Kathryn Osterman

Kathryn Osterman (May 5, 1883 – August 29, 1956) was an American comic vaudeville actress on stage and in silent films.

Kathryn Osterman, from a 1915 publication.
Louis A. Simon and Kathryn Osterman in "A Persian Garden", from a 1912 publication.
Anna Belmont and her sister, Kathryn Osterman, in J. J. Rosenthal's Brown's in Town (1899)

Early life

Kathryn Osterman was born in Toledo, Ohio, one of the six daughters of M. D. Osterman and Margarete O'Connor Osterman. Several of her sisters were also actresses, including Lillian Osterman and Anna Belmont.[1]

Career

Stage

In a 1915 article for Green Book magazine, Osterman wrote, "I have been on the stage for years and years — so long I won't tell about it — and every succeeding season has opened up new and wonderful realms of knowledge to me, and has taught me how little I knew before."[2] Her stage appearances, mostly in touring companies, included roles in The Girl in the Taxi, What Happened to Jones (1897),[3] Miss Petticoats (1903),[4] Piff, Paff, Pouf (1905),[5] The Girl Who Looks Like Me (1907),[6] The Night of the Play (1908-1909),[7] and Modest Suzanne (1912). She also appeared in vaudeville.[8]

Screen

She appeared short silent films, including The Art of Making Up (1900), Strictly Fresh Eggs (1901), The Unfaithful Wife (1903)[9] Making a Welsh Rabbit (1903), A Search for Evidence (1903), The Widow (1903), The Rose (1903), The Girl at the Window (1903), Lucky Kitten (1903), Chicks to Order (1903), In My Lady's Boudoir (1903), He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (1903), and The Lost Child (1904).[10] In 1915 she joined the World Comedy Stars Film Corporation to make silent comedy short films,[11] including Housekeeping Under Cover,[12] and The Bludgeon (1915).

In 1901, Osterman sued a tobacco company for using her likeness in a print advertisement, without permission.[13] In 1903, actress Josephine Victor sued Osterman and her husband over a casting dispute.[14]

Personal life

Kathryn Osterman married theatrical manager Jacob J. Rosenthal in 1898. Their son Jack Osterman (1902-1939) was an actor.[15][16] She also helped to raise her granddaughter, Kathryn Jacqueline Osterman.[17] She was widowed in 1923, and lost her only son to pneumonia in 1939; she died in 1956, in New York City, aged 73 years.

References
  1. "Mrs. Maurice Kraus, a Retired Actress" New York Times (January 4, 1947): 25. via ProQuest
  2. Kathryn Osterman, "Good-by to the 'Screen-Type'" Green Book (December 1915): 1093-1095.
  3. "What Happened to Jones" The Illustrated American (September 189, 1897): 370.
  4. "Miss Petticoats" Boston Globe (August 30, 1903): 27. via Newspapers.comopen access
  5. "'Piff, Paff, Pouf' at the Boyd" Omaha Daily Bee (October 20, 1905): 2. via Newspapers.comopen access
  6. "Attractions Coming to the Bell" St. Joseph Daily Press (December 28, 1907): 4. via Newspapers.comopen access
  7. "Grand — Kathryn Osterman" Kansas City Times (March 22, 1909): 5. via Newspapers.comopen access
  8. "Kathryn Osterman in Vaudeville" San Francisco Call (February 16, 1900): 4. via California Digital Newspaper Collectionopen access
  9. David Mayer, Stagestruck Filmmaker: D. W. Griffith and the American Theatre (University of Iowa Press 2009): 277. ISBN 9781587298400
  10. Kemp R. Niver, Motion Pictures From The Library of Congress Paper Print Collection 1894-1912 (University of California Press 1967): 22, 83, 107, 124, 335.
  11. "Kathryn Osterman" Motography (March 13, 1915): 410.
  12. "World" Motography (April 17, 1915): 634.
  13. "She Does Not Chew" Printers' Ink (September 4, 1901): 50.
  14. "Didn't Want a Brunette Wife" Town Talk (August 22, 1903): 22.
  15. Anthony Slide, The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville (University Press of Mississippi 2012): 383. ISBN 9781617032509
  16. "Poems Written by Actor" Fourth Estate (October 5, 1918): 12.
  17. "Miss K. J. Osterman Engaged to Marry" New York Times (December 14, 1952): 104. via ProQuest
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