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Modern Times Clippings 175/382

Motion Picture Herald, New York, August 31, 1935.

Mack Swain began his theatrical career in Salt Lake City

at the age of eleven. he became a famous vaudeville

comedian, leaping from success there to a scream of popularity

as the indescribable „Ambrose“ of the Keystone

collection of comedy. Swain‘s comedy is a thing absolutely

of his own invention.

(...) Photoplay, June 1915

& The Gold Rush Scene

& Career Ends

      Mack Swain, veteran of stage and screen, dies

in Tacoma.

(...) Photo, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 27, 1935

& DEATH CALLS

      MACK SWAIN

      Player of Stage and Screen Stricken Fatally

      in North, While on Way Here

      TACOMA, Aug. 26. (AP) – Mack Swain, 59 years of age,

pioneer stage and screen actor, died at a Tacoma

hospital late last night after an illness of but a few hours.

      The veteran actor, who was prominent in Pacific

Coast stock appearances when he was a young man, and

later was in the early Keystone Comedies with

Charlie Chaplin, arrived at Gig Harbor, a suburb of Tacoma,

Saturday from Chicago, en route to Hollywood.

      He was accompanied by his wife, Cora King Swain,

who also was well known in early days as a stock company

actress.

      DIES AT HOSPITAL

      The two visited at the home of Mrs. Clara Lamb Gates

at Gig Harbor. Swain suffered an internal hemorrhage

yesterday afternoon. He was taken to the Tacoma hospital,

but died late in the evening.

      Besides hi widow the actor leaves a brother in Salt Lake

City and two brothers in Montana.

      In earlier years Swain was leading man of a number

of stock companies. He appeared with Charlie Chaplin in „The

Gold Rush.“

      SCREEN CAREER

      For three years associated with Chaplin, Swain acted

in many early comedies with such notables as Mack

Sennett, Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Chester Conklin

and Wallace Beery.

      In recent years he was less active than at the start of his

film career, but appeared in such films as „Gentlemen

Prefer Blondes,“ „The Cohens and the Kellys,“ „Marianne“

and „The Last Warning.“

      –––

      CHAPLIN MOURNS

      PASSING OF COLLEAGUE

      Mr. Ambrose is dead.

      Charles Chaplin paused in his studio work to

express a pang of sorrow at word from  Tacoma of the

death by hemorrhage of Mack Swain.

      As „Mr. Ambrose“ Swain was one of the colorful

figures of the pioneer days of films when custard pies and

wild fast action were the vogue.

      Swain was a featured player before the days when

the screen had „stars,“ and among those who

played nameless in his films twenty-three years ago

were Mabel Normand, Wallace Beery, and a host

of others who since rose to stardom.

      „MR. AMBROSE“ OF PAST

      Those who recall the nickelodeon days may remember

the wild antics of Mr. Walrus and Mr. Ambrose.

Chester Conklin, with the great mustachios, was Mr.

Walrus. Swain was Mr. Ambrose, the great

hulking and usually ferocious 300-pound, six-foot-two

character, whose wild chases usually ended

in disaster before a custard pie, a mixing trough of cement,

or in a lake.

      When Ford Sterling started his Keystone Kops, Swain

was the largest and clumsiest of them.

      STAGE FAVORITE

      Swain came to the films from a long successful career

on the legitimate stage in the West. With his wife,

whose professional name was Cora King, he was a favorite

in such plays as „East Lynne,“ „Human Hearts,“

„La Belle Marie,“ and „Way Down East.“

      He played the part of Marie Dressler‘s father in what

Hollywood long considered its most famous comedy,

„Tillie‘s Punctured Romance.“ His last screen appearance

with Chaplin was in „The Gold Rush.“

(...) Los Angeles Times, Aug. 27, 1935

„I feel real pain at his death“

Editorial content. „Mack Swain, Film

      Comedian, Is Dead

      Mack Swain, noted comedian of the stage and screen,

a veteran of the motion picture, died this week at Tacoma, Wash.

In Tacoma, en route from Chicago to Hollywood, Mr. Swain

suffered an internal hemorrhage. He was 59.

      Born in Salt Lake City, on February 16, 1876, Mr. Swain

attended the public schools of his native city and then went on the

stage. For 22 years he played in vaudeville, minstrel,

comedy-drama and musical comedy, but his outstanding

popular success came in the early Keystone comedies

in support of Charlie Chaplin.

      His stage plays included Around the World in 80 Days,

Human Hearts and Brown‘s in Town. He was with Mack Sennett

for many years and appeared with Chaplin in The Gold

Rush, among others. Other pictures in which he appeared in more

recent years included Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Cohens

and Kellys, Marianne, The Cohens and Kellys in Atlantic City and

The Last Warning.

      When informed of the death of Mr. Swain, Mr. Chaplin

said: ,He was the most amiable and friendly of characters, and

I feel real pain at his death.‘

      As Mr. Ambrose, Mr. Swain was one of the screen‘s

most colorful figures, a featured player before the films had

,stars.‘ In his films more than two decades ago appeared

such as Mabel Normand and Wallace Beery.

      More than six feet in height, Mr. Swain weighed approximately

300 pounds. He is survived by his widow and three brothers.“

Redaktioneller Inhalt

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