Sybil Seely context (C3)

• Seely’s brothers made a living as the Travilla Brothers, a popular vaudeville act featuring huge onstage stunts (such as the seal with the human brain stunt) 
• The seal stunt is thought to be why Sybil chose her stage name ‘Seely’  
• Sybil joined a studio as an extra and bit player and appeared in a couple features  
• She was one of Mack Sennett’s ‘Bathing Beauties’ and continued to feature in his shorts until the end of the 1910s 
• 1920 – she was the leading lady of Buster Keaton’s One Week 
• Sybil’s naturalistic and charming performance complimented Keaton’s ‘blank pan’ persona  
• She was given generous amounts of screentime which wasn’t the norm for supporting actors back then 
• Sybil retires from the screen to raise her son and devote herself to being a homemaker