Thais Nehli-Kelini

Theresa Chappell was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of a barber and a domestic worker, who divorced when she was a child. Her mother, Alice Vinney Chappell, soon remarried, and Theresa went by her stepfather's surname, Neely. The Neelys moved to Chicago where Theresa went through the school system, becoming a trained seamstress and dressmaker. A short-lived marriage didn't work out, so Theresa and her mother (now Mrs. Baker) went west to Los Angeles, where she was employed in the movie studios as a dressmaker until she met Sidney P. Dones, real estate salesman, entrepreneur, and budding movie magnate. When Dones went about getting together a cast for his 1919 movie "Injustice," he put Theresa in the lead role, renaming her as "Princess Thais Nehli-Kalani," and claiming that she was a niece of HRH Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii. After the picture was completed, Theresa, with Fred Cannon, her mother's fourth and last husband, went into business as the owner of the nightclub and cafe the "Panama Inn" at 14th & Central Avenues in the Watts section of Los Angeles, and stayed in business for several years. She also invested heavily in Los Angeles real estate. In her later years, Theresa Felton-Edwards was one of the leaders of Los Angeles black society, active in many social and charitable activities, as well as a member of progressive organizations including the NAACP and the National Council of Negro Women.