This Day In Ann Dvorak History: Desperately Seeking Dad

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 350

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By December of 1933, Ann Dvorak had become a known name around Hollywood for her acting as well as for walking out on her Warner Bros. contract for an 8-month honeymoon. She may not have been Jack Warner’s favorite person at the time, but many members of the press found Ann interesting enough to run her plea to find her father in their newspapers.

Edwin McKim was divorced from Ann’s mom, Anna Lehr, sometime in the early 1920s. Subsequent years were spent in Pittsburgh, New York, and Florida. All the while he had no contact with his only child even though he longed to and vice versa. Ann used her celebrity to her advantage, and on December 16, 1933 newspapers around the country ran her request to be reunited with her father. Countless false leads came through, but in early February of 1934, Edwin McKim finally reappeared in Philadelphia.

McKim was elated that his daughter had found him, but insisted on paying his own train fare. It took him six months, but he finally made it to Southern California in August 1934. The reunion was a successful one and Ann stayed in contact with her father until his death in 1942.

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