Her mother, portrait photographer Mrs. Kemp Raulston, named her after her favorite actress, Jobyna Howland, and harboured ambitions for her daughter to achieve similar fame. After a failed teenage marriage to a local farmer, Jobyna left Tennessee and went to New York in 1919 to join the Ned Wayburn dancing academy, a popular springboard for aspiring actresses. In 1920, she appeared first on screen in Reelcraft ‘Cuckoo’ comedy shorts made in Jacksonville, Florida. Around this time, she also co-starred in a lost Marx Brothers film (their first), ‘Humor Risk’. The following year, she made her one Broadway appearance in ‘Two Little Girls in Blue’ by George M. Cohan. Deciding that comedy was her forte, she went to Hollywood in 1922, starting as an extra with Hal Roach. She was cast in a rare dramatic role in ‘The Call of Home’ (1922), then partnered French comedian Max Linder and subsequently starred in Roach’s one-reel ‘Paul Parrott’ comedies. When Harold Lloyd became aware of her talent… read more
Her mother, portrait photographer Mrs. Kemp Raulston, named her after her favorite actress, Jobyna Howland, and harboured ambitions for her daughter to achieve similar fame. After a failed teenage marriage to a local farmer, Jobyna left Tennessee and went to New York in 1919 to join the Ned Wayburn dancing academy, a popular springboard for aspiring actresses. In 1920, she appeared first on screen in Reelcraft ‘Cuckoo’ comedy shorts made in Jacksonville, Florida. Around this time, she also co-starred in a lost Marx Brothers film (their first), ‘Humor Risk’. The following year, she made her one Broadway appearance in ‘Two Little Girls in Blue’ by George M. Cohan. Deciding that comedy was her forte, she went to Hollywood in 1922, starting as an extra with Hal Roach. She was cast in a rare dramatic role in ‘The Call of Home’ (1922), then partnered French comedian Max Linder and subsequently starred in Roach’s one-reel ‘Paul Parrott’ comedies. When Harold Lloyd became aware of her talent, he picked her as his leading lady, succeeding his wife-to-be Mildred Davis. Jobyna starred in six of Harold Lloyd’s features, of which ‘Why Worry’, ‘The Freshman’ and ‘The Kid Brother’ are stand-outs for her ability to combine considerable comedic talents with pathos. In 1927, ‘Joby’ was cast in a featured role in the Academy Award winning silent drama ‘Wings’, whose star, Richard Arlen, she married in January of that year. As a free-lance comedienne, she then appeared in leading roles opposite stars like Eddie Cantor, Charles Ray and Buck Jones. She also starred with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in an obscure Frank Capra melodrama, ‘The Power of the Press’ in 1928. She made just three talkies, ‘The College Coquette’, ‘Rough Waters’ (with co-star Rin-Tin-Tin!) and ‘Sheer Luck’. Jobyna was found to have a noticeable lisp, which, combined with her impending pregnancy, effectively put a stop to her career as a motion picture actress. —IMDb
