Verna Mersereau

Verna Mersereau (1896–1935), also known as Verna Mersereau Capra, was an American actress, dancer and pantomimist who performed on stage and screen. She appeared in several films with multiple forms of ancient dance. A New Jerseyan by birth, she ended up spending her childhood in Oakland, California, where she became known as the "Idora Park baby" because of her father's amusement park construction. She was highly interested in dance and theater from a young age, being trained by her aunt and taking trips to Europe and Asian countries in order to learn various dance styles.

Going on to be featured in numerous plays even in her teenage years, Mersereau was considered one of the best classic dancers of the time and her use of pantomime was among the greatest in vaudeville theater. Her successes would see her dancing performed in multiple films and, later in life, before royalty in Calcutta. She left the stage in 1933 after contracting an illness that would ultimately lead to her death in 1935.

Childhood and education Born in 1896 in Paterson, New Jersey, to Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Mersereau, Verna went to local schools throughout her childhood. Once she turned nine, her family moved to the Western United States where she finished with primary school. She also spent time training her dances with her aunt Theodora Warmolts Van Ness in the eastern United States.

Career In 1909 during her early teens, Mersereau joined the Kolb & Dill Farce Comedy company to begin appearing in plays in Oakland. She later went into vaudeville theater after reaching adulthood and performed at the Majestic Theatre. After appearing in several early films where she presented her dancing capabilities, she returned to theatre and signed an exclusive contract with the Pantages theatre despite multiple film studios trying to hire her.

Completing a number of theatre performances in the following years, she later joined the Richard Wilbur company and their tour of the countries across Asia as the company's leading woman. They toured across multiple countries in Asia, arriving in Shanghai in April 1927. The tour resulted in her performing in the lead role for the play Rain for royalty in Calcutta, India.

Theater Playing The Ponies (1909) A Romance of Old Egypt (1917) Making The Movies (1919)

Filmography The Dance of Death (1914) The Dancer as Evelyn Wade (1914) Cupid's Round Up (1918) as Peggy Blair Chalk Marks (1925) as Josie Jennings

Personal life Mersereau was married to George F. McCormick in 1924, but they later divorced. She remarried in early 1934 to Joseph Capra. She died of a long-term illness over several years on September 26, 1935, at her home in Sacramento, California.