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Studio photo of ZaSu Pitts

ZaSu Pitts Photo Gallery

Photographs Courtesy
of
Cynthia Mathews

Photo of ZaSu Pitts home taken in the late 20th century

ZaSu Pitts grew up in Santa Cruz. In her book, "Candy Hits" she recalled,

"...if I close my eyes, I can still see the kitchen in our Santa Cruz home, smell the fragrant odor of spice cookies baking in our old iron stove and molasses candy bubbling in the iron frying pan that we called a spider." (p. 13. Duel, Sloan and Pearce, 1963)

Her childhood home still stands at 208 Lincoln Street.

To the right is ZaSu Pitts' high school graduation picture. It is from the 1914 edition of the Trident, the Santa Cruz High yearbook. The comment in the yearbook reads:

"Rarely is a class so fortunate as to have such a brillant leading lady as ZaSu Pitts. Even the solemnest, most awe-like member of the class loses their dignity at her comic interpretations. Can you imagine what future Hi plays will be without her? Moverover, she possesses that unusual quality, common sense, and lots of it."

High School Graduation Photo of ZaSu Pitts

The Trident, 1914
(Yearbook in the collection of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries)

Photo of ZaSu as a starlet

After graduating from Santa Cruz High School, ZaSu went to Hollywood; this photo was taken right after she arrived in Hollywood. The caption on the original reads: Zasu Pitts - 1914 - Movie Actress.

In 1919, Zasu returned to Santa Cruz for a visit. Here ZaSu is being interviewed outside the office of the Santa Cruz Evening News, where her brother worked.

Photo of ZaSu Pitts with a reporter

The following two photographs are, we believe, from that 1919 visit. On the left, ZaSu Pitts is standing in front of her childhood home with local promoter/entrepreneur Fred Swanton. On the right, she is visiting with Josephine Clifford McCrackin.

Photo of ZaZu Pitts with Fred Swanton Photo of ZaSu Pitts with Josephine Clifford McCrackin

Continue with Part 2

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