MOVIES WAY BACK WHEN: This Miss Would Be Missed

By Betsy J. Green

Last week, I posted about the shakeup at the “Flying A” studio in July 1916 that caused a number of employees to head to film studios in the LA-Hollywood area. One of those leaving who would be missed by the men in Santa Barbara was the actress and artist’s model, Audrey Munson.

She has been called “America’s first supermodel” because she posed “au naturel” for numerous sculptors. A book about Munson lists 10 existing statues in Manhattan for which she posed. (“The Curse of Beauty,” James Bone, 2016)

One of the two silent films that Munson made while at the “Flying A” was called “Purity.” Audiences responded positively to the film, although some censors reacted negatively to what they felt was overexposure of Munson’s, um, personal landscape.