29 Facts About Trixie Friganza

Trixie Friganza began her career as an operetta soubrette, working her way from the chorus to starring in musical comedies to having her own feature act on the vaudeville circuit.

Trixie Friganza transitioned to film in the early 1920s mostly playing small characters that were quirky and comedic.

Trixie Friganza retired from the stage in 1940 due to health concerns.

Trixie Friganza spent her last years teaching drama to young women in a convent school and when she died she left everything to the convent.

Trixie Friganza became a highly sought after comic actress after the success of The Chaperons and is best known for her stage roles of Caroline Vokes in The Orchid, Mrs Radcliffe in The Sweetest Girl in Paris, for multiple roles in The Passing Show of 1912, and her run as a vaudeville headliner.

Trixie Friganza had two younger sisters, and along with their mother, these four women were a tightly knit unit growing up.

Trixie Friganza was educated at St Patrick's School in Cincinnati, beginning what would become a lifelong allegiance to the Catholic Church.

Trixie Friganza began working at a young age in order to help support her family, securing a cash girl position at Pogue's store, and earning $3 per week.

Trixie Friganza got the part but in order to avoid any embarrassment to her mother and family she opted to begin performing once the production moved up to Cleveland, Ohio.

Trixie Friganza's mother was inconsolable and devastated at her daughter's decision to take to the stage.

Trixie Friganza notified Cleveland authorities who brought Trixie before a Cleveland judge to justify her decision to work in theater.

Trixie Friganza presented such a compelling and rational case for this career move that the judge granted her clemency and telegraphed her mother saying that Trixie was doing the right thing.

Trixie Friganza remained on stage in some form or another for the next fifty years.

Trixie Friganza aligned herself with women's suffrage and the promotion of a positive female body image.

On October 28,1908, Trixie Friganza attended a women's suffrage rally at New York City Hall where she delivered a speech for women's rights.

Trixie Friganza donated money to the cause and repeatedly went on record as an advocate for women's rights, equality and independence.

Trixie Friganza used her celebrity status to promote and further the rights of women as well as other causes such as promoting the arts to the economically disenfranchised.

Trixie Friganza filed for a divorce in the summer of 1914 on the grounds of "failure to provide" and "cruelty".

Trixie Friganza suffered from arthritis beginning in the 1930s and because of it by 1940 could no longer work in Hollywood or on stage.

Trixie Friganza taught drama there as long as she could until her health prevented her from doing so.

Trixie Friganza reportedly had a room in the institution that overlooked the city of Pasadena where every year she would watch the football games at the Rose Bowl stadium.

Trixie Friganza correctly identified the many comic and dramatic tropes borrowed from the stage and incorporated into American cinema and television.

Trixie Friganza bequeathed all her possessions to the academy and left a legacy to the American public.

Trixie Friganza toured with many theatre companies in the coming years working her way from roles in the chorus to more prominently featured roles with speaking parts.

Trixie Friganza impressed agents, audiences and other actors alike with her stellar singing voice and ability to command audiences with her humorous interpretation of characters.

Trixie Friganza worked mainly with musical comedies she did perform in a few dramatic productions, opting to return to comedic performance relatively soon thereafter.

Trixie Friganza easily made the transition from musical comedy to vaudeville though her first vaudeville appearance is a contested matter.

Records from appearances during the week ending April 28,1918, indicate that the audience's response to Trixie Friganza was huge, where she elicited a total of 29 laughs, second only to Charlie Chaplin's motion picture A Dog's Life.

In 1929, Trixie Friganza made a 10-minute Vitaphone short titled "My Bag o'Trix" as seen on TCM and available in the Warner Bros.