Ann Christy: Perhaps a Little Too “Speedy”

The career of Ann Christy (Gladys Cronin, 1905-1987) was brief but notable for lovers of classic comedy. She managed to translate a small role in Harry Langdon’s Long Pants (1927) into a contract with Al Christie (no relation) to appear in a series of comedy shorts. These included Dumb Belles with Billie Dooley,Queer Duck with Jack Duffy, No Sparking and Ocean Blues with Jimmie Adams, all 1927, and Say Uncle (1928) with Duffy. 1928 proved her high water mark: she co-starred with Harold Lloyd in Speedyand was voted a member of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, 

Christy also appeared in dramas like The Kid Sister (1927) with Marguerite De La Mott, and numerous other films through the end of the silent era, many of them westerns, such as The Water Hole (1928) with Jack Holt, and The Lariat Kid (1929) with Hoot Gibson. From 1929 through 1930 she starred in a comical college serial for Universal called Sporting Youth. For Mack Sennett she appeared in the shorts Divorced Sweethearts (1930) with Daphne Pollard, and Dream House (1932) with Bing Crosby, and for Hal Roach she was in the Our Gang short Big Ears (1931). Her last film was the crime drama Behind Stone Walls (1932).

Christy’s sudden disappearance from the film industry after this point may be explained by a 1931 car accident, in which the vehicle she was riding crashed into a piece of highway repair equipment at night. Having received multiple injuries, including several broken bones, she sued for over $100,000 in damages. It’s not known whether she won the suit, allowing her to retire on the tidy sum (which would amount to far more than that in today’s money), or whether her injuries or disfigurement forced her to retire, or both, but her retirement does seem related to this event, at least chronologically. At any rate, a promising career was quickly truncated, and no more was heard from Ann Christy after that.

For more on classic comedy film, please read Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.