Only child of George and Lillian (Kraus) Remus
Romola's father, George Remus, was one of the most articulate and effective lawyers in Chicago. At the beginning of Prohibition, he divorced Lillian (Romola's mother) and married his second wife, Augusta "Imogene" Holmes. He then moved to Cincinnati, OH and set up one of the biggest bootlegging operations in the nation. He was known as "the whiskey king" and "the millionaire bootlegger." In 1927, he was charged with shooting to death his second wife and pleaded temporary insanity. The trial was one of the best known of the era, and Romola got considerable attention from the press. "Romola goes to the aid of her Daddy," one headline proclaimed. The article told of her going to work as a nightclub performer to help pay his court expenses. (His wife Imogene, had sold off all his assets and hid the money in various places while he was serving time in prison for tax evasion) After pleading his own case before a jury, he was sent to a hospital for the criminally insane, where he spent one year.
Obituary of Romola Remus Dunlap
Chicago Sun-Times (IL) – February 19, 1987
Romola Remus Dunlap, a silent-film actress who played Dorothy in the 1908 screen version of "The Wizard of Oz," died Tuesday at Weiss Memorial Hospital. She was a longtime Uptown resident. Ten years ago, Mrs. Dunlap reminisced about her film days as Dorothy in L. Frank Baum's classic story. The tale was filmed in Chicago at the Selig Polyscope Co. at Irving Park and Western. Her mother, Lillian Remus, took her to try out for the role of Dorothy. After getting the part, she would skip school to perform and was paid $5 a day for her work. The film, was principally used to illustrate Baum`s lectures on the book. Dressed as Dorothy on such occasions, Romola would take a bow to the audience and then go through it selling copies of the work.
"I was very young," said Mrs. Dunlap, "but I remember my mother taking me to the studio that day and saying, ‘It's just another movie.' I never would have dreamed it would have amounted to anything more." She and other children in the film didn't need to memorize lines, but a director told them which way to move as he read aloud from the story. "Mr. Baum himself took the film on the road and narrated the story onstage," she continued. "There was an orchestra and we stood offstage, singing occasionally... I remember that after the film, I would come onstage to take a bow and then go to the back of the theater and sell the Oz books."
The "Wizard of Oz" in which she starred was one of the first color movies, the celluloid reels having been sent to France, where each frame was hand-colored.
Mrs. Dunlap also appeared in the movies "The Four-Footed Hero" and "Mary: Ten Nights in a Bar Room."
When Chicago's movie industry moved west to Hollywood, Mrs. Dunlap's parents refused to let her go along. She later performed in vaudeville and taught music and dance in Chicago. Mrs. Dunlap was an accomplished piano and organ teacher until her death, and for the last 12 years was organist for the 12th Church of Christ Scientist in Chicago. Friends said Mrs. Dunlap left a written scenario, titled "The Final Curtain," for her own funeral service.
The rites will include an organist playing the "Romola Waltz," which she composed herself, and the reading of parting words she penned for her friends.
Mrs. Dunlap cautioned that no one must say "Rest in peace" during her funeral service. "She always liked activities more than rest," a friend explained. Mrs. Dunlap had no known close relatives.
Visitation is at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Lain-Hursen/Birren and Son Funeral Home, 6125 N. Clark, with services at 2 p.m. Interment will be in Rosehill Cemetery, 5800 N. Ravenswood.
**Note**
In the 1970s, a reporter found her living alone in a building in Uptown Chicago with a cat, a very large turtle, a parakeet and her clippings. In her will, she gave instructions for the conduct of her funeral and asked that her age not be disclosed.
Romola's father, George Remus, was one of the most articulate and effective lawyers in Chicago. At the beginning of Prohibition, he divorced Lillian (Romola's mother) and married his second wife, Augusta "Imogene" Holmes. He then moved to Cincinnati, OH and set up one of the biggest bootlegging operations in the nation. He was known as "the whiskey king" and "the millionaire bootlegger." In 1927, he was charged with shooting to death his second wife and pleaded temporary insanity. The trial was one of the best known of the era, and Romola got considerable attention from the press. "Romola goes to the aid of her Daddy," one headline proclaimed. The article told of her going to work as a nightclub performer to help pay his court expenses. (His wife Imogene, had sold off all his assets and hid the money in various places while he was serving time in prison for tax evasion) After pleading his own case before a jury, he was sent to a hospital for the criminally insane, where he spent one year.
