Lawrence B. McGill (1866–1928) was an American actor and director. At the turn of the 20th century, he was a leading man for Keystone Dramatic Company. He produced stage plays and then went on to act and direct films. He also worked for the New York Reliance-Mutual Company.
Lawrence B. McGill | |
|---|---|
 Lithograph of Gertrude Shipman and Lawrence B. McGill | |
| Born | Lawrence Barrett McGill February 22, 1866 |
| Died | February 22, 1928 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | actor and stage and film director |
Career
editLawrence McGill was a director, writer, and actor.[1] McGill and Gertrude Shipman played a "dandy repertoire of plays" for Keystone Dramatic Company in opera houses across Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey starting by November 1899.[2][3][4][5][6] In 1909, McGill began producing plays, with Gertrude as the leading lady and Richard Gordon her new leading man, at the Lyric Theater in Buffalo, New York.[7] They opened with Dorothy Hernan of Haddon Hall, an Elizabethan period piece. Shipman operated the Gertrude Shipman and Associated Players for other players for McGill's production.[7]
McGill acted in and produced silent films between 1909 and 1918.[8] He was the director-in-chief of All-Star Company in 1913. He produced Arizona that year and other previous films.[9] He was on the board of governors of the New York Screen Club.[9] Actor George Brott featured in two films produced by McGill, The Deserted Wife and Love's Young Dream, by 1925.[10] He was brought on as a director at Champion Productions.[11] He also worked for the New York Reliance-Mutual Company.[12]
Personal life
editLawrence Barrett McGill born on February 22, 1866, in Courtland, Mississippi, where he grew up.[8][1] He was the son of Iona A. Trantham and Archibald D. McGill.[8] He was married twice,[13] first to Elizabeth Amann, with whom they had a daughter, Vida Iona McGill who was born on March 19, 1894.[8][a]
He married Gertrude Shipman on November 18, 1899, in Maysville, Kentucky[14] at the Central Presbyterian Church.[13] They were both employed by the Kingston Dramatic Company and they were in the town for a production at the opera house.[13][b] Shipman and McGill had a son, Edmund Robert McGill, who was born August 18, 1904, in Connecticut.[8] They lived in New Haven, Connecticut in 1909[7] and were in Waldo, Florida in the 1920s.[8] McGill died on February 22, 1928, in Waldo.[8] Shipman died on February 14, 1960. They are both buried in the Laurel Grove Cemetery in Waldo.[8]
Filmography
edit- Camille (1912)
- Arizona (1913 film), co-director
- Our Mutual Girl (1914), one of directors
- America[15]
- Pierre of the Plains (1914)[16]
- The Price He Paid (1914)
- Sealed Valley (1915)
- How Molly Made Good (1915)
- The Amazing Mr. Fellman (1915)
- The Woman's Law (1916)
- Crime and Punishment (1917)
- The Angel Factory (1917)
- The First Law (film) (1918)
- The Girl from Bohemia (1918)[17]
- A Woman's Experience (1919), as Nicholas Barrable
Notes
edit- ^ Vida first lived with her paternal grandparents in Mississippi. In 1910, she was living with Shipman's parents, Robert and Elizabeth, in Frankstown, Pennsylvania.[8]
- ^ They performed on the day of their wedding in Maysville, Kentucky.[13]
References
edit- ^ a b Shipman (1899-11-23). "Marriage of McGill". The News-Herald. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
- ^ "Recalling Incidents of the Past" (PDF). Billboard. p. 46.
- ^ "Amusements: Keystone Dramatic Company Entertain Lake and Appreciative Audiences". The News-Herald. 1899-11-02. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
- ^ "The Keystone Dramatic Company All Next Week". The Evening Bulletin. 1899-11-09. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
- ^ "Grand Opera House - Escaped From the Law". Reading Times. 1900-02-28. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
- ^ "Amusements: Notes of Interest to York's Amusement Lovers". The Gazette. 1900-04-16. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
- ^ a b c "Summer Stock at Lyric Theater". The Buffalo Sunday Morning News. 1909-05-16. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Waldo Celebrities" (PDF). The Waldo Phoenix. Waldo Historical Society. July 2011. p. 3.
- ^ a b "News and Photoplays and Photoplayers - Lawrence B. McGill". The Shreveport Journal. 1913-11-28. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "Lawrence B. McGill presents". The Buffalo Times. 1925-04-14. p. 16. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
- ^ "Motion Picture News". Motion Picture News Incorporated. August 17, 1912 – via Google Books.
- ^ "World's Advance". Modern Publishing Company. August 17, 1915 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d "Marriage in Theatrical Circles: Mr. Lawrence B. McGill and Miss Gertrude Shipman of the Keystone Company Wed To-Day". The Evening Bulletin. Maysville, Kentucky. November 18, 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
- ^ Wilson, S. (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. Academic & Nonfiction Books anthology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 498. ISBN 978-1-4766-2599-7. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
- ^ Welling, David (June 30, 2010). Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292773981 – via Google Books.
- ^ Goble, Alan (8 September 2011). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110951943.
- ^ Golden, Eve (November 30, 2007). Vernon and Irene Castle's Ragtime Revolution. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0813137605 – via Google Books.
