Anita King
| Anita King | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Anna Keppen August 14, 1884 Michigan City, Indiana |
| Died | June 10, 1963 (aged 78) Hollywood, California |
Anita King (August 14, 1884 – June 10, 1963) was an American stunt driver, actress, and thoroughbred racehorse owner. In 1915, she became the first woman to drive a car unaccompanied across the United States, with her 49-day journey from Hollywood to New York City.
Born Anna Keppen to German immigrants in Michigan City, Indiana, her father committed suicide in 1896 when she was twelve years old and two years later her mother died of pulmonary tuberculosis. Left an impoverished orphan with siblings, Keppen went to work as a house servant and in her late teens moved to Chicago. There, the attractive young girl found employment doing modeling and acting in minor parts in theatre.
Around 1908 she moved to the West Coast where she developed a fascination with powerful cars after working as a model at California auto shows. Keppen soon learned to drive and by the early 1910s was competing in auto races. Following her hospital recovery from an accident in a race in Phoenix, Arizona, she gave up racing and, with the rapid growth of the Hollywood film industry, returned to acting using the stage name Anita King. Her theatre experience opened the door to small roles with the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company under director Cecil B. DeMille that evolved to supporting parts in comedy films.
In 1915, King decided to put her automobile driving experience to the test and set out to become the first female to drive alone across the continental United States. With the backing of studio boss Jesse L. Lasky, and his newly formed Paramount Pictures, they got the Kissel Motor Car Company to provide her with a vehicle equipped with Firestone tires. Dubbed "The Paramount Girl," amidst much publicity on August 25, she set out in her Kissel Kar from Paramount's studio in Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times is reported to have written, "There will be nobody with her at any time on the trip. Her only companions will be a rifle and a six shooter." First heading north to San Francisco, King spent several days doing publicity appearances at the Panama-Pacific World's Fair. With even more fanfare, and declaring that "if men can do it, so can a woman," she headed east. After many promotional stops along the way, and coverage by major newspapers coast to coast, on 19 October, after forty-nine days on the road, King received a hero's welcome in New York City, with one newspaper remarking she had arrived with California air in her tires.
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