Esther Ralston Explained

Esther Ralston (born Esther Louise Worth, September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an American silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was To the Last Man in 1933.

Early life and career

Ralston was born Esther Louise Worth in Bar Harbor, Maine, one of five siblings. She was the older sister of actor Howard Ralston (July 25, 1904  - June 1, 1992), who appeared in nine films between 1920 and 1924.

She began her career as a child actress in a family vaudeville act which was billed as "The Ralston Family with Baby Esther, America's Youngest Juliet". From this, she appeared in a few small silent film roles, including a role alongside her brother in the 1920 film adaptation of Huckleberry Finn. Ralston later gained attention as Mrs. Darling in the 1924 film version of Peter Pan.

In the late 1920s, she appeared in many films for Paramount, at one point earning as much as $8,000 per week, and garnering much popularity, especially in United Kingdom. She appeared mainly in comedies usually with her name billed above the title, often portraying spirited society girls, and also received good reviews for her forays into dramatic roles.

On radio, Ralston portrayed Kathy Marsh in Portia Faces Life^[1] and Marcella Hudnall in Our Gal Sunday.^[2]

Retirement and later years

Despite making a successful transition to sound films, she mainly was relegated to supporting roles by the mid-1930s. Her last leading role was in To the Last Man in 1933, directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Randolph Scott with a supporting cast featuring Noah Beery Sr., Buster Crabbe, Shirley Temple and John Carradine. In his book, The Hollywood Western: Ninety Years of Cowboys and Indians, Train Robbers, Sheriffs and Gunslingers, film historian William K. Everson discusses the film,^[3] writing:

To the Last Man was almost a model of its kind, an exceptionally strong story of feuding families in the post-Civil War era, with a cast worthy of an "A" feature, excellent direction by Henry Hathaway, and an unusual climactic fight between the villain (Jack LaRue) and the heroine (Esther Ralston, in an exceptionally appealing performance).

Ralston made her final film Tin Pan Alley in 1940 and chose to retire from films. She continued working on the stage and in radio throughout the 1940s,^[4] including being the leading lady for part of the run of Woman of Courage.^[5]

She returned to the screen in the early 1950s with guest roles on television series, including a Kraft Television Theatre version of Daphne Du Maurier's "September Tide" and an episode of Tales of Tomorrow titled "All the Time in the World." In 1962, she had a leading role in the short-lived daytime drama Our Five Daughters, her final onscreen role (all five of the actresses playing her daughters resembled Ralston in her heyday).

In 1985, Ralston released her autobiography Some Day We'll Laugh.^[6] In the book, she mentions that her career was sabotaged by Louis B. Mayer when she refused to sleep with him at the beginning of a swiftly abortive contract at his studio. She was graylisted and soon found herself toppled from the height of the industry to being predominantly relegated to supporting roles, mainly at minor studios, solving the mystery of why her career faltered at the dawn of sound despite her having had a lifetime of theatrical stage experience and a superb speaking voice.

Marriages

• On December 25, 1925, Ralston married her manager, actor George Webb Frey in Manhattan, New York. He was credited in films as George Webb. They had a daughter, Mary Esther (born 1931), who, at birth was known as the "$100,000 Baby" because her mother turned down a substantial film contract while pregnant. George and Esther divorced in 1934. George filed for bankruptcy in Los Angeles in March 1934.
• On June 16, 1935, Ralston married actor Will Morgan (Wilburt Whitfield Morgan), then a former New York stage actor and singer. They divorced in 1938. Morgan led the saxophone section for eight years for Fred Waring.
• On August 6, 1939, Ralston married radio announcer and columnist Ted Lloyd (Theodore Allen Lloyd) in Greenwich, Connecticut. Music publisher Jack Robbins (John Jacob Robbins) was Lloyd's best man. The couple had two children, Judy and Ted, Jr. Ted and Esther divorced in 1954. Before marrying Ralston, Lloyd had worked for newspapers and Radio News. In 1942, Lloyd became director of radio for 20th Century Fox. In 1946, with Hal Horne and Armand Deutsch, Lloyd formed Ted Lloyd, Inc. to manage personalities and to produce radio (later TV) programs. He produced several radio dramas, including My True Story for the NBC Red Network, Adventures of the Abbotts on NBC Red Network (18 episodes in 1955), Whispering Streets for CBS Radio, and Escape for CBS-TV.

