Winona Winter

Winona Winter (1889 — April 27, 1940) was an American vaudeville performer and silent-film actress.

Winona Winter as "Constance" in He Came from Milwaukee, from a 1911 publication.
Winona Winter as a child, from a 1901 phrenological journal.

Early life

Winona Winter was the daughter of minstrel songwriter William Banks Winter and Clara Dumming Newman Winter. She had two younger brothers.[1] Winter acted as a child, in The Little Tycoon (1895) in Detroit. In 1901, her skull was examined by phrenologists in a published case study, which found her to be gifted, especially in humor and memory.[2]

Career

On vaudeville Winter was best known for "soubrette" parts,[3] as a singing comedian,[4] and as a ventriloquist.[5] She performed with Will Rogers in Rochester in 1908, in New York in 1910, and in Chicago in 1912,[3] and was associated with Harry Lauder's company in 1922.[1] She was still performing on vaudeville in 1928, with an act she called "Broadway-o-grams", a selection of short character sketches and celebrity impersonations.[6]

Winter appeared in four Broadway musical productions: The Little Cherub (1906-1907), He Came from Milwaukee (1910),[7] The Fascinating Widow (1911),[8] and The Broadway Whirl (also called The Century Midnight Whirl) (1921).[9]

She played "Sally" in the silent film The Man from Mexico (1914).

Personal life

Winter married Norman L. Sper, a sports announcer. They had a son, Norman L. Sper Jr., born in 1925.

In 1940, Winter died in Los Angeles, California. Winter was 51.[10] Winter is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in California.

References
  1. "Mrs. Banks Winter, Called Most Beautiful Woman of Alabama, Dies" Battle Creek Enquirer (October 13, 1922).
  2. "Child Culture: Winona Winter" Phrenological Journal and Phrenological Magazine (July 1901): 16-20.
  3. Will Rogers, Steven K. Gragert, M. Jane Johansson, eds., The Papers of Will Rogers: From vaudeville to Broadway : September 1908-August 1915 (University of Oklahoma Press 2001): 459-460. ISBN 9780806133157
  4. "Long Tack Sam, White Hussars, Winona Winter, Others at Palace" Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (January 24, 1917): 10. via Newspapers.com
  5. M. B. H. "Scolding Winona Winter" New York Star (December 5, 1908): 26.
  6. "Winona Winter is Pantages Artist" Minneapolis Star (April 7, 1928): 32. via Newspapers.com
  7. "Bernard Back, Adds Gayety to Life" New York Times (September 22, 1910): 9. via ProQuest
  8. "Julian Eltinge in 'Fascinating Widow'" New York Times (August 29, 1911): 7. via ProQuest
  9. "N. Y. Roof Show is Coming to Majestic" Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (May 8, 1921): 8B. via Newspapers.com
  10. "Mrs. Winona Winter Sper" New York Times (April 28, 1940): 40. via ProQuest
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