Juanita Hansen was a silent movie star. When serial queen Pearl White left Pathe in 1919, Juanita Hansen was selected to be her replacement. But after a few more serials her career was derailed due to public exposure of her drug addiction to cocaine and heroin. A decade later she attemped a comeback and was given a supporting role in the pre-code 1933 film "Sensation Hunters", playing the leader of a traveling female cabaret troupe, "Trixie Snell and her Hotcha Girls". Trixie is a charismatic Texas-Guinan-type role with a bunch of snappy wise-cracks. For example [To a girl who has misplaced her boat ticket:] "Say, you'd forget your rosy cheeks if they weren't slapped on with a paint brush" or [After complaining that a girl's performance wasn't peppy enough, the girl replied:] "Oh, I don't know, I guess it's the heat." "Well you'll be in a hotter place someday." She also does several short comedy bits with Walter Brennan. But the film appearance did not revive her career and Sensation Hunters remains her only sound film. These are her scenes from the film, edited together.

• published: 07 Nov 2020
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