Yale Boss on AllMovie

One of the screen's first child stars, New York-born Yale Boss looked like everyone's idea of a mischievous urchin. Already a stage veteran when making his screen debut in Thanhouser's The Actor's Children (1910), Boss had earlier appeared on Broadway opposite European dance sensation Mlle. Geneé in The Silver Star. He didn't remain with Thanhouser for long, however, signing instead with the Edison company, who featured him opposite the likes of Mary Fuller and Charles Ogle. Next to the winsome Fuller, Boss became Edison's most popular player but the studio constantly had to battle rumors questioning his true age. "Yale Boss is not a dwarf, but a small boy, who has been kept singularly free from mannerisms while acquiring dramatic training," the company promised. Boss' popularity waned in the late 1910s and he later worked as a prop man. By the time of his death, the former child actor was operating a garage in Augusta, GA.