Marceline Day (born Marceline Newlin; April 24, 1908 – February 16, 2000) was an American motion picture actress whose career began as a child in the 1910s and ended in the 1930s.[1]

Marceline Day
Day in 1926
Born
Marceline Newlin

(1908-04-24)April 24, 1908
DiedFebruary 16, 2000(2000-02-16) (aged 91)
OccupationActress
Years active1924–1933
Spouses
Arthur J. Klein
(m. 1930, divorced)
John Arthur
(m. 1959; died 1980)
RelativesAlice Day (sister)

Early life

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Marceline Newlin was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Frank and Irene Newlin and the younger sister of film actress Alice Day. She attended Venice High School.[2]

Career

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Day began her film career after her sister Alice Day became a featured actress as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties in one and two-reel comedies for Keystone Studios. Day made her first film appearance with her sister in the 1924 Mack Sennett comedy Picking Peaches before being cast in a string of comedy shorts opposite actor Harry Langdon and a stint in early Hollywood Westerns opposite such silent film cowboy stars as Hoot Gibson, Art Acord and Jack Hoxie. Gradually, Day began appearing in more dramatic roles opposite such esteemed actors of the era as Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Norman Kerry, Ramón Novarro and Lon Chaney, as well as comedy legend Buster Keaton.

In 1926, Day was named one of the 13 WAMPAS Baby Stars, a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States, which honored 13 young women each year who they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. Other notable recipients that year were Joan Crawford, Mary Astor, Janet Gaynor, and Dolores del Río. The publicity from the campaign added to Day's popularity, and in 1927, she appeared opposite John Barrymore in the romantic adventure The Beloved Rogue.

Day is probably best recalled for her appearances in the now lost 1927 horror classic London After Midnight directed by Tod Browning with Lon Chaney and Conrad Nagel, her role as Sally Richards in the 1928 comedy The Cameraman with Buster Keaton, and the 1929 drama The Jazz Age with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. By the late 1920s, Day's career had eclipsed the career of her sister Alice, who also was a popular actress. The two would appear together onscreen again in the 1929 musical The Show of Shows.

She married furrier Arthur J. Klein in 1930.[3][4] She was married for a second time in 1959 to John Arthur until his death on April 2, 1980. She had no children with either husband.[citation needed]

Although Day transitioned into sound films with little problem, her film roles gradually became lesser in quality, and she began working primarily for lower-rung film studios. By 1933, Day made the transition back to the Western genre, appearing in "B" Westerns starring Tim McCoy, Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard, Jack Hoxie, and John Wayne. Her last film was The Fighting Parson with Gibson. After her retirement, Day rarely spoke of her years as an actress and never spoke to reporters or granted interviews.

Death

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On February 16, 2000, Day was found dead in her kitchen, in her Cathedral City, California, home at the age of 91. She was cremated.[5]

Filmography

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Features

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Year Title Role Note
1925 The Splendid Road Lilian Grey Lost film
The Wall Street Whiz Peggy McCooey Lost film
The White Outlaw Mary Gary
Renegade Holmes, M.D. Marie Darnton
The Taming of the West Beryl Lost film
1926 College Days Mary Ward
That Model from Paris Jane Miller
Fools of Fashion Mary Young
The Gay Deceiver Louise de Tillois Lost film
The Boy Friend Ida May Harper Lost film
Looking for Trouble Tulip Hellier Lost film
The Barrier Necia Lost film
Hell's Four Hundred Barbara Langham Lost film
Western Pluck Clare Dyer Lost film
1927 London After Midnight Lucille Balfour Lost film
The Road to Romance Serafina
Captain Salvation Mary Phillips
Rookies Betty Wayne
Red Clay Agnes Burr Lost film
The Beloved Rogue Charlotte de Vauxcelles
1928 Stolen Love Joan Hastings Lost film
Restless Youth Dixie Lost film
Freedom of the Press June Westcott Lost film
Driftwood Daisy Smith Lost film
The Cameraman Sally
Detectives Lois
A Certain Young Man Phyllis Lost film
The Big City Sunshine Lost film
Under the Black Eagle Margarta
1929 The Show of Shows Performer in 'Meet My Sister' number
The One Woman Idea Lady Alicia Douglas/Alizar, half-caste dancer
The Wild Party Faith Morgan
Trent's Last Case Evelyn Manderson Incomplete film
A Single Man Maggie Lost film
The Jazz Age Sue Randall
1930 Hot Curves Girl
Sunny Skies Mary Norris
Temple Tower Patricia Verney
Paradise Island Ellen Bradford
1931 The Pocatello Kid Mary Larkin
The Mad Parade Dorothy Quinlan
The Mystery Train Joan Lane
Sky Raiders Grace Devine
1932 The Crusader Marcia Brandon
The King Murder Pearl Hope
Broadway to Cheyenne Ruth Carter
The Arm of the Law Sandy
The Fighting Fool Judith
1933 The Fighting Parson Suzan Larkin
By Appointment Only Miss Brown aka Brownie
The Flaming Signal Molly James
Damaged Lives Laura Hall
The Telegraph Trail Alice Keller
Via Pony Express Betty Castelar

Shorts

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Year Title Role Note
1924 Feet of Mud Short
The Hansom Cabman His Fiancee Short
The Luck o' the Foolish His Wife Short
Black Oxfords The Girl Short
Picking Peaches Bathing Beauty Short
1925 The Party Short
His New Suit Mildred Short
Short Pants Short
Discord in 'A' Flat Short
Heart Trouble Marceline Short

References

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  1. ^ "Day, Marceline (1907–2000)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. Gale. 2007.
  2. ^ Walker, Brent E. (2013). Mack Sennett's Fun Factory: A History and Filmography of His Studio and His Keystone and Mack Sennett Comedies, with Biographies of Players and Personnel. McFarland. p. 498. ISBN 9780786477111. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  3. ^ "Marceline Day to Wed Furrier". The New York Times. December 27, 1930.
  4. ^ "Marceline Day Re-Wed. Film Actress and A.J. Klein Have Second Ceremony in New York". The New York Times. June 26, 1931.
  5. ^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
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