1. Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan was an American actress, producer, and entrepreneur.
22 Facts About Texas Guinan
1. 2.
Texas Guinan is most remembered for the speakeasy clubs she managed during Prohibition.
3.
Texas Guinan's clubs catered to the rich and famous, as well as to aspiring talent.
4.
The couple eventually divorced, and Texas Guinan moved to New York to pursue a career as a singer in the entertainment business.
5.
Texas Guinan had achieved a degree of national stardom by 1910.
6.
When Ned Wayburn rolled out his production of The Passing Show on a national tour in 1913, Texas Guinan was one of the headliners.
7.
The advertisements that appeared in media across the country claimed Texas Guinan had lost 70 pounds on the plan.
8.
Investigative journalism by the Chicago Tribune alleged that Texas Guinan knowingly acted as a shill in perpetrating a fraud upon the public.
9.
Texas Guinan appeared as Zaza in the variety show Hop-o'-My-Thumb, based on a French fairytale of the same name.
10.
Texas Guinan toured the United States with the Whirl of the World musical comedy in 1915.
11.
Texas Guinan appeared in the musical Gay Paree that opened at the Shubert Theatre on August 18,1925, and closed on January 30,1926.
12.
Texas Guinan was part of the cast of the musical Padlocks of 1927, at the Shubert.
13.
Texas Guinan created Texas Guinan Productions in 1921 to produce Code of the West, Spitfire and Texas of the Mounted.
14.
Texas Guinan was again seen on the screen with two sound pictures, playing slightly fictionalized versions of herself as a speakeasy proprietress in Queen of the Night Clubs and then Broadway Thru a Keyhole shortly before her death.
15.
When Guinan returned to New York in January 1926, as hostess of the 300 Club at 151 W 54th Street, the opening night's event was the marriage ceremony for actress Wilda Bennett and Argentine dancer Abraham "Peppy" de Albrew.
16.
Texas Guinan attempted to move to Europe, but Scotland Yard threatened to board her ship if she tried to land in England, where she was on their list of "barred aliens".
17.
Texas Guinan had a contract with a Paris club, but French employment laws dissuaded non-citizens from working in France.
18.
Texas Guinan turned this to her advantage by launching the satirical revue Too Hot for Paris upon her return to NY, in 1933.
19.
Texas Guinan fell ill in Vancouver, British Columbia, and died there on November 5,1933, age 49, exactly one month before Prohibition was repealed; 7,500 people attended her funeral.
20.
Texas Guinan is interred at the Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.
21.
Texas Guinan's family donated a tabernacle in her name to St Patrick's Church in Vancouver in recognition of Father Louis Forget's attentions during her last hours.
22.
Texas Guinan's father was 81 years old at his death on May 14,1935, and her mother died at age 101 in 1959.