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| Merta Sterling |
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born:
13 June 1882 Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States of America |
died:
15 March 1944 Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States of America (chronic myocardial degeneration due to arteriosclerosis, age 61) |
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Silent screen comedienne, former burlesque artist, with the Kalem Company from 1915. Censuses, City Directories, & newspaper accounts with addresses leave no doubt that actress Myrtle Sterling was born in 1882 (not 1883) in Wisconsin to William Sterling Norrie and his wife Elizabeth (Lizzie) as their only child, our subject here. The 1900 June 3rd p.8 of the "Chicago Tribune" has her photo and describes her: "Miss Norrie is exceptionally good-looking.....Mr. Rutledge used to paint her standing up and sitting down and in many other poses----usually with the door half open so that inquisitive policemen (and her girlfriend, Miss Dwyer) might look in and see what a hardworking artist Mr. Rutledge was." It all started several years earlier when 2 young inexperienced thieves, Mr. Rutledge and Mr. Rice met in prison in Colorado doing 5 year stints. When they got out, they joined up with Mr. Jones, hooked up with a Chicago ring of thieves and burglars and operated throughout the city and surrounding States. They pulled off burglaries and an armed robbery of a post office in Toronto, Canada. They fled to Chicago and were suspected by Toronto and Chicago police but there was not enough evidence to identify them or put them in jail for other activities. In Chicago, the young burglars became good at their "jobs" and lived well and dressed to the "hilt" in expensive London-made suits. The police referred to them as "gentleman burglars": society men by day and burglars by night. Mr. Rutledge decided they should open an "atelier" (artist's studio) to "throw off" the police. They rented a studio in a nice area of Chicago and ran an ad for "artist models". Myrtle Norrie and her friend Miss Dwyer replied (with parental permission) and Myrtle was selected out of all the applicants. She and her friend both worked as relatively low-paid telephone operators. Myrtle was supporting her Mom and invalid Dad who had worked as a steward and cook. He died in April of 1901 after having lived in Chicago since 1885. She expected to supplement her income. Both young women (aged 18 & 17) fell in love with Rutledge and Rice. They were wined and dined at fancy restaurants and stage plays and showered with jewelry (stolen?) and expensive gifts. Myrtle even introduced Mr. Rutledge and Mr. Rice to her parents and they found them quite acceptable even tho they were in their early 30's. Both proposed marriage (already married) and gave them expensive diamond rings. The girls wrote passionate love letters when the men "were out of town painting portraits on commission". It all "hit the fan" in April 1900 when the men's "wives" in Toronto "got wind of" their husbands' involvement with the younger women. Jealous, Rutledge's wife, Louise, informed the Toronto police of his involvement in the Canadian robberies and the addresses of where he could be found. The Chicago police had enough to raid the studio and men's residence. They found a trunk full of burglary tools, fine dress clothes and Myrtle's love letters. They informed Myrtle and she went into denial until she spotted "the wives" visiting the husbands in jail. After confronting Rutledge, he still professed his love to her. The 3 men successfully fought extradition to Canada for 9 months with an expensive lawyer, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court but finally lost. Their "wives" visited them almost every day. In early April of 1901, the 3 "husbands" were to be transferred to Canada by train. The 3 "wives" suspiciously shadowed the police station. The Chicago cops subdued and arrested them when they made a ruckus. They held them until the men were put on the train to Toronto and then released the women. One newspaper has drawings of the men who all used aliases. In early June of 1901 in Canada, the men were acquitted of one robbery and were being transferred by horse-drawn cab in handcuffs and leg shackles to another courthouse with two armed guards. Someone (or 2) men (or women) dressed in black clothes ran alongside the cab. "He" tossed (2 or 3) pistols into the cab. Rutledge shot one guard thru the back of his head, killing him instantly and the second guard was severely wounded in the thigh. The fugitives jumped out and commandeered a passing cable car. Jones held a gun to the head of the motorman who quickly pulled off the steering arm and brained him. The conductor quickly disconnected the electrical arms and stopped the car. Passersby and police subdued the criminals. The accomplice(s) escaped. Jones died a day later from his injuries. Hopeless, while in jail, Rutledge committed suicide by jumping from a 5th floor on to concrete and smashed his "brains out" a few days later. Rice was hanged in Toronto in July 1902. His wealthy Champaign, Illinois family almost went bankrupt trying to save his life to no avail. His Mom bought the most expensive ("golden") coffin in Toronto to accompany his body back home to Illinois. Myrtle and her Mom "disappear" from the "records" until May of 1909 when Myrtle shows up in Chicago to visit her Mom who is working as a housemaid for a wealthy merchant and Myrtle gets arrested in a police raid at 4 AM in a whorehouse in the red light district wearing 5 expensive diamond rings. She gave a fake name and told the judge that she would go to jail before revealing her real name. Reporters recognized her as Myrtle Norrie. She said she married a wealthy Los Angeles theater manager in August 1908 and didn't want his name involved. She went out all night partying with a girlfriend and didn't want to go home drunk. She just wanted to get some sleep and the friend directed her to the address where she went and got a bed. She didn't know it was a whore house until the police raid. She did nothing wrong and the diamond rings were a gift from her husband so the judge released her and told her to go back to her husband in LA. (I couldn't confirm a marriage). In his wonderfully expansive book, "Slapstick Divas", Steve Massa quotes a 1917 fan magazine publicity blurb about Myrtle that says 8 years before her first movie role, she had been working as a telephone operator for a vaudeville producing company and talked her way into a starring role in a popular play. She was a success and after that play ended, she started a career as actor/singer/dancer on her own. (I haven't been able to confirm this publicity blurb). A 1920 newspaper blurb says she is a 300 lb. comedienne and a few weeks later, another newspaper blurb says she is 250 lbs.. Paraphrasing Myrtle, when people asked about her weight, she wouldn't say but answer with "you wouldn't believe me if I told you". Sometime, (unconfirmed) about 1913, Myrtle's Mom married a successful Los Angeles cattle trader, Frederick H. Butchers. By 1915 all three were living in the house he owned at 1129 Logan. The women lived there until their deaths in 1944 and 1945. Fred Butchers had committed suicide in 1925 by drowning himself in Echo Lake in Echo Park in LA! From 1938 thru her death in 1944, Myrtle gives her profession as "nurse". The death certificate says she died March 15th (not March 14th) of "chronic myocardial degeneration due to arteriosclerosis". |
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Real name: Myrtle Norrie Height: 5'1" |
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography. |
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