Margarita Fischer

Margarita Fischer
Margarita Fisher (née Fischer, February 12, 1886 – March 11, 1975) was an American actress in silent motion pictures and stage productions. Newspapers sometimes referred to her as "Babe" Fischer.
Early life
Margarita Fischer was born on February 12, 1886, in Missouri Valley, Iowa, although a 1902 newspaper article referred to her as "a native of Silverton, Marion County", in Oregon. Her parents were Johan (later John), a first-generation German-American hotelkeeper, and later noted minstrel, and Katherine "Kate" E. Fischer (née Hageny). She had an older sister, Dorothy, who was two years older and acted in productions with her in their childhood.
Theater
As a child performer, and later as an ingenue star of the stage, Fischer was widely regarded in stock company groups of the Pacific Coast. When she was eight years old, a theatrical manager began using her in "heavy dramatic roles". Billed as "The Wonder Child", she continued in that pattern for several years. Fischer made her stage debut in Portland, Oregon, in the child role of Adrienne in The Celebrated Case. In 1901, she became the leading lady for the Fischer-Van Cleve Company. Her rapidly growing popularity led to her father forming the Margarita Fischer Stock Company. The theatrical group toured up and down the Pacific Coast for a number of years. After her father's death, Fischer acted in several stock companies, including one headed by Grace George.
After Fischer began performing in vaudeville, she met her eventual husband, film director Harry A. Pollard. They formed a team that performed the sketch "When Hearts Are Trumps" in "the principal vaudeville circuits". Some years later the two met again, as actors with the Selig Polyscape Company, with the Imp Company in New York, New York, and even later, with Universal Pictures.
Motion pictures
When Fischer left vaudeville, she began working in films for the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago. She was in Hollywood silent films from at least 1910 until 1927. Her first screen experience began with the American Company. There followed 3 years as a leading woman for Universal. In 1913 she starred in How Men Propose written and directed by Lois Weber for Universal, which at the time was still based on the east coast. When the American Beauty Company was organized she was engaged for each of the star feminine roles.
She is well known for her role as an African-American slave girl in the Harriet Beecher Stowe three-reel epic Uncle Tom's Cabin. She was co-featured with Harry Pollard in this Universal feature. It was in this role, as Eliza, that Fischer won a long-term contract with the American Film Company in Santa Barbara, California. She received international acclaim as the American Beauty of the screen. Her face was pictured in the heart of a rose, which became one of the movie's trade marks. Pollard directed the Universal superproduction of Uncle Tom's Cabin which was released in 1927. This time Margarita was cast in the more mature role of Eliza.
Other of her motion pictures of note include Lost: A Union Suit (1914), A Joke On Jane (1914), The Quest (1915), Robinson Crusoe (1917), Impossible Susan (1918), Trixie From Broadway (1919), The Thirtieth Piece of Silver (1920), and Any Woman (1925). In April 1916 Fischer and her husband launched the Pollard Picture Plays Corporation. Pollard directed, Margarita acted, and director/producer George W. Lederer was their protégé. Their initial production was The Pearl of Paradise. It was staged in Los Angeles, Honolulu, and the South Sea Islands.
Later years and death
During World War I Fischer changed the spelling of her last name to Fisher because of the anti-German sentiment in America. She is sometimes credited as Margarieta Fisher, Marguerite Fisher, Margarite Fisher, and Margurita Fisher.
In 1944, she was living in San Diego and was a registered Republican.
Fischer died in Encinitas, California of heart disease in 1975. She was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Gallery
Filmography
There, Little Girl, Don't Cry (1910)*short
Trimming of Paradise Gulch (1910)*short
After Many Years (1910)*short
Romeo and Juliet in Our Town (1910)*short
The Way of the Red Man (1910)*short
The Cowboy's Strategem (1910)*short
His First Long Dress (1910)*short
The Road to Richmond (1910)*short
Big Medicine (1910)*short
The Kentucky Pioneer (1910)*short
For Her Country's Sake (1910)*short
Settled Out of Court (1910)*short
The Early Settlers (1910)*short
The Vampire (1910)*short
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1910)*short
Two Lucky Jims (1910)*short
In the Wilderness (1910)*short
The Squaw and the Man (1910)*short
The Tenderfoot's Round-Up (1911)*short
An Arizona Romance (1911)*short
Buddy, the Little Guardian (1911)*short
Bertie's Bandit (1911)*short
The Mission in the Desert (1911)*short
The Sheriff's Sweetheart (1911)*short
Over the Hills (1911)*short
The Girl and the Half-Back (1911)*short
A Pair of Gloves (1911)*short
The Portrait (1911)*short
A Lesson to Husbands (1911)*short
The Trinity (1912)*short
