Women in Silent Comedies: Billie Rhodes

The silent screen is filled with fascinating visual ideas that extend beyond the celebrated genius of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. While these comedians defined the genre, extended it, and offered filmmaking ideas that remain remarkable nearly 100 years later, that might make them the best, but they certainly weren’t alone.

Women in classic screen comedy are something of a separate sub-genre that boast such remarkable talents as Mabel Normand, Alice Howell, Louise Fazenda, Gale Henry, and, of course Billie Rhodes.

Rhodes went from singing in cafes, to legitimate stage work, to the movies in the early teens when she herself was in her late teens. Her first work was for Kalem, making her debut in the two-reel drama “Perils of the Sea” (1913). She then returned to the stage until being hired for a comedy series by Al Christie in 1915. She appeared in several of the producer’s Nestor comedies released through Universal, soon being called The Nestor Girl in the press. An attractive and charming presence, Billie scored opposite such Christie comedians as Lee Moran and Neil Burns, causing Picture Play magazine to call her “one of our best little laugh-provokers.” When Christie left Nestor to produce his own independent comedies, Billie Rhodes went with him.

Billie recalled for Karlton Lahue in the book “Clown Princes and Court Jesters” (1970):

“We usually made one comedy a week. Although we had scripts, I really don’t remember ever looking at one. The director briefed us on the action and we started filming. At Christie, I doubt that the actors were ever given the whole story before they began. It didn’t make much difference, since the director knew what he was doing and what he wanted. Most of us took direction during the filming of a scene, without the usual briefing beforehand.”

While working for Christie, Billie was contacted by producer William Parsons, who also acted in comedies as Smilin’ Billy Parsons. Parsons hired Billie Rhodes to appear in a couple of comedies for his National Film Corporation in 1918. Parsons enjoyed some real success with his feature “Tarzan of the Apes” (1918) starring Elmo Lincoln and had the funds to finance his series of Capital Comedies, which were released and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures.

Rhodes continued to work for Christie during this period, but there was some tension arising. Rhodes had willingly worked for a lesser salary when Christie was having financial trouble and laying actors off, but now that he was solvent he felt betrayed by her investigating other possibilities. Goldwyn promised wide distribution, so the comedies Billie appeared in for Parsons were quite well known and popular. There is an unfortunately poor survival rate for the comedies Billie Rhodes and Smilin’ Billy Parsons made, but from existing reports, it appears they were domestic comedies that relied on the natural charm of the performers.

Billie Rhodes benefited a great deal from the guidance of Parsons, who was a better producer than he was an actor or comedian. While Christie had helped to guide her and she developed formidable improvisational skills during that period, she thrived in the work offered her by Parsons. Billie Rhodes married William Parsons in February of 1919. That same year Parsons starred her in three feature films, “Hoop-La,” “The Lamb and the Lion,” and “The Blue Bonnet”

Parsons had a strong reputation for being a rather dazzling and persuasive salesman and his success was often based on his friendliness and likability resulting in a successful deal. Goldwyn would often send the more difficult producers to Parsons, who would make them feel comfortable and secure in whatever deal was being made. However, along with being dynamic and forceful, he was also unhealthy. Short and overweight, Parsons was plagued by undiagnosed diabetes and died in a diabetic coma in September of 1919. This left Billie Rhodes a widow, and without a mentor helping to guide her career.

Continuing into the 1920s, Billie Rhodes did some amusing comedies for Joe Rock, a few of which survive. “Chop Suey Louie” (1923) is a delightfully politically-incorrect short that boasts such visuals as rotund Frank Alexander dressed as a fat Asian stereotype, smoking an enormous opium pipe. But the feature films Billie appeared in, such as “His Pajama Girl” (1920) and “The Star Reporter” (1921) generated no interest at the box office. By 1925 she had given up movies and returned to the stage. She would continue to occasionally perform ragtime songs in live performance up until her passing in 1988 at the ripe old age of 93.

Billie Rhodes stated in a 1968 interview:

“I was never a wild party girl, and I never lived beyond my means. I saved my money, and one day I woke up and said 'I've had it.' And I just stopped working in pictures. I was able to get out gracefully. Oh, sure, I had some good times, and pictures were fun, but they were fun only until I said to myself it was time to get out.”