Yvonne Pavis
Yvonne Pavis (born 1890) was an English-born actress, writer, and producer. Her real name was Marie Posener. She began acting in Hollywood in 1910 with the Vitagraph Company, occasionally acting under the name of Marie Pavis. In 1921, she was granted a much-publicised to divorce to a Jack Murray in Los Angeles, after she discovered he had previously married two other women - in effect a bigamist. But as her WikiTree entries notes, it is possible she had also married someone in England in 1918.

When she arrived in Sydney in February, 1922, the Daily Telegraph described her as being:

Petite and dark, animated and full of confidence ... Miss Pavis is impressed with the immense possibilities of Australia, and full of assurance as to her future here as a writer and producer of moving pictures.

Miss Pavis has had many years' experience of the "movie" world, having starred in America ... acting during her last engagement in Los Angeles. Miss Pavis was born in London, not so very many years ago, of French and Spanishparentage, and in the course of her professional career, has played many parts, including scenes in a picture play where lions and tigers were in the supporting roles.

She is eager to assure us that the future of the pictures in Australia will be a very big thing, and she is quite ready to claim her part in the development of the art. For her prospective cast she intends to employ only local talent, from camera operator to bell-boy.

Lawson Harris
William Lawson Harris (1897-1948) came to Australia originally at the behest of Arthur Shirley (1886-1967), the Australian actor, writer, producer, and director of theatre and film, to work as production manager on the film The Throwback (1920),which was abandoned, and stayed on for a number of years working with Yvonne Pavis.

In 1922 he formed a film production company with Pavis. After a brief time as The Yvonne Pavis Production Company, the company changed its name to Harris Austral Super Films and produced three feature films; Circumstance, Daughter of Australia, and finally Sunshine Salley, in all of which Pavis performed.

Sunshine Sally
One of the films, the third, that Pavis and Harris produced was Sunshine Sally a 1922 Australian silent film directed by Lawson Harris and set in the Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo, but with a crucial part of the plot set on Coogee Beach. Most of the movie survives today. Having movie-star good looks with now quite a lot of acting experience under her belt, it is no wonder Yvonne ended up taking the starring role in the film.

Plot
Sally and Tottie are sacked from their jobs in a laundry, then go on a picnic with friends Skinny and Spud. Skinny and Spud are both romantically interested in Sally but she spurns their attention. Sally is rescued in the surf at Coogee Beach by wealthy lifeguard Basil Stanton and taken to his family home in Potts Point to recuperate. Sally and Basil fall in love and get married. Spud and Skinny are arrested for drunkenness and reform. Spud marries Tottie and Skinny marries a woman from the Salvation Army.

Still from film showing Sally being rescued at Coogee Beach

Cast Yvonne Pavis as Sally Joy Revelle as Tottie Faye John Cosgrove as Spud Murphy Dinks Patterson as Skinny Smith Mrs Hutton as Katie Smith J. P. O'Neill as Bill Smith Sheila Moore as Mrs Constance Stanton Lionel Lunn as Basil Stanton Mervyn Barrington as James Stanton Maude Ranier as the Salvation Army woman

Yvonne Pavis

Lionel Lunn
Lionel Lunn (?-1977), who played Basil Stanton, was a leading Australian radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s. He narrated a large number of Australian documentaries during this period. In the 1920s he worked as an actor. He ran radio station 2UE for a number of years before being fired, for which a court awarded him £4,100 damages. His name was linked with a number of high-profile divorce cases.

John Cosgrove
John Cosgrove (1867-1925), who played Spud, was a versatile stage actor who worked for most of Australia's leading theatre companies. He appeared in at least a dozen other Australian films and, besides scripting Sunshine Sally, wrote the story for Silks and Saddles (1921) and directed The Guyra Ghost Mystery (1921). His grandson is General Sir Peter Cosgrove, Australia's Governor-General from 2014 to 2019.

Dinks Patterson
Vaudevillian Dinks Patterson (1892-1982), of Dinks and Onkus, who played Skinny Smith, made his film debut. He was a well-known variety actor who from 1919 to 1923 was the stage partner of comedian George Wallace.

Production
The film was shot in October and November 1922 under the title Winnie of Woolloomooloo. Some studio interiors were shot late at night because John Cosgrove was appearing on stage each day in the city. As well as Coogee, scenes were also shot at Long Bay Gaol, at the nearby suburb of Malabar, and at Woolloomooloo in the inner city. There was a scene in which Sally and Tottie wear male attire to be allowed to witness their friend box at the Sydney Stadium, because it was said in the movie, women were not allowed to attend. The cross-dressing evoked a lot of press comment at the time.

Scene from Sunshine Sally with Sally and Tottie dressed in male attire

You can see a small portion of the film on YouTube at:

Back to Hollywood
The movie was not a success at the box office and Harris and Pavis soon left Australia to return to the United States in 1924. She and Harris married, but divorced in 1925. Harris married Dolores Johnson (1903-1957) who he also divorced. Harris and Johnson had one child, a son, actor, photographer and director Derek Delevan Harris (August 12, 1926 - May 22, 1998) who used the professional name of John Derek. Derek had a successful career as an actor, photographer and director; he married four times including to actresses Ursula Andress (1957), Linda Evans (1968), and Bo Derek nee Mary Cathleen Collins (1976).

Yvonne Pavis Vanishes from the Record
After the mid-1920s, Yvonne seems to have dropped off the face of the earth and there are no records for her. Perhaps she married again, or moved back to England. She led such a colorful life it would be nice to learn what happened to her.

References