Marta Golden

Marta Golden
Born
Lillian Marta Golden

about 1880
Pennsylvania, US
DiedJanuary 2, 1940
San Francisco, California, US
Other namesMarta Golden Duffy, Lillie Duffy
OccupationActress
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1910; div. 1915)​

Lillian Marta Golden (about 1880 – January 2, 1940)[1] was an American stage and film actress, writer, and vaudeville performer, associated with the films of Charlie Chaplin.

Career

Film

Golden made her film debut in the 1915 Charlie Chaplin-directed short Work. She appeared in approximately seven motion pictures, often in comedies directed and starring Chaplin.[2] She recalled injuries while performing film stunts involving roller skates attached to her back, a head injury from a prop gun, underwater scrapes, cheese in her eyes, and hairpulling.[3] Her last appearance in a motion picture was in the 1928 Edwin Carewe-directed drama Revenge, starring Dolores del Río.[4]

Stage

Golden co-starred in a play in San Francisco in 1910.[5] She co-led the Golden-Raynes musical comedy company with her first husband, J. A. Raynes; the troupe included Roscoe Arbuckle and Lon Chaney.[6] She had "an exceedingly good program" when she performed in Honolulu in 1914;[7] also in 1914, she took over a role in The Merry Gambol from Marie Dressler.[8] She appeared on vaudeville programs in a musical comedy act with Truly Shattuck in 1916.[9][10] During the 1918 flu pandemic, when the theaters in San Francisco were closed as a public health measure, Golden organized actresses to volunteer with the American Red Cross.[11]

In the 1930s, Martha Golden Duffy was stage director at Westminster Avenue School in Venice, California, and organized vaudeville-style benefit shows.[12][13][14]

Writing

Golden worked at the Pittsburgh Dispatch as a young woman, writing for the newspaper's women's page.[5] She wrote a playlet, The Nut, which was produced at the Orpheum in Oakland in 1915.[15] She also wrote and starred in The Pickpocket, performed by her own company in 1918, at San Francisco's Hippodrome.[16] In 1927 she wrote a song, "I Wonder What the End Will Be."[17] She wrote and starred in Good Night Nurse: A Satire on Eugenics, performed at the Westminster Avenue School in 1930.[12] She wrote and starred in a one-act comedy, Neighbors, at Venice High School in 1931.[18]

Personal life

She married English-born composer and conductor John Arthur Raynes in 1910, and divorced him in 1915.[19][20] She remarried to Charles Arthur Duffy in 1918; they adopted a daughter, Jean.[21][22] Golden lived in Venice, California, in the late 1920s and 1930s.[17][23][24] She died in San Francisco in 1940, at the age of 60.[25]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1915 Work The Wife[2] Short, Uncredited
1915 A Woman Her Mother[2] Short, Uncredited
1915 All Stuck Up The Daughter Short
1915 Crooked to the End Short
1915 A Janitor's Wife's Temptation The Janitor's Wife[26] Short
1917 The Adventurer Mrs. Brown - Girl's Mother Short, Uncredited
1928 Revenge Leana (final film role)

References

  1. ^ In the 1910 census Lillian Marta Raynes was listed as age 30; in the 1920 census, Marta G. Duffy was listed as age 39, and in the 1930 census Lillie Duffy was listed as age 50. All of these suggest a birth year around 1880. Her death date is given in newspapers and on her gravestone as January 2, 1940.
  2. ^ a b c Neibaur, James L. (2012). Early Charlie Chaplin: The Artist as Apprentice at Keystone Studios. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-8108-8242-3.
  3. ^ "Perils of a Movie Actress". The San Benito Advance. March 8, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Staff Directory". Essanay Studios. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Furious Farce Comedy Sweeps Across Continent to this City". San Francisco Chronicle. August 11, 1910. p. 10. Retrieved June 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Points on Plays and Players". Pasadena Star-News. July 22, 1911. p. 9. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Splendid Program at Popular Theater for the Coming Week". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. November 9, 1914. p. 7. Retrieved June 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Oakland Girl in 'Gambol'; Marta Golden Gets Part". Oakland Tribune. March 9, 1914. p. 9. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Breaking into Vaudeville; True Story of Truly Shttuck and Marta Golden". The Brooklyn Citizen. October 1, 1916. p. 16. Retrieved June 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "From Hospital Beds to Fame Came These Two Sister Stars". The Evening Sun. September 27, 1916. p. 4. Retrieved June 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Western Theaters Closed". Dramatic Mirror. 79 (2082): 720. November 16, 1918 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ^ a b "Community Vode Program Planned; Westminster School Food Fund Benefit Planned for Friday Night". Evening Vanguard. June 18, 1930. p. 1. Retrieved June 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Surprise Baby Shower Honors Mrs. E. C. Allen". Evening Vanguard. January 18, 1933. p. 3. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Benefit Performance of 'Enchanted Garden' to be Given Thursday Night to Aid Westminster P.-T. A." Evening Vanguard. May 16, 1933. p. 3. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Marta Golden is to Stage Her Own Play". Oakland Enquirer. April 3, 1915. p. 7. Retrieved June 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "New Acts This Week". Variety. 50 (9): 15. April 26, 1918 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ a b Library of Congress Copyright Office (1928). Catalogue of Title-entries of Books and Other Articles Entered in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, Under the Copyright Law ... Wherein the Copyright Has Been Completed by the Deposit of Two Copies in the Office. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 982.
  18. ^ "Parent-Teacher Association Information". Evening Vanguard. April 8, 1932. p. 3. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Spouse Gets $75 a well, She Says She Gets None". Oakland Enquirer. February 12, 1915. p. 7.
  20. ^ "Marta Golden Files Suit for Divorce". The San Francisco Examiner. February 13, 1915. p. 11.
  21. ^ "Miss Montana Wins Home in Duffy Family". Los Angeles Times. May 6, 1922. p. 27 – via Internet Archive.com.
  22. ^ "Adopted Baby Girl Brings Couple Together After a Separation Lasting One Year". San Francisco Chronicle. March 20, 1922. p. 9. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Triple Birthday Party is Staged". Evening Vanguard. September 10, 1929. p. 5. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Parent-Teacher Association Information". Evening Vanguard. January 10, 1931. p. 3. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Duffy (death notice)". The San Francisco Examiner. January 3, 1940. p. 11. Retrieved June 19, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Walker, Brent E. (January 13, 2010). Mack Sennett's Fun Factory: A History and Filmography of His Studio and His Keystone and Mack Sennett Comedies, with Biographies of Players and Personnel. McFarland. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-7864-5707-6.
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