Violet MacMillan was an American actress in Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 productions, vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

, and silent motion pictures. She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

.

Tiny feet

MacMillan gained fame as the Cinderella Girl in a contest to discover a woman with feet small enough to wear a Cinderella golden slipper. She was hesitant, but entered a Broadway show, and won. Her foot measured an 11½ children's size.

Theatrical actress

Soon she had a leading part in the original production of the musical, The Time, The Place and The Girl. While engaged in this play, in the 1908 season, the actress had surgery at Harper Hospital, Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

. She completed a successful vaudeville tour in 1916. She participated in the stage production, The Wishing Slippers, at Universal City, California

Universal City, California

Universal City is a community in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, that encompasses the 415 acre property of Universal Studios...

. Another play of note is In And Out of the Movies. She performed in this vaudeville oddity, in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...

, during the fall of 1917.

Silent films

In motion pictures Miss MacMillan joined the stock company of The Oz Film Manufacturing Company

The Oz Film Manufacturing Company

The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was an independent film studio from 1914-1915. It was founded by L. Frank Baum , Louis F. Gottschalk , Harry Marston Haldeman , and Clarence R. Rundel as an offshoot of Haldeman's social group, The Uplifters, that met at the Los Angeles Athletic Club...

 (where she appeared in the company's logo, with her face on a black background) and debuted in the film version of The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and The Magic Cloak of Oz

The Magic Cloak of Oz

The Magic Cloak of Oz is a 1914 film directed by J. Farrell MacDonald. It was written by L. Frank Baum and produced by Baum and composer Louis F. Gottschalk. The film is an adaptation of Baum's novel, Queen Zixi of Ix....

(1914) and the lost series of L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

-written and produced shorts, Violet's Dreams, in which she played a girl named Claribel who had fairy-tale adventures in her dreams. She was an actress for Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

. She made twenty-six motion pictures, ending with the role of Violet Bronson in The Mystery Mind (1920). Among her co-stars in films were Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney, Sr.

Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...

, Blanche Ring

Blanche Ring

Blanche Ring , was an American singer and actress in Broadway theatre productions, musicals, and Hollywood motion pictures....

, Trixie Friganza

Trixie Friganza

Trixie Friganza , born Delia O’Callaghan, 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....

, and Julian Eltinge

Julian Eltinge

Julian Eltinge , born William Julian Dalton, was an American stage and screen actor and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other producers and made his first appearance on Broadway in 1904...

. Violet retired from show business in 1922.

Personal life

As Mrs. John H. Folger, she was the wife of an industrial executive, who became her press agent in entertainment.

Violet MacMillan died in Grand Rapids, Michigan at her home, in 1953. She was 66 years old.