Jolly Della Pringle

The story of American repertory theatre actress Jolly Della Pringle (1870-1952) is an odyssey of travel, adventure, drama, romance and many changes in fortune. Pringle was a major star to the people in the gold fields, cow towns, logging camps, military forts and rural communities of the West and Midwest during the decades before and after the turn of the 20th century. She knew most of the famous performers of her day, including Buffalo Bill Cody, Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle, Douglas Fairbanks and Gloria Swanson. Before serial marriage was common in show business, the seldom single Della Pringle married and divorced five times. Here for the first time is Pringle's saga, covering her rise from a teenage hotel maid to the magnificently gowned star of her own theatrical company, her amassing of a fortune, her coast to coast fame and her appearances in Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops comedies.