Volume III: Biographies

HEERMAN, Victor

Consultant (1909-1910)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Victor Heerman worked with Thanhouser in 1909 and 1910 as a consultant. From his office in New York City he provided cast members for early Thanhouser productions, arranged for costume rental, and otherwise assisted the firm.

Biographical Notes: Victor Heerman was born in Barnes, Surrey, England on August 27, 1892. His parents and their four sons came to America, where they opened a theatrical costume business at 1566 Broadway and lived on 43rd Street, later moving to 44th Street next to the Lambs Club. At the age of about nine, Victor Heerman posed for advertising and song slides. Soon thereafter, he acted in films for American Biograph.

In a circa 1976 interview with film historian Anthony Slide, he recalled: "[Biograph] was on the roof of 14th Street and Broadway...about ten or twelve stories.... They had some offices up on the top floor, I guess it was, because we had to walk the steps after we went in there. They'd make you up or whatever they had to do, costumes and that. So they probably had a platform, I would say...probably 25 or 30 feet, and that was about so big. Behind that was a small platform...on a trolley...so they could move it around into the sun...."

Heerman's first professional stage engagement was as a child, with Nat Goodwin, in the role of "Mustard Seed" in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He later worked with Richard Golden and Will H. Gregory. Around 1905-1906 he was in the Rupert Hughes play, The Triangle, with Charlotte Walker. The production was not a success, and he left the stage to further his schooling. Later, he worked for various theatres and booking agencies. According to a biographical sketch in the 1916 edition of the Motion Picture News Studio Directory, he joined Thanhouser in 1910, although in his interview with Anthony Slide, reprinted in the Thanhouser narrative section of the present work, it is apparent he was with Thanhouser as early as 1909. Later, he went to work for S.C. Poli, managing the Park Theatre in New York City and several road attractions.

In 1914 he was manager of Weber's New York Theatre. Toward the end of the year he joined L-KO as assistant to Director-General Henry ("Pathé") Lehrman, and when a juvenile company was added, he was made director. After a year he went to Keystone, where he was in the autumn of 1916. At the time he lived in the Los Angeles area. Later, he was with the Sennett-Paramount studio in the filming of Are Waitresses Safe? His pastimes included horseback riding and automobiling. In later years he directed the Marx brothers in Animal Crackers. His scripts, co-written with his wife, Sarah Y. Mason, in the 1930s included The Little Minister, Magnificent Obsession, Stella Dallas, and Golden Boy. Victor Heerman died on November 3, 1977.

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