Lawrence B. McGill

Lawrence B. McGill (1866–1928) was an American actor and director. At the turn of the 20th century, he was a leading man for Keystone Dramatic Company. He produced stage plays and then went on to act and direct films. He also worked for the New York Reliance-Mutual Company.

Lawrence B. McGill
Lithograph of Gertrude Shipman and Lawrence B. McGill
Born	Lawrence Barrett McGill February 22, 1866 Courtland, Mississippi
Died	February 22, 1928 Waldo, Florida
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	actor and stage and film director

Career

Lawrence McGill was a director, writer, and actor.^[1] McGill and Gertrude Shipman played a "dandy repertoire of plays" for Keystone Dramatic Company in opera houses across Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey starting by November 1899.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} In 1909, McGill began producing plays, with Gertrude as the leading lady and Richard Gordon her new leading man, at the Lyric Theater in Buffalo, New York.^[7] They opened with Dorothy Hernan of Haddon Hall, an Elizabethan period piece. Shipman operated the Gertrude Shipman and Associated Players for other players for McGill's production.^[7]

McGill acted in and produced silent films between 1909 and 1918.^[8] He was the director-in-chief of All-Star Company in 1913. He produced Arizona that year and other previous films.^[9] He was on the board of governors of the New York Screen Club.^[9] Actor George Brott featured in two films produced by McGill, The Deserted Wife and Love's Young Dream, by 1925.^[10] He was brought on as a director at Champion Productions.^[11] He also worked for the New York Reliance-Mutual Company.^[12]

Further information: Gertrude Shipman § Career

Personal life

Lawrence Barrett McGill born on February 22, 1866, in Courtland, Mississippi, where he grew up.^[8][1] He was the son of Iona A. Trantham and Archibald D. McGill.^[8] He was married twice,^[13] first to Elizabeth Amann, with whom they had a daughter, Vida Iona McGill who was born on March 19, 1894.^{[8][lower-alpha 1]}

He married Gertrude Shipman on November 18, 1899, in Maysville, Kentucky^[14] at the Central Presbyterian Church.^[13] They were both employed by the Kingston Dramatic Company and they were in the town for a production at the opera house.^{[13][lower-alpha 2]} Shipman and McGill had a son, Edmund Robert McGill, who was born August 18, 1904, in Connecticut.^[8] They lived in New Haven, Connecticut in 1909^[7] and were in Waldo, Florida in the 1920s.^[8] McGill died on February 22, 1928, in Waldo.^[8] Shipman died on February 14, 1960. They are both buried in the Laurel Grove Cemetery in Waldo.^[8]

Filmography

• Camille (1912)
• Arizona (1913 film), co-director
• Our Mutual Girl (1914), one of directors
• America^[15]
• Pierre of the Plains (1914)^[16]
• The Price He Paid (1914)
• Sealed Valley (1915)
• How Molly Made Good (1915)
• The Amazing Mr. Fellman (1915)
• The Woman's Law (1916)
• Crime and Punishment (1917)
• The Angel Factory (1917)
• The First Law (film) (1918)
• The Girl from Bohemia (1918)^[17]
• A Woman's Experience (1919), as Nicholas Barrable

Notes

1. Vida first lived with her paternal grandparents in Mississippi. In 1910, she was living with Shipman's parents, Robert and Elizabeth, in Frankstown, Pennsylvania.^[8]
2. They performed on the day of their wedding in Maysville, Kentucky.^[13]

References

1. Shipman (1899-11-23). "Marriage of McGill". The News-Herald. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
2. "Recalling Incidents of the Past" (PDF). Billboard. p. 46.
3. "Amusements: Keystone Dramatic Company Entertain Lake and Appreciative Audiences". The News-Herald. 1899-11-02. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
4. "The Keystone Dramatic Company All Next Week". The Evening Bulletin. 1899-11-09. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
5. "Grand Opera House - Escaped From the Law". Reading Times. 1900-02-28. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
6. "Amusements: Notes of Interest to York's Amusement Lovers". The Gazette. 1900-04-16. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
7. "Summer Stock at Lyric Theater". The Buffalo Sunday Morning News. 1909-05-16. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
8. "Waldo Celebrities" (PDF). The Waldo Phoenix. Waldo Historical Society. July 2011. p. 3.
9. "News and Photoplays and Photoplayers - Lawrence B. McGill". The Shreveport Journal. 1913-11-28. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
10. "Lawrence B. McGill presents". The Buffalo Times. 1925-04-14. p. 16. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
11. "Motion Picture News". Motion Picture News Incorporated. August 17, 1912 – via Google Books.
12. "World's Advance". Modern Publishing Company. August 17, 1915 – via Google Books.
13. "Marriage in Theatrical Circles: Mr. Lawrence B. McGill and Miss Gertrude Shipman of the Keystone Company Wed To-Day". The Evening Bulletin. Maysville, Kentucky. November 18, 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
14. Wilson, S. (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. Academic & Nonfiction Books anthology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 498. ISBN 978-1-4766-2599-7. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
15. Welling, David (June 30, 2010). Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292773981 – via Google Books.
16. Goble, Alan (8 September 2011). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. ISBN 9783110951943.
17. Golden, Eve (November 30, 2007). Vernon and Irene Castle's Ragtime Revolution. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0813137605 – via Google Books.

External links

• Lawrence B. McGill at IMDb