Talk:Alma Carroll

Silent film appearance?

The article says that Alma appeared in a 1927 Our Gang film (silent era). The problem is that I can't corroborate this with the help of IMDb or newspaper articles (searching for 'Alma Stevens'). The fact that she was born in Los Angeles does lend credibility to the claim, but it would be better if we had more than just the WW2 museum page mentioning this. If true, then she is one of the last surviving silent film actresses. Well, assuming that she is still alive. This 2018 obituary for Bill Lignante says that his widow survived him, though it doesn't explicitly mention Alma by name. No idea what's the status at the moment. The main question I have is whether adding a silent film actress category would be appropriate in this case or not. Even if she was in a silent film, is a one-off appearance enough to add the category? Mary Carlisle has it, so...

Thoughts? Maybe Jkaharper can help? OscarL 14:01, 30 October 2021 (UTC)

Hi @OscarLake:, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I've looked through newspaper archives, Ancestry, Google, social media etc. and can't find a second mention of this anywhere. However, given that it comes from a RS and it already mentioned on the Wiki page, I see no harm in adding her to the silent actress category. It doesn't matter if it was just one short, her inclusion is justified IMO if she appeared on screen in a "role" (unlike Maria Riva, who appeared in a silent documentary). As for her living status, the WW2 museum article tends to refer to her as if she is still alive. Carroll and Lignante married in 1993 in Nevada. He had previously been married to Jane McKenna, and he had previously been married to George Giroux. McKenna died in 1999, so the surviving widow definitely can't be referring to her. It must be referring to Alma. That's about as much light as I can shed on this. I've written to the admin at the Lord Heath site, who is in touch with Our Gang historians. I'll let you know if they can reveal anything more. Thanks --Jkaharper (talk) 15:12, 30 October 2021 (UTC)

Just one small update. Alma is still alive. She appears in the public records in 2021 as Alma Francine Giroux (so when she remarried she must've kept her 1945 marriage name), aged 97, and living in Carlsbad, California. Thanks again --Jkaharper (talk) 15:24, 30 October 2021 (UTC)

Good to hear that she is alive, thanks for checking it out. I hope that those researchers find something. Perhaps they already have a list of unidentified kids that could be matched with certain claims. For example, an unknown extra in a 1927 short who looks to be around three years old. That's more likely than a detailed credits list of every child who appeared. Bill was also married to Sally Napoli according to Findagrave. I suspect that the daughter mentioned in his article is Sally's daughter, not the other two wives. OscarL 12:50, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

That makes sense. Napoli died in New York in 2015 according to Ancestry (where their daughter is noted to be still living), so the widow being referred to Lignante's 2018 obituary must be Alma. Thanks again --Jkaharper (talk) 13:10, 31 October 2021 (UTC)