Whitley Heights 101

History of Whitley Heights

6612-6616 Emmet Terrace

In 1925, actor Wilber Higby (1867-1934) built a 5 room house with a detached garage at 6616 Emmet Terrace. The house was erected on a downslope with a basement by architect Frankie Faulkner. Faulkner was a single mother raising a teenage daughter who practiced architecture in Los Angeles from the 1920s to the 1950s in what was a male-dominant profession at that time. She was especially known for designing in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style and several intact examples of single family homes she designed during the late 1920s in Silver Lake still survive.

The house is adjacent to the famed Ojai Apartments, 1929 Whitley Avenue, which were built in 1928. Higby had already built two homes below this residence: 6607 and 6615 Padre Terrace, both built in 1922. Higby started his acting career on stage in Boston where he met his first wife, actress Nellie Davis, a stage actress, singer, and ice skater, and married her in 1896. In 1908, he married his second wife, Carolyn, and they had a daughter Mary Jane who was born in 1915. Wilber first appeared on the screen in 1914 in “Lucille Love: The Girl of Mystery” which was directed by Francis Ford who co-starred in the film with actress Grace Cunard. Ford’s brother, famed director, John Ford, also had a minor role in the film. Higby appeared in 80 films up until his death in 1934.

In 1916, Higby appeared in his first full feature film, D.W. Griffith’s “Hoodoo Ann” starring Mae Marsh. That same year, he also appeared in “Reggie Mixes In” which starred Douglas Fairbanks and Bessie Love. and “Flirting with Fate” also starring Douglas Fairbanks and Jewel Carmen. Other notable film included: “Diane of the Follies” (1916) starring Lillian Gish, “The Matrimaniac” (1916) starring Douglas Fairbanks and Constance Talmadge, “True Heart Susie” (1919) starring Lillian Gish, “Nugget Nell” (1919) starring Dorothy Gish, “Richard the Lion-Hearted” (1923) starring Wallace Beery, “Lights of Old Broadway” (1925) starring Marion Davies, and his last, “The Mighty Barnum” (1934) starring Wallace Beery.

His daughter, Mary Jane, appeared in several films in her childhood between the ages of six and ten. The films included: “Where the Trail Divides” (1914), “The Master Key” (1914), “The Reform Candidate” (1915), “As in the Days of Old” (1915), and “Jack and the Beanstalk” (1917). However, Mary Jane wanted to become a concert pianist and switched careers, but then went back to acting at the age of 16. In 1937, she moved to New York City and became a radio soap star, playing Joan Davis on “When a Girl Marries” until it ended in 1957, but continued to appear on several other radio shows. In 1970, Mary Jane returned to film appearing in Martin Scorsese’s “The Honeymoon Killers”. (Scorsese was actually fired after one week due to creative differences”.

Mary Jane and her mother remained at this residence several years after her father’s death in 1934. In 1937, the house was sold and the new owner added another floor, converting the house into a triplex, with a two bedroom, two bathroom on the street floor, two bedroom, two bathroom unit on the bottom floor, and a studio style apartment to the side. The entire building is currently for sale for just under two million dollars.