ZaSu Pitts

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ZaSu Pitts (born Eliza Susan Pitts; January 3, 1894-63) was an American actress who appeared in many silent films, including Erich von Stroheim's epic silent film Greed and comedies, and then transitioned to mostly comedies with the advent of sound films.

Early life

ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas, to Rulandus and Nelly (née Shay) Pitts, the third of four children. By the time Zasu was born, her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Infantry in the Civil War, had settled in Kansas.

Eliza and Susan, her father's siblings' names, were ostensibly the basis for the term "ZaSu" — i.e. competing family interests. In several film credits and news stories, it has been (incorrectly) spelled as Zazu Pitts. Despite the fact that the name is often mispronounced ZAY-soo, or ZAY-zoo in her 1963 book Candy Hits, the spelling is usually incorrect. The actress narrated "Say Zoo" in the year of her death, repeating that Mary Pickford's prediction "many will mispronounce it" was incorrect, adding, "How right she was." Frauen in the UK's Secret's September 4, 1952 episode, she nevertheless pronounced it as Zay-zoo.

Pitts family migrated to Santa Cruz, California, in 1903, seeking a cooler climate and improved job prospects. Lincoln Street, where she grew up on 208 Lincoln Street, still stands. She attended Santa Cruz High School, where she performed in school dramas.

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Career

Pitts made her debut in 1914–15 while teaching school and a local community theater in Santa Cruz. She spent many months as a film extra in Los Angeles in 1916, before returning to Los Angeles at the age of 22. She was later discovered in films by screenwriter Frances Marion, who cast Pitts as an orphanage (child of work) in the silent film A Little Princess (1917), starring Pickford.

Pitts' fame soared after a string of Universal one-reeler comedies, and she was given her first feature-length role in King Vidor's Better Times (1919). In the ensuing year, she married Tom Gallery, her first husband, with whom she appeared in several films, including Heart of Twenty (1920), Bright Eyes, Patsy (both 1920) and A Daughter of Luxury (1922).

Pitts made her best known in the early 1930s, appearing in B movies and comedy short films with Thelma Todd. She appeared in several films as secondary characters. Her stock persona (a befuddled, flustered spinster) made her instantly recognisable, and was often imitated in cartoons and other films. She appeared in a number of Hal Roach short films and television shows, often in collaboration with Thelma Todd as two trouble-prone working girls. She co-starred in a string of feature-length comedies with Slim Summerville at Universal. She became a comedy short film and feature actress by the time of sound, and she became a comedy specialist.

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