Sybil Carmen

Sybil Carmen
Sybil Carmen, from a 1916 publication
Born
Carmen Regina Attkisson

December 23, 1896
DiedApril 14, 1929 (aged 32)
Occupation(s)Actress, dancer, Ziegfeld girl
Spouse
Maurice Sydney Revnes
(m. 1919)
Children2

Carmen Regina Revnes (née Attkisson; December 23, 1896[1] — April 14, 1929[2]), known professionally as Sybil Carmen, was an American actress, dancer, and Ziegfeld girl.

Early life

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Sybil Carmen was born Carmen Regina Attkisson on December 23, 1896 in Parkersburg, West Virginia,[3] and was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Russell Attkisson and Agnes Gertrude Attkisson (née Haggerty, 1875–1952).[4] She had two brothers, Charles and Edgar, and one sister, Dagmar.[5] She moved to New York as a young woman to pursue a career as a dancer.[6]

Career

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Sybil Carmen in her "balloon girl" costume for the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, from a 1916 publication.

Carmen appeared on Broadway in two productions by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. She was a principal performer in the 1915 Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic as a "balloon girl", sharing the bill with The Dolly Sisters, Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, and Olive Thomas; and she returned as a principal player in the Ziegfeld Girls of 1920, on a bill with Fanny Brice, W. C. Fields, and Lillian Lorraine.[7][8][9] In 1918 she was in a similar rooftop revue show at the Century Grove.[10] She acted in two silent films, A Romance of the Underworld (1918)[11] and Experience (1921),[12] both of which are now lost.

Poster for Romance of the Underworld (1918); Sybil Carmen's photograph is in the lower left star

Personal life

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Sybil Carmen married writer and film executive Maurice Sydney Revnes on September 8, 1919;[13] in 1926 they moved to France where he represented Pathé Studios. They had two children, a son Richard (1923–1990) and a daughter Carmen (born 1921).[14][15] On April 14, 1929 at 7:30 P.M., Sybil Carmen died of pneumonia at 8 Rue Quentin-Bauchart in Paris.[2][4][16] She was cremated on April 20, 1929, and her ashes were scattered in New York City.[2]

References

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  1. ^ https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4123470_00326?pId=63013007 Archived 2022-05-27 at the Wayback Machine [user-generated source]
  2. ^ a b c https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1616/images/31070_171172-00691?pId=183230 Archived 2022-05-27 at the Wayback Machine [user-generated source]
  3. ^ "Mrs. Maurice Revnes" Pittsburgh Press (April 18, 1929): 6. via Newspapers.comFree access icon
  4. ^ a b "Sybil Carmen Dies in Paris" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (April 18, 1929): 2. via Newspapers.comFree access icon
  5. ^ "obituary for Carmen Revnes". The Pittsburgh Press. April 18, 1929. p. 6 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Burns Mantle, "What's What in the Theatre" Green Book Magazine (August 1917): 218.
  7. ^ Cynthia Brideson, Sara Brideson, Ziegfeld and His Follies: A Biography of Broadway's Greatest Producer (University Press of Kentucky 2015): 446–447. ISBN 9780813160900
  8. ^ "The Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic" MCNY Blog: New York Stories (July 1, 2014).
  9. ^ Burns Mantle, ed., The Best Plays of 1919–1920: And the Year Book of the Drama in America (Small, Maynard 1920): 436.
  10. ^ "Century Roof Girls at Upton Cheer 'Yip, Yip, Yaphank' Stars" The Evening World (August 2, 1918): 3. via Newspapers.comFree access icon
  11. ^ "Keeney Ready for Next Picture" Dramatic Mirror (March 23, 1918): 53.
  12. ^ "Movies and Movie People" Baltimore Sun (September 6, 1921): 11. via Newspapers.comFree access icon
  13. ^ "Sybil Carmen Married Man Once Rejected" Pittsburgh Press (September 13, 1919): 3. via Newspapers.comFree access icon
  14. ^ "Carmen A. Revnes Lt. Simon Berlin Wed at Camp Polk" The Times (May 30, 1943): 32. via Newspapers.comFree access icon
  15. ^ "RCL President Revnes Dies" Cruise Travel (September/October 1990): 45.
  16. ^ "Sybil Carmen Dead; Former 'Follies' Actress Stricken Suddenly in Paris" New York Times (April 17, 1929): 22.
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