Marjorie White
| Marjorie White | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Marjorie Ann Guthrie July 22, 1904 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Died | August 21, 1935 (aged 31) Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1929–1935 |
| Spouse(s) | Edwin J. Tierney (1924-1935; her death) |
Marjorie White (July 22, 1904 – August 21, 1935) was a Canadian-born actress of stage and film.
Born Marjorie Ann Guthrie in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she was the first-born child of a grain merchant born in Simcoe, Ontario. She entered show business at the age of eight or 10, as one of the Winnipeg Kiddies, a troupe of child performers who toured Canada and the United States. She danced and sang with the troupe until too old to continue, then at 17 in December 1921 went to San Francisco and joined Thelma Wolpa in amateur vaudeville comedy.
Teamed for a time with Thelma Wolpa as Wolpa and Guthrie, Little Bits of Everything, the duo act became 'The White Sisters' in New York City. Both women kept the name White after the act broke up. Thelma White later gained immortality as the blowsy Mae in Reefer Madness. According to the New York Times (August 11, 1924), Marjorie White married Eddie Tierney on August 10, 1924 in Greenwich, Connecticut. She appeared on Broadway in several musicals between 1926 and 1929, when she and her husband moved to Hollywood. In accordance with studio tradition, four years were knocked off her birth date and she was supposedly born in 1908. Early biographies of James Cagney, the Marx Brothers and Bing Crosby typically gave birthdates occurring five years after the actual event.
She began getting parts in pictures, starting with leading roles in Happy Days (1929) and Sunny Side Up (1929). The same year she was required by executives of the Fox Film studio to lose four pounds in order to secure a role in The New Orleans Frolic. White was diminutive to begin with, weighing only 103 pounds and standing 4'10" tall. The part called for a woman who weighed less than 100 pounds. She returned to Broadway for a musical, Hot-Cha, in 1932, but came back to Hollywood thereafter.
She will also be recognized by fans of "Charlie Chan" films in a prominent, if brief, uncredited role in the 1931 Fox film The Black Camel starring Warner Oland and featuring Bela Lugosi and Robert Young in what may be his first leading role. Marjorie appears as a forward and rather sarcastic young woman among the usual group of suspects held waiting upon the conclusion of Charlie's investigation.
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