Maurine Powers

Wabash Valley profiles : a series of tributes to hometown heroes who have made a difference

Description:	One typed page including photograph; biography of Maurine Powers, Terre Hautes Dainty Little Sunbeam. ABASH VALLEY WP R O F I L E SA series of tributes to hometown heroes who have made a difference.Maurine PowersPowers made her cinema debut in 1918 in To Hell With the Kaiser, a farce that poked fun of German aristocracy and Kaiser Wilhelm II during World War I. The film, directed by William Nigh, was so popular that a police riot squad had to be summoned to deal with an angry mob denied admission to the sellout in Boston. The movie launched the careers of future silent stars May McAvoy and Karl Dane. Powers role was small but Nigh was impressed, signing her to star as Frederick the Greats sweetheart in Warner Brothers Beware!, a documentary-style film drama written by James W. Gerard, American ambassador to Germany. Maurine was so captivating in Beware! that director Nigh organized the Democracy Photoplay Co. to feature his attractive Indiana star in a big budget production, Democracy: The Vision Restored, written by Lee Francis Lybarger and Nina Wilcox Putnam. In that film, Nigh played the leading male role and Maurine was his youthful wife, timid, blind and pretty. Quietly from nowhere emanated this big film, wrote the New York Dramatic Mirror on Sept. 4, 1920, and given a premiere at the Casino (Theater), New York, where subsequent exploitation has made it one of the principal attractions in the metropolis...One scene after another sends the photoplay reeling through excitement, romance, the realization that riches after all are not the greatest thing in the world... In Terre Haute Powers was feted for each film success. A former student at King Classical School, she was presented as the teenage daughter of Andrew M. and Daisy Powers of 1234 South Fifth St. Daisy and Andrew had been active in the community before Daisy accompanied her daughter to New York. Census records reveal that Maurine was born in 1899 as Maurine Baker. In 1910 she resided in Terre Haute with her mother, Daisy L. Baker, at 515 South Eighth St. A.M. Powers was a boarder. Daisy married Powers on July 12, 1912, in Logansport. Maurine appeared in substantial roles in four more silent films during the 1920s, all directed by Nigh: Skinning Skinners (1921), Why Girls Leave Home (1921), Notoriety (1922) and Free Kisses (1926). She returned to Terre Haute with her mother during the summer of 1922 to visit her father and friends, making daily personal appearances at the Liberty Theater during the presentation of Why Girls Leave Home. In March 1925 Andrew Powers filed for divorce in the Vigo Circuit Court, claiming he and Daisy had not lived together since 1919. Maurine and her mother then were residing in New York City. The marriage was dissolved in June 1925. Andrew Powers was serving as elected Vigo County Clerk when he died on June 14, 1931. No mention is made in his obituary of surviving children, and the ultimate whereabouts of Terre Hautes Dainty Little Sunbeam remains a mystery. ee 1918 and Bebtywthenlocal press1923, motion picture actress Maurine Powers was referred to as Terre Hautes Dainty Little Sunbeam.Always Close to Home812-238-6000rates, you must have a First checking account or open any First checking account with a minimum deposit of $100. No penalty for early withdrawal. Member FDICAPY (annual percentage yield) is effective March 10, 2005. The minimum balance to open the account and obtain the APY for either CD is $2,500. To receive these26-MONTH CD.ap8% 5 y212-MONTH CD.ap3% 8 y*Take your pick! First is offering two CDs with NO PENALTY for early withdrawal. Its the ultimate in risk-free investing.File name: Maurine Powers profileDate Published: March 10, 2005
Origin:	2005-03-26
Created By:	McCormick, Mike
Publisher:	Terre Haute Tribune-Star
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/vchs/id/570
Collection:	Vigo County Historical Society
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Powers, Maurine, b. 1899 Actors Actresses Motion picture industry Motion pictures Women Famous Hoosiers People Social Life

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