JACK'S VICTORIAN ACTRESSES

LOTTA CRABTREE

2009-12-30T12:25:00.003-05:00

Charlotte Mignon Crabtree, known on stage as "Lotta", was born in New York City on November 7, 1847.

Lotta made her debut as an actress at the age of 6 at Petalumba, California, where she did song and dance routines. She was so popular with the miners during the California gold rush that they pitched bags of gold nuggets at her feet.

At the Grass Valley mining camp she met Lola Montez, who taught her dancing and stagecraft.

Lotta continued to be a very popular performer until her retirement from the stage in 1891, when she was said to be worth $2,000,000. Lotta was the richest stage performer at the time, and owned a number of hotels and other real estate in Boston, where she spent the last 7 years of her life. She never married and left most of her fortune to charity.

Lotta died at the Hotel Brewster in Boston on September 25, 1924 at the age of 77.

MAUD GRANGER

2009-12-21T19:59:00.005-05:00

Maud Granger was born c.1851, and began her career as a celebrated beauty and ended it as a well known character actress.

Miss Granger made her New York debut in 1873 in "Without a Heart" and appeared on stage for many years. Her final appearances were in "The First Years" in 1920 and "Pigs"in 1924.

George C. D. Odell, in his Annals of the New York Stage wrote, "Miss Granger was in her youth one of the most beautiful and most photographed of actresses. Every college man, every sentimental girl, every collector had numerous pictures of her."

Maude passed away in 1928.

MAXINE ELLIOTT

2009-12-21T14:01:00.006-05:00

Photograph of Maxine Elliott as "Sylvia" in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona."

Maxine Elliott, was an American actress, born in 1868. She appeared on stage in New York and London beginning in 1895. After touring Australia with her husband, Nat Goodwin, she returned to America and appeared in a number of new plays. In 1908 Miss Elliott had her own theatre built in New York. Just before World War I Maxinne retired to England. In 1920 she returned to the American stage and became one of the great stars of the American theatre.

Maxine died in 1940.

KATE GIRARD

2009-12-20T18:13:00.006-05:00

Kate Girard was a well known actress born in 1860 and married to actor and playwright, George Fawcett Rowe, in 1877.

In 1876 Miss Girard was playing the part of Maryanne in the play "The Two Orphans" when the Brooklyn Theatre caught fire resulting in a great loss of life. Luckily Miss Girard escaped unharmed.

In 1876 Miss Girard's father, physically beat the editor of a newspaper. The beating was the result of an unkind article in The Dramatic News, which implied that his daughter, Kate Girard, had lost her mind and was confined to an insane asylum.

Miss Girard divorced her husband in 1879. The grounds for the divorce was her husband's illicit relationship with a woman named Gertie Lonsdale at a house of ill-repute in New York City.

Miss Girard died on March 25, 1885 in New York City.

LEONA DARE

2009-02-06T18:59:00.000-05:00

Leona Dare was an acrobat and trapeze artist noted for her exploits on a trapeze hanging from a balloon. In the 1870's and 1880's Leona Dare's beauty and daring won her a wide reputation. She appeared with circuses in this country, and at the Follies Bergere in Paris. One of her greatest performances was while suspended 5,000 feet above the crowd at the Crystal Palace in London.

In 1884 she was suspended by her feet from the roof of the Princess Theatre in London. She held in her teeth the ropes of a trapeze bar on which a male performer was suspended. For some unknown reason, explained in the newspapers of the times as a nervous fit, she released her grip and the male performer dropped to the floor. It is unknown if he died as a result of the fall. Miss Dare suffered a nervous breakdown after that incident.

Leona died in 1923 at the age of 67.

LEONA DARE

2008-09-29T18:58:00.000-04:00

Portrait of Leona Dare

ADAH ISAACS MENKEN

2008-09-01T18:01:00.000-04:00

Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-68), an American actress, became famous by playing the part of Mazeppa in which she rode on stage on horseback. The costume she wore made her appear nude.

ADAH ISAACS MENKEN

2008-09-01T17:47:00.000-04:00

Adah Isaacs Menken in the part of William, the love-siick sailor-boy, in the play Black-Eyed Susan.

EDWARD S. STOKES

2008-07-26T11:50:00.000-04:00

Stokes shot and killed James Fiske over the affections of actress Josie Mansfield on Jan. 6, 1872.

James Fisk, Jr.

2008-07-26T11:48:00.000-04:00

Flamboyant U.S. financier, known as the "king" of Wall Street, shot and killed by his former partner over the affections of actress Josie Mansfield , on January 6, 1872.

Josephine (Josie) Mansfield - Fisk / Stokes Murder

2008-07-19T20:32:00.000-04:00

This was the actress involved in the famous 1872 shooting of James Fisk, Jr., "king" of Wall Street, by Edward S. Stokes, his former partner, and the "handsomest man in town."

Fisk accused Stokes of embezzlement. Stokes sued Fisk for libel. The publication of Fisk's love letters to Josie Mansfield was threatened. The shooting immediately followed a court decision granting Fisk an injunction restraining the publication of the letters.

Photographs of the day leave little to indicate her reputed beauty and the charm she was supposed to exersice over men.

Thanks to Boss Tweed's influence and New York politics, Stokes, received a four year sentence after three trials. Fisk died the morning after the shooting.

2008-07-18T17:58:00.000-04:00

Adelaide Neilson

Miss Neilson as Juliet, approximately 1872.

2008-07-18T17:50:00.000-04:00

Adelaide Neilson

This photograph is Miss Neilson as Juliet, approximately 1872.

2008-07-18T17:37:00.000-04:00

Adelaide Neilson

Photograph dates from about 1875. Miss Neilson was the most famous British Shakespearean actress from approximately 1865 until her death in 1880.

Saturday, July 12, 2008, First post

2008-07-12T17:30:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of my blog, and I am hoping to have a lot to contribute in future days. If anyone has an an interest in Victorian actresses or 3D photography please contact me.