The name “Sally Phipps” was assigned to my mother by Fox Film Studio in 1926. (Fox would later be known as 20th Century Fox.) Sally was fifteen years old at the time and had just become one of Fox’s new contract players. Therefore, “Phipps” was never a legitimate family name based on any blood line, even though it is coincidentally close to ”Phelps,” another family name covered in this book.
When Sally was born on May 25, 1911 in Oakland, California to parents, Albert and Edithe Bogdon, she was named “Nellie Bernice Bogdon.” After her mother remarried, she used her stepfather’s surname and called herself “Byrnece Beutler,” chosing “Byrnece” as a first name, a variant spelling of her middle name “Bernice.” In 1929, she changed her name legally to “Sally Phipps.” During her marriage to Benedict Gimbel in the early 1930s and after she married my father, Alfred Marion Harned, she always used “Phipps” as her middle name. She even endowed my sister, Maryanna, and I with “Phipps” as one of our official middle names.
My mother, Sally Phipps, is the first person I chose to write about in my endeavor to cover interesting family members. Sally was easy. I had amassed an enormous archive of material about her over the years. And, she was already famous – historically, nationally, and internationally. Her photos and films are still sold on eBay. After working for several years on the project, I finished the Kindle version in 2014 and the print version in 2015. The book is called Sally Phipps: Silent Film Star. Both are available on Amazon (print and digital) and Barnes & Noble.
Sally Phipps Harned, 1911-1978
My mother
“Film, Broadway, and Radio Actress”
The following is the blurb about the Sally Phipps book as it currently appears on Amazon:
Sally Phipps was only three years old and the veteran winner of several beautiful baby contests when she appeared as the Baby in the film Broncho Billy And The Baby. It was made at the Niles California Essanay Studio in late 1914. This book follows her amazing life and a career that culminated in her receiving the Rosemary (for remembrance) Award shortly before her death in 1978. Her memories of the early years at Essanay include sitting on Charlie Chaplin’s lap and enduring a frightening stage coach accident. In her teens, she was a Fox Studio star appearing in 20 films, including a cameo in the classic Sunrise. There were bad times also. She was on the set of her Fox two-reel comedy Gentlemen Prefer Scotch in 1927 when word reached her of the scandalous death of her father, a state senator. But in that same year, she was selected as one of the 13 Wampas Baby Stars, starlets that were considered destined for future success. Despite her popularity in Hollywood, she left for New York where she became the darling of gossip columnists, particularly Walter Winchell. She appeared in two Broadway shows, made a Vitaphone comedy short, and married and divorced one of the Gimbel department store moguls before she darted off for India and around the world travel. Back in New York, there was another marriage, two children, and later a stay in Hawaii. Earl Wilson wrote about her in 1938 when she was working for the Federal Theatre Project during the WPA period – headlining his column “Wampas Ex-Baby Lives On WPA $23 – And Likes It.” Her images – especially her pinup photographs – have become highly collectible. The book features 150 pictures from Sally’s personal and professional life, including glamorous portraits and pinups.
Sally was born in 1911 in Oakland, California. A brother, Lane, came along in 1913. Her father, Albert E. Bogdon, was a professional magician and quite easy on the eye (He later became a lawyer). Her mother, Edithe, a commercial artist, later worked at First National Studios coloring black and white photographs.
When Albert and Edithe’s marriage fell apart, Sally went to live with her maternal grandmother, Nellie Lane. When she was not quite two, Sally was placed with a foster family, Warren and Eva Sawyer. Warren and Eva were employees at Essanay Film Corporation in Niles, California.
Sally’s career began as Bernice Sawyer at age four when she made three Broncho Billy films at Essanay: Broncho Billy and the Baby, The Western Way, The Outlaw’s Awakening, all 1915 releases.
A stagecoach accident ended Sally’s career at Essanay and sent her back to Nellie, her grandmother.
Edithe, Sally’s mother, began a new life in the 1920s and wanted Sally and Lane to be part of it. Edithe married Albert Beutler in 1922. In 1924, the family moved to Los Angeles.
Danny Borzage, a family friend, saw potential in 14-year-old Sally. Danny’s brother Frank, a director at Fox, gave Sally a screen test and the rest, as they say, is history.
After several uncredited roles, Sally began playing leads. The studio considered her image as that of a happy-go-lucky flapper and used her in comedies, often opposite Nick Stuart.
Sally was named a Wampas Baby Star in 1927, along with Patricia Avery, Rita Carewe, Helene Costello, Barbara Kent, Natalie Kingston, Frances Lee, Mary McAlister, Gladys McConnell, Sally Rand, Martha Sleeper, Iris Stuart, and Adamae Vaughn.
