Benjamin H. Throop, 4/7/1924-5/10/1935 (his death)
Rubye De Remer (January 9, 1898 – March 18, 1984) was an American actress and showgirl known for her appearance in the "Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic" and over twenty films.
Early life
De Remer was born Rubye K. Burkhardt in Denver, Colorado, on January 9, 1892. Her parents were Charles and Nettie Burkhardt. Her father was the owner of a Denver meatpacking company.[1]
Career
A report dated March 17, 1916, states that the "socially prominent" De Remer had left her husband and family to join the theatrical troupe of Gus Edwards in Dayton, Ohio.[2]
Two weeks later, De Remer and a fellow "member of the Denver social set" are reportedly in New York City playing a hurdy-gurdy on Fifth Avenue. They were said to have arrived ten days ago to go on the stage but had no luck.[3]
In May, De Remer was announced as a winner of a "prettiest girl contest" held by the World Film Interest at Grand Central Palace.[4]
In October of the same year, De Remer was cast in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic.[5]
In July 1917, De Remer was signed to a motion picture contract and announced as the star of the Laurence Trimble film The Auction Block, in the following month.
[6]
De Remer worked steadily and made over a dozen movies until she dropped out of the film business in 1923. She returned with a small role in the 1936 film The Gorgeous Hussy, after which she retired permanently.
Personal beauty
French artist Paul Helleu chose De Remer as his "ideal of American beauty" in 1920.[7]
Press accounts quoted Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. referring to De Remer as "The most beautiful blonde since Venus."[8]
For her part, De Remer claimed that "beauty is often a handicap." She said that an attractive woman in the theater is often typecast in minor "pretty" roles and does not get the best parts. "I want people to say of my work, 'she is more willing to cover her features with make-up and play strong character parts than she is to be 'dolled-up' in silks and satins and walk on and off a scene like a mannequin in a fashion parade," she said. "People pay for seats in a theater to see acting, not to witness a display of gowns or pulchritude [beauty].”[9]
Personal life
De Remer married Alan T. De Remer in Denver on June 5, 1912.[10] The couple divorced on October 29, 1919.[11]
She had a well-publicized romance with "American Millionaire" Benjamin Throop. In 1923, it was reported that "she had lost the companionship of the man to which she had practically given her life in recent years." The man's wife allegedly refused a divorce, and his father "hired aid to part his son" from De Remer.[12]
De Remer and Throop married on April 7, 1924, in Paris.
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