Anita Garvin (born Anna Frances Garvin; February 11, 1906 â€" July 7,
1994) was an American stage performer and film actress who worked in
both the silent and sound eras. Before her retirement in 1942, she
reportedly appeared in over 350 shorts and features for various
Hollywood studios. Her best known roles are as supporting characters
in Hal Roach comedies starring Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase.Anna
(later Anita) was born in 1906 in New York City, the middle child of
three children of Anne (née Donovan) and Edward J. Garvin, a native
of North Carolina. "Stagestruck" as a child, her desire to become an
entertainer was encouraged by two sisters who were members of another
family living in the same apartment building as the Garvins. The
sisters were also dancers in vaudeville. "'They were very nice to
me'", recalled Garvin in a 1978 interview, "'They'd teach me different
steps and I would practice with them.'" In 1918, at only 12 years of
age, she applied for a job as a bathing beauty in one of Mack
Sennett's New York stage shows. When the casting agent asked her age,
Garvin replied, "'Well, almost 16'". She got the job. The next year
she joined the Ziegfeld Follies and later performed in The Earl
Carroll Vanities.In 1920 Garvin appeared on stage as "The Kirchner
Girl", a 10-minute vaudeville act produced by Ernest Brengk. The
14-year-old performer recreated the poses of women in seven different
paintings by artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. For each simulated artwork,
she was able to change costumes on stage by means of a curtain
suspended between two columns. In its April 16, 1920 review of the
act, the widely read trade paper Variety states, "Miss Garvin is a
stunning looking brunet [sic] who has a corking figure, and is ideally
suited for the act." She then appeared in Herman Timberg's Frolics of
1922 before joining a tour with the musical Sally. She performed in
that show for two seasons, opting in 1924 to remain in California when
the tour left the state for other scheduled venues.In Hollywood,
Garvin began working for Christie Film Company's comedies. She
recalled her co-star Bobby Vernon dropping butter on the floor onto
which she stepped and tumbled, cementing her career as a comedian.
Charles Lamont brought her over to work for Educational Pictures.
Then, in 1926, she was hired by Hal Roach Studios, where over the next
several years she appeared in many silent shorts with Charley Chase,
James Finlayson, Max Davidson, and Laurel and Hardy. She was also cast
occasionally in supporting roles in features. Standing almost 6 feet
tall, "her regal countenance and deadpan expression" made her the
perfect comic foil. Garvin continued to impress Roach with her talents
and on-screen presence, so much so that he later ranked her as "one of
his finest actresses." In a 1978 interview for an article in the Los
Angeles Times, she reflects on her frequent work with Stan Laurel
during that period:.mw-parser-output
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1994) was an American stage performer and film actress who worked in
both the silent and sound eras. Before her retirement in 1942, she
reportedly appeared in over 350 shorts and features for various
Hollywood studios. Her best known roles are as supporting characters
in Hal Roach comedies starring Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase.Anna
(later Anita) was born in 1906 in New York City, the middle child of
three children of Anne (née Donovan) and Edward J. Garvin, a native
of North Carolina. "Stagestruck" as a child, her desire to become an
entertainer was encouraged by two sisters who were members of another
family living in the same apartment building as the Garvins. The
sisters were also dancers in vaudeville. "'They were very nice to
me'", recalled Garvin in a 1978 interview, "'They'd teach me different
steps and I would practice with them.'" In 1918, at only 12 years of
age, she applied for a job as a bathing beauty in one of Mack
Sennett's New York stage shows. When the casting agent asked her age,
Garvin replied, "'Well, almost 16'". She got the job. The next year
she joined the Ziegfeld Follies and later performed in The Earl
Carroll Vanities.In 1920 Garvin appeared on stage as "The Kirchner
Girl", a 10-minute vaudeville act produced by Ernest Brengk. The
14-year-old performer recreated the poses of women in seven different
paintings by artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. For each simulated artwork,
she was able to change costumes on stage by means of a curtain
suspended between two columns. In its April 16, 1920 review of the
act, the widely read trade paper Variety states, "Miss Garvin is a
stunning looking brunet [sic] who has a corking figure, and is ideally
suited for the act." She then appeared in Herman Timberg's Frolics of
1922 before joining a tour with the musical Sally. She performed in
that show for two seasons, opting in 1924 to remain in California when
the tour left the state for other scheduled venues.In Hollywood,
Garvin began working for Christie Film Company's comedies. She
recalled her co-star Bobby Vernon dropping butter on the floor onto
which she stepped and tumbled, cementing her career as a comedian.
Charles Lamont brought her over to work for Educational Pictures.
Then, in 1926, she was hired by Hal Roach Studios, where over the next
several years she appeared in many silent shorts with Charley Chase,
James Finlayson, Max Davidson, and Laurel and Hardy. She was also cast
occasionally in supporting roles in features. Standing almost 6 feet
tall, "her regal countenance and deadpan expression" made her the
perfect comic foil. Garvin continued to impress Roach with her talents
and on-screen presence, so much so that he later ranked her as "one of
his finest actresses." In a 1978 interview for an article in the Los
Angeles Times, she reflects on her frequent work with Stan Laurel
during that period:.mw-parser-output
.templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0
40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote
.templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}
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