In 1928, while filming None But The Brave with Charles Morton, Sally developed the dreaded Klieg Eye, an eye irritation caused by the powerful lights used on studio sets.
After her recovery, Sally went on vacation. She was away from the camera for nine months, an eternity in filmdom.
Nick Stuart was soon making films and making out with Sue Carol. The actress grabbed onto Nick and wouldn’t let go. They were married in 1929.
In March 1929, 17-year-old Sally sued her mother and stepfather for the misuse of her money — she was earning $225 a week.
Soon after, Fox dropped Sally from its rolls. She tried Broadway, appearing as a starlet in the Moss Hart-George S. Kaufman hit Once in a Lifetime.
I will save the rest of her life for your reading pleasure. In short, she was briefly married to a Gimbel department store. By the mid-1930s, Sally was living in a one-room apartment in Manhattan and making $25 a week as a secretary.
She lived in India for a time and studied Eastern religions. At a séance, she met Alfred Harned, whom she married in 1941. A daughter, Maryanna, was born in 1942, followed by Bob in 1944. Sally suffered a nervous breakdown after the Harneds moved to Hawaii. One day, Sally vanished.
It would be another 17 years before Bob saw his mother. Sally moved to New York and worked as a secretary. After Bob moved to the East Coast in 1967, the two saw each other at least twice a year.
Sally Phipps died of cancer in 1978.
Additional Biographical Source via Michael Ankerich
Additional Biographical Source via eBay
Sally Phipps (1911-1978) was born in Oakland, California. Her father was a magician and her mother was a colorist in a photography studio. Her father left the family when she was age three, and Sally went to live with a foster family. Her foster parents both worked in the film industry. Sally appeared in her first film, at age three. It was called “Broncho Billy and the Baby” (1914). There were two more films in the series the following year. Prior to her debut in the movies, she had won several “Beautiful Baby” contests.
She was rediscovered by director Frank Borzage while still in high school. At age 15, in 1926, she began using the name “Sally Phipps”. She became a Fox film star and appeared in over twenty films before the arrival of 1929. In 1927, she was selected as one of thirteen “Wampas Baby Stars”. The organization was very successful at identifying future stars. Among their “finds” was Clara Bow and Joan Crawford. As a result of becoming a Wampas star, her photograph appeared in many film magazines. She often was dressed in silk and fur. Her first starring role was in the film “Love Makes ‘Em Wild” (1927). Her last appearance in a Fox film was 1929, despite her five year contract with the studio that she signed in 1927. In 1930/1931, Phipps appeared in a Broadway production by Kaufman & Hart called “Once in a Lifetime”). Looking at Phipps career, it is evident that she played many “vamp” roles. A New York Times (2008) article described her as “a comic sexpot whose innocently naughty antics were the very embodiment of flaming youth.” The article also described her off screen flapper lifestyle stating that she smoked, tangoed, dated older men, and rode around Hollywood in a flashy car. Like many young stars, Phipps had difficulty handling her success. Some of her difficulty was seen in her defiant personality. She frequently displayed a lack of dedication to her acting. She also overspent and built up large debts. She sued her parents when they tried to control her spending. This legal action is thought to have resulted in enough negative publicity to hurt her career. At age 18, with two years left in her Fox contract, she took off for New York and the stage. Fox was ok with her skipping out on the contract. They were basically done with her.
Phipps was married twice. Her husband was Benedict Gimbel Jr, heir to the department store, Gimbels. They married in 1931 and divorced in 1935. After her divorce, she found herself living in a one room apartment in New York City, and making twenty-five dollars a week as a secretary. She developed an interest in theosophy and Eastern religions and lived in India for a short time. Later, Miss Phipps married Alfred M. Harned, a New York musician. She had met him at a seance. The couple had two children. She and her family moved to Hawaii and Phipps had a mental breakdown. She and her husband separated and the kids stayed with their father. For a while she kept in contact with her children. In a short time, she abandoned them. She did not see her son for seventeen years. Phipps appeared in two Broadway shows during her careeer. Her filmography includes 24 appearances in movies between 1915 and 1931. Like many early film stars, her rapid rise to stardom was followed by a quick dive into obscurity.
#1A - Branco Billy & The Baby
#3 - Sunrise
#2 - Light Wines & Bearded Ladies
#1B - Branco Billy & The Baby
#4A - Midsummer Nights Steam
#5A - Girls
#4B - Midsummer Nights Steam
#6 - News Parade
#5B - Girls
#5C - Girls
#7A - Why Sailors go Wrong
#7B - Why Sailors go Wrong
#7C - Why Sailors go Wrong
#8 - Where men are men