Alma Rubens (February 19, 1897 – January 22, 1931) was an American silent film actress and stage performer.
Early life
Born to John B. and Theresa Hayes Rueben in San Francisco, California, she performed since youth and became a star at the age of 19. She was educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in San Francisco. Her mother, Theresa, born in December 1871 in San Francisco, was of Irish heritage.[citation needed] Her father, John Ruebens, born in 1857 in Germany, was Jewish, and emigrated to the United States in 1890.[citation needed] An older sister, Hazel, was born in 1893. Although some biographies erroneously state that her birth name was Genevieve Driscoll, Driscoll was in fact her maternal grandmother's maiden name.[citation needed]
Fast career rise and addiction
In 1918, Alma announced that she was changing the spelling of her last of Rueben to "Rubens", because it caused too much confusion in the movie industry and in publications. Alma's first stage opportunity came in 1917, when a chorus girl in a comedy became ill; the young aspirant was called on to replace her merely because she happened to be there. Soon the stock company came to Los Angeles, California. After a short time, Rubens left the troupe on the advice of Franklyn Farnum (1878-1961), a member of the stock company. Farnum was given a motion picture role and persuaded Rubens to follow him into movies.
Her breakthrough performance was in 1916 in the movie Reggie Mixes In. She made six more films in that same year. In 1917 she starred in The Firefly of Tough Luck, which was a big success. She gained notoriety when she became Douglas Fairbanks' leading lady in The Half Breed (1916) and supported Fairbanks and Bessie Love in the cocaine comedy The Mystery of the Leaping Fish later that same year. Soon she completed The World and His Wife, opposite Montague Love. She continued to work successfully until 1924. In that year she starred in The Price She Paid. She retired temporarily from the screen in 1926.
Her career practically ended overnight, as fast as it had begun. Rubens did play Julie in the 1929 part-talkie film version of Show Boat--her next-to-last film and one of her few sound films. The sound track for the portion in which she spoke, however, has apparently been lost.
She found it hard to get roles because of an addiction to cocaine. William Randolph Hearst, who had produced several of her earlier films, helped support her at Marion Davies' request. But because of her addiction, she was in and out of mental institutions. Rubens was treated and pronounced cured of her drug problem at the State Narcotic Hospital in Spadra, California (now part of Pomona, California), and at Patton State Hospital in San Bernadino, California. Rubens' addiction became known when she attacked a physician who was taking her to a sanitarium for treatment. During her first confinement at the Spadra facility, Rubens made a spectacular escape. She returned voluntarily before being transferred to the Patton facility.
Her final stage appearance was in January 1930. She had a role in a play at the Writer's Club in Hollywood. Following her parole from the Patton hospital in December 1930, Rubens traveled to New York and announced a theatrical and screen comeback. She made an appearance on stage with her husband while there, but returned to Los Angeles the same month. She was there less than two weeks when she was arrested by Federal officers in San Diego, California, on a narcotics charge. Rubens claimed she was a victim of a frame-up, and physicians attested to her statements that she was not taking drugs. She was bound over to Federal district court and released on bail, and appeared for a preliminary hearing the second week of January 1931.
Rubens died of pneumonia the following week. She was unconscious for three days prior to her death at the home of her physician, Dr. Charles J. Pflueger of 112 North Manhattan Place, Los Angeles. She contracted a cold that quickly developed into pneumonia, became comatose, and never recovered. Her doctor described her fatal illness as typhoid asthenic pneumonia, one of the most lethal strains. It is characterized by a low temperature and high pulse rate. Beside her when she succumbed were her mother, Mrs. Theresa Rubens, and a sister, Mrs. Hazel Large, of Madera, California. Both mother and sister lived on a ranch in Madera. Rubens was 33 years of age.
Personal life
Rubens married three times. Her first marriage to actor Franklyn Farnum, nearly twenty years her senior, lasted only a month. The couple were married secretly, and Rubens sought a divorce in August 1918. In November 1923 she married Dr. Daniel Carson Goodman, an author and film producer. The marriage was brief and a suit for divorce was filed in January 1925. During the next two years, she made several films for the Fox Film Corporation. When her contact expired, she went to Europe with actor Ricardo Cortez and married him in February 1926.
Rubens' personal decline began when she returned to California in 1928, as her addiction completely consumed her. The actress once remarked that she became an addict through the mistake of a New York physician who administered a narcotic during an illness. A few months later, additional opiates were needed and the actress confessed she was taking them for every real or imaginary illness.
At the time of her demise, Rubens was suing Cortez for divorce. Cortez claimed he had not been notified of his wife's death, and later remarked that he had not seen her for several months and was unaware that she was seriously ill.
Alma Rubens was buried in a mausoleum at Ararat Cemetery in Fresno. Services were performed by the Gates, Crane & Earl Company of 1724 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood.
References
- Elyria, Ohio Chronicle-Telegram, Film Career of Alma Rubens is Ended By Death, Thursday, January 22, 1931, Page 7.
- Los Angeles Times, Miss Rubens Dies From Pneumonia, January 22, 1931, Page A1.
- New York Times, Alma Rubens Dies; Former Film Star, January 22, 1931, Page 18.
- The United States 1910 Federal Census, San Francisco, California, Enumeration district 191, Sheet 8B, April 23, 1910.
- Bridgeport, Connecticut The Bridgeport Telegram, January 17, 1918, p. 13.
- The United States 1880 Federal Census, San Franscico, California (Hayes and Driscoll)
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