Port Henry’s ‘Arctic City’ — Anetha Getwell
This is the latest in an occasional series of posts about early 20th century film production in Port Henry, N.Y.
Actress Anetha Getwell was still generally unknown when she arrived at Port Henry in 1921 to play the lead female role in “On The Back Lot,” despite the fact that she had been the first female to drive a U.S. Army tank — for publicity purposes, of course.
“Anetha Getwell is a screen queen and not a case of illness,” newspaper columnist “Hi Speed” quipped in a July 1921 syndicated column that appeared in multiple newspaper preserved in the Library of Congress Chronicling America historical newspapers online data base.
“On the Back Lot”was the first that the new Pantheon Productions, headed by director Charles Miller, filmed after purchasing Arctic Studios in Port Henry.
Industry followers predicted the role would catapult Getwell to national fame.
“The path to distinction in films is not always easy for aspirants, but for Anetha Getwell, her progress has been on rollers,” Theater Magazine reported in September 1921. “This 22-year-old young woman, after playing a few extra ‘bits’ in the movies in Chicago, came East and strolled into fame by winning a beauty contest.”
Getwell was one of four finalists in the “Fame and Fortune” contest conducted in 1919 by three movie magazines — Motion Picture Magazine, Motion Picture Classic, and Shadowland.
“The object of the contest is to find a successor for Mary Pickford, who shortly retires from the screen,” the New York Tribune reported.
A field of 50,000 entrants was narrowed down to 25 aspiring actresses who were invited to the Long Island home of Eugene Brewster, publisher of the magazines, for photo shoots and screen tests.
A panel of celebrity judges that included Pickford, Brewster and Cecil de Mille, narrowed the field to six and then four, but could not agree on a champion, so all four were selected as winners.
Getwell was featured on the cover of the March 6, 1920 issue of Motion Picture Magazine, and landed a role in a patriotic movie being filmed to promote the American Legion, garnering her the nickname “The American Legion Girl.”
She reportedly drove, perhaps with assistance, a U.S. Army tank through the streets of Washington, D.C. on Armistice Day for a scene in the movie.
I wish that I could could conclude this post with a fairy tale finish.
But that would be recreating history, and even a retired newspaper reporter is not allowed to do that.
At last report, after filming “On the Back Lot,” Getwell left Port Henry to shop for new costumes in New York City, and, as far as I can find, was not heard from again.
Sources: Ticonderoga Sentinel, April 7, 1921; Essex County Republican, March 4, May 6, 1921; The Post-Star, April 1, 1921; The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer, Bridgeport, Conn., Dec. 27, 1920; Devil’s Lake World, Devil’s Lake, Utah, July 12, 1921; New York Tribune, Aug. 24, Oct. 12, 1919; Motion Picture Magazine, March 6, 1920; Theater Magazine, September 1921.
Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.
