Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan (pronounced “guy-nan”) was born January 12, 1884 in Waco, McLennan County, Texas to Michael Guinan (1854 – 1935) and Bridget Cecile Duffy Guinan (1857 – 1939). Her nickname as a child was “Mamie” and she was the second of four children. Both of her parents were born in Canada and their ancestry is said to have been Irish. While living in Waco, the father was part owner of a wholesale grocery and candy business named Eagon, Guinan & Co. near downtown on Austin Street. Various articles note that she attended school at the Loretta Convent in downtown Waco. They likely lived in Waco until the early 1890s. By the time the 1900 federal census was taken, the family had relocated to Denver, Colorado. In 1900, Mary Louise was about 17 years old and was still living at home. The father’s business was listed as being the owner of a public warehouse. Her parents also owned a ranch at some point. She learned to ride horses and she was otherwise an active child. As she grew up, she studied singing and and would later be drawn to the entertainment business, including vaudeville. Along the way, as a reference to her birthplace, she began to adopt the nickname “Texas” and used it for the rest of her career.
At about 22 years old, she married John Joseph Moynahan, a newspaper cartoon artist who was then working for the Rocky Mountain News. The couple was married from 1904 to 1906. After their divorce, Texas seems to have gravitated to the West Coast although she traveled extensively as an entertainer.
By 1913, she was already established as a stage performer. She was approached by an individual and agreed to license her name and likeness for the sale of a weight loss product. Soon, the country was blanketed with large newspaper ads that touted her as having experienced a “70 pound” weight loss using a product consisting of “miracle” pills to be sold through the United States Mail. After consumer complaints, federal postal inspectors investigated. Early in 1914 they charged the seller, one Walter Cunningham, with fraud. Texas was drawn into the legal matters and for a while was banned from using the federal mail system. She was reportedly assessed a $5,000 fine. Some accounts note that she agreed to some type of “probation” for a few years. During all this, she continued her career and was eventually absolved of any wrongdoing. Although mail fraud appears to have been criminalized in 1872 and further expanded in 1956, Cunningham served no time in prison and there is no obvious indication that there was a trial.
Texas is often mentioned in newspaper articles as appearing in solo acts or more often in productions with others in the cast. Many newspaper ads promoted her appearance in comedy sketches with an actor named William Gibson. She was near the end of her vaudeville career when she married Julian Johnson, editor of “Photoplay Magazine,” in 1917. Around that time, she announced her retirement from theatrical work.
With the technology available today, it might be hard to imagine a time when silent movies were the main medium for film entertainment. In general, the silent movie era lasted around thirty years, beginning around 1890 and giving way to “talkies” in the 1920s. Silent films were usually not completely silent, since they might have recorded music to help set the mood for whatever was occurring on screen. The action might also be described on screens with dialogue or other explanatory writing that would be interspersed with the video. However, it was usually left to the viewers to assume what the actors might actually be saying. The silent era lasted long enough that some actors could have had long careers entirely during that period. A number of actors were able to transition to movies with recorded sound once that process became available.
Texas was in her 20s when she was first introduced to people in the film industry, but her first recorded credits in movie databases begin in 1917. Between 1917 and 1921, she was involved in over forty films and “shorts” in which she was usually credited. Some estimates of her work are much higher in number. Frequently her characters portrayed her as a heroine or strong woman directly involved in the vigorous action in the plot. Her films often had western themes and bore titles like “The Gun Woman.” “South of Santa Fe,” “Girl of the Rancho,” “The Spirit of Cabin Mine,” “The Lady of the Law, “The Heart of Texas,” “The Night Rider,” “The Stampede,” “Boss of the Rancho,” “Vengeance of Texas Grey” and the like. Some of these films, or clips from them, may still be found online.
Her film career, and silent films as well, began to wane in the 1920s, roughly coinciding with Prohibition and the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. This legislation was enacted to ban the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages. Not surprisingly, the amendment gave rise to widespread illegal activities to thwart the intended goals of the legislation. Such activities were carried out by individuals as well as organized criminal enterprises. Finally after thirteen years, in response to public pressure and the lure of increased federal revenue from taxing the former illegal activities, the 21st Amendment was passed, ending Prohibition.
During Prohibition, despite the ban on sales of alcohol, the practice continued. Illegal nightclubs known as “speakeasies” sprang up where the banned drinks could be obtained. Texas was divorced from Mr. Johnson and had relocated to New York sometime in the early 1920s. She first began singing in some of the many nightclubs and speakeasies there. Soon due to her outgoing personality she was running the venues. It is not uncharacteristic that police might raid and close one speakeasy down and another would soon replace it. Some of the clubs bore her name. Though the illegal sale of alcohol was the drawing card, some accounts point out that Texas was a nondrinker and that she was living with her parents most likely in a place funded with her income. Despite the police activity, as far as we are aware, she was never arrested or prosecuted during Prohibition.
As the decade of the 1920s closed, even the illegal nightclub industry was affected by the Great Depression. Texas was forced once again to consider making employment changes. Her career at that point had included vaudeville, silent films, Broadway productions and nightclub entertainment and operation. She made at least two more films and carried out plans to resume her entertainment career. Texas had traveled overseas and was touring in North America with her own production when she fell ill in late 1933. It was called a stomach ailment (possibly amoebic dysentery) and she died in Vancouver, Canada on November 5, 1933. She was 49 years old.
Texas was interred in a mausoleum in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens, New York. Her parents both survived her several years and are buried there as well. In 1960, she was honored with a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
© 2025, all rights reserved.
Texas History Notebook 