Obituary of Romola Remus Dunlap
Chicago Sun-Times (IL) – February 19, 1987
Romola Remus Dunlap, a silent-film actress who played Dorothy in the 1908 screen version of "The Wizard of Oz," died Tuesday at Weiss Memorial Hospital. She was a longtime Uptown resident. Ten years ago, Mrs. Dunlap reminisced about her film days as Dorothy in L. Frank Baum's classic story. The tale was filmed in Chicago at the Selig Polyscope Co. at Irving Park and Western. Her mother, Lillian Remus, took her to try out for the role of Dorothy. After getting the part, she would skip school to perform and was paid $5 a day for her work. The film, was principally used to illustrate Baum`s lectures on the book. Dressed as Dorothy on such occasions, Romola would take a bow to the audience and then go through it selling copies of the work.
"I was very young," said Mrs. Dunlap, "but I remember my mother taking me to the studio that day and saying, ‘It's just another movie.' I never would have dreamed it would have amounted to anything more." She and other children in the film didn't need to memorize lines, but a director told them which way to move as he read aloud from the story. "Mr. Baum himself took the film on the road and narrated the story onstage," she continued. "There was an orchestra and we stood offstage, singing occasionally... I remember that after the film, I would come onstage to take a bow and then go to the back of the theater and sell the Oz books."
The "Wizard of Oz" in which she starred was one of the first color movies, the celluloid reels having been sent to France, where each frame was hand-colored.
Mrs. Dunlap also appeared in the movies "The Four-Footed Hero" and "Mary: Ten Nights in a Bar Room."
When Chicago's movie industry moved west to Hollywood, Mrs. Dunlap's parents refused to let her go along. She later performed in vaudeville and taught music and dance in Chicago. Mrs. Dunlap was an accomplished piano and organ teacher until her death, and for the last 12 years was organist for the 12th Church of Christ Scientist in Chicago. Friends said Mrs. Dunlap left a written scenario, titled "The Final Curtain," for her own funeral service.
The rites will include an organist playing the "Romola Waltz," which she composed herself, and the reading of parting words she penned for her friends.
Mrs. Dunlap cautioned that no one must say "Rest in peace" during her funeral service. "She always liked activities more than rest," a friend explained. Mrs. Dunlap had no known close relatives.
Visitation is at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Lain-Hursen/Birren and Son Funeral Home, 6125 N. Clark, with services at 2 p.m. Interment will be in Rosehill Cemetery, 5800 N. Ravenswood.
**Note**
In the 1970s, a reporter found her living alone in a building in Uptown Chicago with a cat, a very large turtle, a parakeet and her clippings. In her will, she gave instructions for the conduct of her funeral and asked that her age not be disclosed.
Only child of George and Lillian (Kraus) Remus
Romola's father, George Remus, was one of the most articulate and effective lawyers in Chicago. At the beginning of Prohibition, he divorced Lillian (Romola's mother) and married his second wife, Augusta "Imogene" Holmes. He then moved to Cincinnati, OH and set up one of the biggest bootlegging operations in the nation. He was known as "the whiskey king" and "the millionaire bootlegger." In 1927, he was charged with shooting to death his second wife and pleaded temporary insanity. The trial was one of the best known of the era, and Romola got considerable attention from the press. "Romola goes to the aid of her Daddy," one headline proclaimed. The article told of her going to work as a nightclub performer to help pay his court expenses. (His wife Imogene, had sold off all his assets and hid the money in various places while he was serving time in prison for tax evasion) After pleading his own case before a jury, he was sent to a hospital for the criminally insane, where he spent one year.
Obituary of Romola Remus Dunlap
Chicago Sun-Times (IL) – February 19, 1987
Romola Remus Dunlap, a silent-film actress who played Dorothy in the 1908 screen version of "The Wizard of Oz," died Tuesday at Weiss Memorial Hospital. She was a longtime Uptown resident. Ten years ago, Mrs. Dunlap reminisced about her film days as Dorothy in L. Frank Baum's classic story. The tale was filmed in Chicago at the Selig Polyscope Co. at Irving Park and Western. Her mother, Lillian Remus, took her to try out for the role of Dorothy. After getting the part, she would skip school to perform and was paid $5 a day for her work. The film, was principally used to illustrate Baum`s lectures on the book. Dressed as Dorothy on such occasions, Romola would take a bow to the audience and then go through it selling copies of the work.
"I was very young," said Mrs. Dunlap, "but I remember my mother taking me to the studio that day and saying, ‘It's just another movie.' I never would have dreamed it would have amounted to anything more." She and other children in the film didn't need to memorize lines, but a director told them which way to move as he read aloud from the story. "Mr. Baum himself took the film on the road and narrated the story onstage," she continued. "There was an orchestra and we stood offstage, singing occasionally... I remember that after the film, I would come onstage to take a bow and then go to the back of the theater and sell the Oz books."
The "Wizard of Oz" in which she starred was one of the first color movies, the celluloid reels having been sent to France, where each frame was hand-colored.
