Carmel Myers with a Ukulele

Carmel Myers (Lived April 4, 1899 to November 9, 1980) was an American Actress who worked chiefly in silent movies. Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of an Australian Rabbi and Austrian-Jewish mother. Her father became well-connected with California's emerging film industry, and introduced her to film pioneer, D.W. Griffith who gave Carmel a small part in Intolerance (1916). Myers would also get her brother Zion Myers into Hollywood as a writer/director.

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From this beginning, Myers left for New York, where she acted mainly on stage for the next two years. She was soon signed by Universal, however, where she soon emerged as a popular actress in vamp roles. Her most popular film from this period is probably the romantic comedy, All Night, opposite Ruldoph Valentino. By 1924 she was working for MGM, making such films as Broadway After Dark. In 1925, she appeared in arguably her most famous role, that of the Egyptian vamp Iras in Ben Hur who tries to seduce both Messala (Francis X. Bushman) and Ben-Hur himself (Ramon Navarro). This film was a big boost to Myers' career, who appeared in many more major roles throughout the 1920's

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Ukuleles in Ben Hur?
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Myers had a successful sound career, although she ended up mostly in supporting roles due to her age. Myers surfaced in the entertainment world again briefly in 1951, with a short-lived DuMont Televion show called The Carmel Myers Show, which followed the interview format.

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This was directly and unabashedly plagerished but also shortened from wikipedia. Click the blog title to go directly to Wikipedia's full story. I have both photos shown here for sale on eBay -- I am thinning down my various collections.