BESS THE DETECTRESS – Bess Meredyth was a silent film starlet, writer and director. This particular blog post will focus on her Bess the Detectress character at Universal Studios but in the future Balladeer’s Blog will cover other aspects of her life and career.
Bess was married to Casablanca director Michael Curtiz and was the mother of writer-director John Meredyth Lucas, famous for his work on Star Trek and other programs.
BESS THE DETECTRESS IN THE OLD MILL AT MIDNIGHT (Jun 1914) – The first short in the Bess the Detectress series. When the stage show she was performing in closes as a flop, Bess is left scrambling for her next meal. She spots a Wanted poster offering a reward of $200.00 (equal to $6,300 in 2025) for the capture of the male outlaw Honey Hall.
Bess determines to get that reward money and turns sleuth, wielding a toy gun which she uses to bluff criminals. She follows a few wrong leads but ultimately gets the bandit and the reward money. Continue reading
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