The Worth of a Man (1912)*short
Mrs. Matthews, Dressmaker (1912)*short
Who Wears Them? (1912)*short
The Rose of California (1912)*short
The Call of the Drum (1912)*short
Better Than Gold (1912)*short
The Baby (1912)*short
Squnk City Fire Company (1912)*short
Where Paths Meet (1912)*short
The Dove and the Serpent (1912)*short
A Melodrama of Yesterday (1912)*short
On the Shore (1912)*short
The Land of Promise (1912)*short
Jim's Atonement (1912)*short
The Return of Captain John (1912)*short
Nothing Shall Be Hidden (1912)*short
Love, War and a Bonnet (1912)*short
The Parson and the Medicine Man (1912)*short
Hearts in Conflict (1912)*short
The Hand of Mystery (1912)*short
Big Hearted Sim (1912)*short
Her Burglar (1912)*short
On the Border Line (1912)*short
The Exchange of Labels (1912)*short
The Employer's Liability (1912)*short
Betty's Bandit (1912)*short
The Tribal Law (1912)*short
A Fight for Friendship (1912)*short
Trapped by Fire (1912)*short
The Regeneration of Worthless Dan (1912)*short
An Indian Outcast (1912)*short
Romance and Reality (1912)*short
The Rights of a Savage (1912)*short
The Mountain Girl's Self-Sacrifice (1912)*short
The Old Folks' Christmas (1912)*short
The Great Ganton Mystery (1913)
Until Death (1913)*short
A Friend of the Family (1913)*short
The Wayward Sister (1913)*short
The Turn of the Tide (1913)*short
In Slavery Days (1913)*short
The Boob (1913)*short
The World at Large (1913)*short
The Shadow (1913)*short
The Stolen Idol (1913)*short
Draga, the Gypsy (1913)*short
A Woman's Folly (1913)*short
A Wrong Road (1913)*short
Robinson Cruesoe (1913)*short
The Power of Heredity (1913)*short
When the Prince Arrived (1913)*short
Sally Scraggs, Housemaid (1913)*short
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1913)*short
A Woman's Stratagem (1913)*short
The Evil Power (1913)*short
The Light Woman (1913)*short
The Diamond Makers (1913)*short
The Fight Against Evil (1913)*short
Paying the Price (1913)*short
Shon the Piper (1913)*short
Like Darby and Joan (1913)*short
The Thumb Print (1913)*short
The Primeval Test (1913)*short
The Missionary Box (1913)*short
His Old-Fashioned Dad (1913)*short
A Tale of the Lonely Coast (1913)*short
The Boob's Dream Girl (1913)*short
Withering Roses (1914)*short
Fooling Uncle (1914)*short
Bess, the Outcast (1914)*short
Sally's Elopement (1914)*short
The Wife (1914)*short
The Sacrifice (1914)*short
The Professor's Awakening (1914)*short
Italian Love (1914)*short
Closed at Ten (1914)*short
The Girl Who Dared (1914)*short
The Peacock Feather Fan (1914)*short
Sweet Land of Liberty (1914)*short
Retribution (1914)*short
Mlle. La Mode (1914)*short
The Man Who Came Back (1914)*short
A Flurry in Hats (1914)*short
Eugenics Versus Love (1914)*short
Her Heritage (1914)*short
The Courting of Prudence (1914)*short
Jane, the Justice (1914)*short
Drifting Hearts (1914)*short
Nancy's Husband (1914)*short
The Dream Ship (1914)*short
The Tale of a Tailor (1914)*short
Via the Fire Escape (1914)*short
The Other Train (1914)*short
A Joke on Jane (1914)*short
Her 'Really' Mother (1914)*short
A Midsummer's Love Tangle (1914)*short
A Suspended Ceremony (1914)*short
Suzanna's New Suit (1914)*short
The Silence of John Gordon (1914)*short
Susie's New Shoes (1914)*short
A Modern Othello (1914)*short
The Motherless Kids (1914)*short
The Only Way (1914)*short
Caught in a Tight Pinch (1914)*short
The Legend of Black Rock (1914)*short
Nieda (1914)*short
Motherhood (1914)*short
When Queenie Came Back (1914)*short
Cupid and a Dress Coat (1914)*short
The Quest (1914)
The Lonesome Heart (1915)
The Girl from His Town" (1915)
Infatuation (1915)
The Miracle of Life (1915)
The Dragon (1916)
The Pearl of Paradise (1916)
Miss Jackie of the Navy (1916)
The Butterfly Girl (1917)
The Diamond Thieves (1917)*short
Robinson Cruesoe (1917)*short
The Sin Unatoned (1917)*short
The Human Flame (1917)*short
The Devil's Assistant (1917)
The Girl Who Couldn't Grow Up (1917)
Miss Jackie of the Army (1917)
Molly Go Get 'Em (1918)
Jilted Janet (1918)
Ann's Finish (1918)
The Primitive Woman (1918)
The Square Deal (1918)
Impossible Susan (1918)
Money Isn't Everything (1918)
Fair Enough (1918)
The Mantle of Charity (1918)
Molly of the Follies (1919)
Put Up Your Hands! (1919)
Charge It to Me (1919)
Trixie from Broadway (1919)
The Tiger Lily (1919)
The Hellion (1919)
The Dangerous Talent (1920)
The Thirtieth Piece of Silver (1920)
The Week-End (1920)
Their Mutual Child (1921)
The Gamesters (1920)
Payment Guaranteed (1921)
Beach of Dreams (1921)
K – The Unknown (1924)
Any Woman (1925)
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)
References
Sandusky, Ohio Star-Journal, Saturday, April 8, 1916, Page 10.
Syracuse, New York Herald'', "Topsy Grows To Eliza In Movie", Sunday Morning, September 28, 1930.
External links
Fischer and Harry Pollard portrait
1886 births
1975 deaths
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
19th-century American actresses
American stage actresses
People from Harrison County, Iowa
20th-century American actresses
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Actresses from Iowa
Vaudeville performers