Death

On January 14, 1994, Ralston died of a heart attack at age 91 in her home in Ventura, California.^[7] The family held services on January 17, 1994, in Ventura, California, the day of the Northridge earthquake. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Esther Ralston had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6664 Hollywood Boulevard.^[8]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1915	The Deep Purple	Bit, extra...as an Angel	Uncredited Lost film
1918	The Doctor and the Woman	Minor Role	Uncredited; Lost film
	For Husbands Only	Bit part	Uncredited Lost film
1920	Huckleberry Finn	Mary Jane Wilks
	The Peddler of Lies	Minor Role	Lost
	The Butterfly Man		Uncredited Lost film
	Dangerous Love
	Whispering Devils	Rose Gibbard	Lost film
	To Please One Woman		Presumed lost
1921	The Kid	Extra in Heaven Scene	Uncredited
	What Do Men Want?		Uncredited Incomplete film
	Crossing Trails	Helen Stratton	Lost film
1922	Daring Danger	Ethel Stanton	Lost film
	Remembrance	Beatrice	Lost film
	Pals of the West	Nina
	Youth to Youth		Lost film
	The Lone Hand		Lost film
	Oliver Twist	Rose Maylie
1923	The Prisoner	Marie	Lost film
	The Phantom Fortune	Mary Rogers	Lost film
	Railroaded	Joan Dunster	Lost film
	The Victor	Chewing Gum Baron's Daughter	Lost film
	Blinky	Mary Lou Kileen	Lost film
	The Wild Party	Bess Furth	Lost film
	Pure Grit	Stella Bolling	Lost film
1924	The Marriage Circle	Miss Hofer
	Jack O'Clubs	Queenie Hatch	Lost film
	Fight and Win	Holly Malloy
	The Heart Buster	Rose Hillyer	Lost film
	Wolves of the North	Madge Chester	Lost film Serial
	Peter Pan	Mrs. Darling
	$50,000 Reward	Carolyn Jordan
1925	The Little French Girl	Toppie Westmacott	Lost film
	The Goose Hangs High	Dagmar Carroll	Lost film
	Beggar on Horseback	Cynthia Mason	Incomplete film
	The Lucky Devil	Doris McDee
	The Trouble with Wives	Dagmar	Lost film
	The Best People	Alice O'Neil	Lost film
	A Kiss for Cinderella	Fairy Godmother
	Womanhandled	Molly Martin
1926	The American Venus	Mary Gray	Lost film
	The Blind Goddess	Moira Devens	Lost film
	The Quarterback	Louise Mason
	Old Ironsides	Esther
1927	Fashions for Women	Céleste de Givray and Lola Dauvry	Lost film
	Children of Divorce	Jean Waddington
	Ten Modern Commandments	Kitty O'Day	Lost film
	Figures Don't Lie	Janet Wells	Lost film
	The Spotlight	Lizzie Stokes / Olga Rostova	Lost film
1928	Love and Learn	Nancy Blair	Lost film
	Something Always Happens	Diana Mallory	Lost film
	Half a Bride	Patience Winslow	Lost film
	The Sawdust Paradise	Hallie	Lost film
1929	The Case of Lena Smith	Lena Smith	Lost film
	Betrayal	Vroni	Lost film
	The Wheel of Life	Ruth Dangan
	The Mighty	Louise Patterson
1931	Lonely Wives	Madeline Smith
	The Prodigal	Antonia Farraday
1932	Rome Express	Asta Marvelle
	After the Ball	Elissa Strange
1933	Black Beauty	Leila Lambert
	To the Last Man	Ellen Colby	Alternative title: Law of Vengeance
	By Candlelight	Baroness von Ballin
1934	Sadie McKee	Dolly Merrick
	Romance in the Rain	Gwen de la Rue
	The Marines Are Coming	Dorothy Manning
	Strange Wives	Olga
1935	Mister Dynamite	Charmian Dvorjak
	Ladies Crave Excitement	Miss Winkler
	Shadows of the Orient	Viola Avery
	Streamline Express	Elaine Vincent
	Together We Live	Jenny
	Streamline Express	Elaine Vincent
	Forced Landing	Ruby Anatole
1936	The Girl from Mandalay	Mary Trevor
	Hollywood Boulevard	Flora Moore
	Reunion	Janet Fair
	We're in the Legion Now!	Louise Rillette
1937	As Good as Married	Miss Danforth
	Jungle Menace	Valerie Shield	Serial, [Chs. 1, 3, 6, 7, 15]
	The Mysterious Pilot	Vivian McNain	Serial, [Chs.10-11]
1938	The Spy Ring	Jean Bruce
	Letter of Introduction	Mrs. Sinclair	Uncredited
	Slander House	Ruth De Milo
1940	Tin Pan Alley	Nora Bayes
	The San Francisco Docks	Frances March

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952	Kraft Television Theatre		Episode: "September Tide"
	Tales of Tomorrow	The Collector	Episode: "All the Time in the World"
1953	Broadway Television Theatre	Mrs. Bancroft	Episode: "The Noose"
1962	Our Five Daughters	Helen Lee

References

Sources

• Speaking of Silents: First Ladies of the Screen, by William H. Drew, Vestal Press (1989);
• Some Day We'll Laugh: An Autobiography, by Esther Ralston, Anthony Slide (ed.), Scarecrow Press (1985);

External links

• • • Photographs of Esther Ralston

Notes and References

1. Book: Terrace. Vincent. Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. 1999. McFarland & Company, Inc.. 978-0-7864-4513-4. 274.
2. You asked for them, and here they are . Movie and Radio Guide . March 2, 1940 . 9 . 21 . 11 .
3. Everson, William K. The Hollywood Western: Ninety Years of Cowboys and Indians, Train Robbers, Sheriffs and Gunslingers. New York. Citadel Press, 1992, First edition 1969.
4. News: Former Star Is Satisfied To Play Bits. Coons. Robbin. October 15, 1940. Toledo Blade. February 1, 2013.
5. Book: Dunning, John . On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio . John Dunning (detective fiction author) . 1998 . Oxford University Press . New York, NY . 978-0-19-507678-3 . 726 . Revised . 2019-10-04.
6. Book: Mayne, Judith. Directed by Dorothy Arzner. 1994. Indiana University Press. 0-253-20896-3. 37.
7. Web site: Esther Ralston, 91, A Featured Actress of Silent-Film Era. Collins. Glenn. January 27, 1994. The New York Times. February 1, 2013.
8. Web site: Hollywood Star Walk. Los Angeles Times. February 1, 2013.