Volume III: Biographies

MARSTON, Mrs. Lawrence *

Actress (1912-1913)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Mrs. Lawrence Marston was an actress with Thanhouser in 1912 and 1913.

Biographical Notes: Mrs. Lawrence Marston, wife of the Thanhouser director, was also known as A.C. Marston and by the nickname Puss to her friends. She was with her husband at Thanhouser by 1912 and appeared in Thanhouser films through 1913.

The Moving Picture World, February 15, 1913, told of her screen activities: "After retirement of 12 years from public amusement, Mrs. Lawrence Marston, wife of the veteran legitimate director now staging photoplays for Thanhouser, has come back, via the film route. She never thought she would ever act again! She had made a resolution on that score at the time of her retirement, because she felt she could not do all a wife and mother should if she pursued the profession of playing, with its enforced separation from loved ones. And, telling of how she came back, Mrs. Marston says: 'The blessing of picture work to the married professional woman is that it is stationary work. You are chasing from city to city in stage work, which kills home life. You can work in pictures and have your home life. I was not aware of the boon pictures are to so many acting people until Mr. Marston took up picture directing. Then I came to the picture studio and saw. Behold! And here I am back in the harness again.' Her first film work is as the Amazon who exclaims 'Good morning, judge,' in the picture of that title released Sunday, February 9, 1913."

The Moving Picture World, July 5, 1913, told more: "The only recognition anybody who has been following Thanhouser pictures has of Mrs. Lawrence Marston is in 'Amazon' parts, for on the screen she looks like a pretty representative of the Amazon type. Her vigorous roles in Good Morning Judge, A Militant Suffragette, and A Business Woman seem to exactly suit her. But now we have a Thanhouser announcement that it is in the leading female role in support of Maude Fealy in King René's Daughter, Mrs. Marston is a nice, tame nurse. They swing 'em around in some of these picture parts!"

In 1914 she was with American Biograph and appeared in several films, including The Ring and the Book and The Cricket on the Hearth.

Note: Her surname was given erroneously as "Masten" in The Motion Picture Story Magazine, October 1913.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1912: A Militant Suffragette (12-29-1912)

1913: Good Morning, Judge (2-9-1913), The Changeling (4-11-1913), A Business Woman (5-20-1913), King René's Daughter (7-1-1913), Her Two Jewels (7-4-1913), Little Dorrit (7-29-1913), Proposal by Proxy (8-3-1913), The Medium's Nemesis (8-22-1913), Moths (Mutual 9-1913), When the Worm Turned (9-21-1913)

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