“Bare Knees” Flapper: The Life and Films of Virginia Lee Corbin

As the most popular child star in the movies for a brief period in the late 1910’s, Virginia Lee Corbin became well-known to millions of fans around the world. However, she did not fade into obscurity once her child-like charms began to diminish. With her mother as manager, she performed for a couple of years in vaudeville, a wise move that allowed her to mature before continuing her film career. Fitting right into the flapper mold of the Jazz Age (one writer considered her a serious competitor with Clara Bow for that title), Virginia was busy in films for numerous studios throughout the 1920’s. However, as she matured, her mother found that she could not control the flapper Virginia as she did the child star. By the time Mrs. Corbin tried to commit suicide in 1927, the blonde star found that all the money she had earned was gone. Desiring to get away from the conflicts and control of her mother, she asked the court to appoint a guardian. A marriage just as she turned 18 was another attempt to free herself from her mother, but that ended in a bitter and much publicized divorce that separated her from her children. Falling victim to the sound era, she was still trying to make a comeback when she died at 31 years old in 1942.