Mrs. Dunlap also appeared in the movies "The Four-Footed Hero" and "Mary: Ten Nights in a Bar Room."
When Chicago's movie industry moved west to Hollywood, Mrs. Dunlap's parents refused to let her go along. She later performed in vaudeville and taught music and dance in Chicago. Mrs. Dunlap was an accomplished piano and organ teacher until her death, and for the last 12 years was organist for the 12th Church of Christ Scientist in Chicago. Friends said Mrs. Dunlap left a written scenario, titled "The Final Curtain," for her own funeral service.
The rites will include an organist playing the "Romola Waltz," which she composed herself, and the reading of parting words she penned for her friends.
Mrs. Dunlap cautioned that no one must say "Rest in peace" during her funeral service. "She always liked activities more than rest," a friend explained. Mrs. Dunlap had no known close relatives.
Visitation is at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Lain-Hursen/Birren and Son Funeral Home, 6125 N. Clark, with services at 2 p.m. Interment will be in Rosehill Cemetery, 5800 N. Ravenswood.
**Note**
In the 1970s, a reporter found her living alone in a building in Uptown Chicago with a cat, a very large turtle, a parakeet and her clippings. In her will, she gave instructions for the conduct of her funeral and asked that her age not be disclosed.
Romola's father, George Remus, was one of the most articulate and effective lawyers in Chicago. At the beginning of Prohibition, he divorced Lillian (Romola's mother) and married his second wife, Augusta "Imogene" Holmes. He then moved to Cincinnati, OH and set up one of the biggest bootlegging operations in the nation. He was known as "the whiskey king" and "the millionaire bootlegger." In 1927, he was charged with shooting to death his second wife and pleaded temporary insanity. The trial was one of the best known of the era, and Romola got considerable attention from the press. "Romola goes to the aid of her Daddy," one headline proclaimed. The article told of her going to work as a nightclub performer to help pay his court expenses. (His wife Imogene, had sold off all his assets and hid the money in various places while he was serving time in prison for tax evasion) After pleading his own case before a jury, he was sent to a hospital for the criminally insane, where he spent one year.
Obituary of Romola Remus Dunlap
Chicago Sun-Times (IL) – February 19, 1987
Romola Remus Dunlap, a silent-film actress who played Dorothy in the 1908 screen version of "The Wizard of Oz," died Tuesday at Weiss Memorial Hospital. She was a longtime Uptown resident. Ten years ago, Mrs. Dunlap reminisced about her film days as Dorothy in L. Frank Baum's classic story. The tale was filmed in Chicago at the Selig Polyscope Co. at Irving Park and Western. Her mother, Lillian Remus, took her to try out for the role of Dorothy. After getting the part, she would skip school to perform and was paid $5 a day for her work. The film, was principally used to illustrate Baum`s lectures on the book. Dressed as Dorothy on such occasions, Romola would take a bow to the audience and then go through it selling copies of the work.
"I was very young," said Mrs. Dunlap, "but I remember my mother taking me to the studio that day and saying, ‘It's just another movie.' I never would have dreamed it would have amounted to anything more." She and other children in the film didn't need to memorize lines, but a director told them which way to move as he read aloud from the story. "Mr. Baum himself took the film on the road and narrated the story onstage," she continued. "There was an orchestra and we stood offstage, singing occasionally... I remember that after the film, I would come onstage to take a bow and then go to the back of the theater and sell the Oz books."
The "Wizard of Oz" in which she starred was one of the first color movies, the celluloid reels having been sent to France, where each frame was hand-colored.
Mrs. Dunlap also appeared in the movies "The Four-Footed Hero" and "Mary: Ten Nights in a Bar Room."
When Chicago's movie industry moved west to Hollywood, Mrs. Dunlap's parents refused to let her go along. She later performed in vaudeville and taught music and dance in Chicago. Mrs. Dunlap was an accomplished piano and organ teacher until her death, and for the last 12 years was organist for the 12th Church of Christ Scientist in Chicago. Friends said Mrs. Dunlap left a written scenario, titled "The Final Curtain," for her own funeral service.
The rites will include an organist playing the "Romola Waltz," which she composed herself, and the reading of parting words she penned for her friends.
Mrs. Dunlap cautioned that no one must say "Rest in peace" during her funeral service. "She always liked activities more than rest," a friend explained. Mrs. Dunlap had no known close relatives.
Visitation is at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Lain-Hursen/Birren and Son Funeral Home, 6125 N. Clark, with services at 2 p.m. Interment will be in Rosehill Cemetery, 5800 N. Ravenswood.
**Note**
In the 1970s, a reporter found her living alone in a building in Uptown Chicago with a cat, a very large turtle, a parakeet and her clippings. In her will, she gave instructions for the conduct of her funeral and asked that her age not be disclosed.
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