella Adams of the Girton Stock Company|work=The Morning Press|date= February 1, 1910|page= 2}}</ref> and starred in the musical ''Zip Zap Zoo'' at the Princess Theatre in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite news|title=Princess|work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record|date= October 18, 1910|page=2}}</ref> In 1911 she starred as Eugenie in the musical ''The Triflers'' at the Bentley Grand Theatre in Long Beach, California,<ref>{{cite news|title=Bentley Grand|work=Press-Telegram|date= May 19, 1911|page= 7}}</ref> and performed with the Adolphus Comedy Stock Company in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite news|title=Musical Comedy Shows Predominate at Local Playhouses This Week|work=Los Angeles Tribune|date= December 31, 1911|page= 33}}</ref>

==Later career in film== In 1912 Adams returned to film making in earnest when she joined the Nestor Film Company of California.{{sfn|Lowe|2014|page=1}} Although she appeared in only 12 feature films,<ref name=AFIF>{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&Type=PN&Tbl=&CatID=DATABIN_CAST&ID=142222&searchedFor=Stella_Adams_&SortType=ASC&SortCol=RELEASE_YEAR | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Stella Adams | accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> she acted in more than 100 short films during the silent film era, mostly in starring or featured roles.{{sfn|Lowe|2014|pages=1-2}} The majority of her film output was made between 1912-1917.{{sfn|Lowe|2014|pages=1-2}} Her early work was in comedies, but she also appeared in several Westerns. She left Nestor with director Al Christie when he began his own studio.{{sfn|Lowe|2014|page=2}}

In 1917 Adams married press agent James Whittendale,<ref name="bb">{{cite magazine|title=Press-Advance Agents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XaoiAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Stella+Adams%22+actress&pg=RA3-PA25|accessdate=July 26, 2017|magazine=Billboard|date=April 28, 1917|page=25}}</ref> and an article in the trade publication ''Billboard'' reported that she left California "to join her husband in Chicago, and will next year return to the legitimate stage."<ref name=bb/> Nine years passed before Adams resumed her film career in 1926.{{sfn|Lowe|2014|page=2}} In 1928 she appeared in a featured role in the silent/sound film, ''Me, Gangster'', directed by Raoul Walsh.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=10703 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Me, Gangster | accessdate=December 24, 2014}}</ref> Over the next eight years, Adams made another ten films, retiring in 1936.{{sfn|Lowe|2014|page=2}}

==Death== Adams died in Woodland Hills, California, on September 17, 1961.{{sfn|Doyle|1999|page=3}}

==Selected filmography (shorts & featured films)==  (Per AFI database)<ref name=AFIF />

{{div col|colwidth=30em}} * ''In the Sultan's Power'' (1909) * ''Could You Blame Her'' (1914) * ''When Bess Got in Wrong'' (1914) as Stella * ''His Nobs the Duke'' (1915) * ''Wanted: A Leading Lady'' (1915) * ''Where the Heather Blooms'' (1915) * ''Love and a Savage'' (1915) * ''Mingling Spirits'' (1916) * ''Me, Gangster'' (1928) * ''Sister to Judas'' (1932) * ''Temptation's Workshop'' (1932) * ''The Vampire Bat'' (1933) * ''Bachelor Mother'' (1933) * ''Sing Sinner Sing'' (1933) * ''The Whirlwind'' (1933) * ''Whom the Gods Destroy'' (1934) * ''The Tonto Kid'' (1935) * ''The King Steps Out'' (1936) * ''Theodora Goes Wild'' (1936)

==Notes and references== ===Notes=== {{reflist|group=note}}

===References=== {{reflist}}

===Bibliography=== *{{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2022|isbn=9781538168943|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TdwEAAAQBAJ}} *{{cite book|title=The Ultimate Directory of Silent and Sound Era Performers: A Necrology of Actors and Actresses|first= Billy H.|last= Doyle|year=1999|chapter=Stella, Adams|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=9780810835474}} *{{cite book|last1=Lowe|first1=Denise|title=An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317718963|url=https://books.google.rw/books?id=q2tPtQEACAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|chapter=Adams, Stella}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0011370}} *{{IBDB name|29375}} * {{Tcmdb name}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Stella}} Category:1883 births Category:1961 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Oakland, California Category:Actresses from Texas Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:American film actresses Category:Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles) Category:People from Sherman, Texas