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Scandals and Respectability

Scandal in Toronto

John Nickinson and EJ Phillips first child, born in Toronto in April 1858, the week Nicklinson’s after oldest daughter Charlotte’s marriage was almost certainly the biggest scandal of their relationship.

EJ Phillips was engaged for Nickinson’s Utica, NY company and remained with the company until early 1858 when her disappearance from the bills may be accounted for by the birth of her first child. The following years of economic depression were very unsettled ones for Nickinson, who turns up in several places, including Toronto, where he tried to make a comeback as manager of the Royal Lyceum in 1860. Toronto Theatre historian Mary Shortt, in a January 1980 letter about her thesis on Toronto theatre notes that "I was unable to explain Nickinson's strange behavior in 1858, when he disappeared for an extended period from the Royal Lyceum. The loss of Charlotte, who married and left the stage in the spring of '58 was obviously a blow, but I was unaware of the great stress created by E. J.'s pregnancy (in strait- laced Toronto, where Nickinson had been considered a pillar of respectability!").

Mary Shortt wrote in Feb. 1979 "When I wrote my thesis, I had no idea of the strains John Nickinson was under in his personal life. His youngest daughter, Isabella, remained in Toronto until 1858, the year that Charlotte married and left the company. It seemed likely that with the theatre no longer yielding enough income to support the family, Mrs. Nickinson had returned to New York and had taken Isabella, then only eleven years old, with her. However in the light of your information about the separation document of 1855, it seems more probable that Isabella (who was very active and useful in the company, in spite of her tender years) had been looked after by Charlotte and went to New York at the time of Charlotte's Marriage.

1858 must have been a miserable year for John Nickinson, whose financial troubles were compounded by the loss of Charlotte, his touring companion and popular leading lady, and lively little Isabella. I can understand why he seemed to lose heart and left the management of the Royal Lyceum in the hands of his son-in-law and another actor for several months that summer. EJ Phillips must have been his chief source of comfort and consolation at this time."

John Nickinson was 22 years older than EJ Phillips. Their relationship obviously dated from about the time EJ Phillips joined his stage company in 1852, for his letter of October 3, 1859 refers to "our seven years of past love".

Divorces and Affairs John Nickinson and Divorce? Was he a bigamist?

John Nickinson and his first wife Mary Anne Talbot legally separated in March 1855 after 20 plus years of marriage and five children because "unhappy differences have arisen and do still subsist". He agreed to pay her an annuity of seventy-eight pounds yearly, or one pound and ten shillings weekly. They were already living apart by this time. John Nickinson agreed "that he will not at any time hereafter by any cause or any pretence whatever, sue or prosecute any person or persons for receiving, harbouring or protecting the said Mary Anne." Mary Anne agreed that she would not "molest or disturb the said John Nickinson or his children living with him, by her presence, or her act or deed in any way whatever nor continue to live in the same city, town, or part of the country in which he or they may be living..."

Whether John Nickinson and EJ Phillips actually married (and if so, when) is unclear. John Nickinson often refers to himself as EJ Phillips' husband in his letters. EJ Phillips occasionally calls herself Nickinson, though she uses Phillips much more often. (She started acting as “Miss Phillips” and became “Mrs. Phillips” after a printer’s error.) John Nickinson, Jr., son of his first marriage, wrote to the New York Clipper after his father's death that his parents had never been divorced.

A chapter on “Samuel N. Pike and Pike’s Opera House” from Recollections of a Scene painter, E.T. Harvey, Cincinnati Ohio 1914 [via Google Books]. “John Nickerson [sic] was stage manager at this time. He and Miss Phillips lived together as man and wife. There was a mystery about them, however, it was hinted that he had a wife and family living in Canada. [The first Mrs. Nickinson was then living in New York.] Nickerson had been an officer in the English army. He was found dead one evening in a little cigar [drug] store that he used to frequent. Heart disease was the cause it was said. Miss Phillips continued with the Pike company until the theatre burned down, and if there was any scandal it was forgotten.

EJ Phillips’ 1890 autobiography for AM Palmer says “. I have been a widow for 26 years”. The fullest obituary of EJ Phillips (New York Dramatic Mirror, August 20, 1904) makes no reference to John or son Albert Nickinson, but lists Hattie and the three grandchildren. The New York Clipper John Nickinson obituary mentions only Charlotte, Isabella and his two living children by EJ Phillips of his eight children.

Dolman cousin Susan Spencer, who lives in Toronto, researched Canadian marriage and divorce records, but fire seems to have destroyed public records from that time.. West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia has no gravestone for EJP but she's listed as Elizabeth J. Nickinson in cemetery records.

A number of divorces show up in the EJ Phillips letters and among her colleagues. These are only a few of them.

Dion Boucicault was an important playwright who often worked with manager AM Palmer. His first wife died in the Alps shortly after their marriage. Agnes Robertson, his second wife is not mentioned in these letters. His third wife Louise Thorndyke Boucicault is briefly mentioned.

Biographer Richard Fawkes tells how Boucicault left New York for San Francisco in April 1885 with his son Dot, daughter Nina and Louise Thorndyke, who was then 21. They traveled to New Zealand and Australia. Boucicault was 64. He and Louise were married in Sept. in Sydney and Boucicault claimed to be a widower on the marriage certificate, though his wife Agnes Robertson was alive in London. Boucicault had been claiming they were never legally married. Son and daughter promptly cabled their mother who took out an ad claiming he was a bigamist. The newlyweds were in no rush to return to America and when they did they appeared in his play The Jilt, which drew in crowds eager to see the couple.

Maud Harrison EJ Phlllips Sept 1859 letter to son Albert
You ask me to remind M[aud] H[arrison] about the set of dishes. I prefer buying them myself. I should feel better if she had not given Hattie hers [as a wedding present. Albert was engaged and married in Nov. 1889.] I believe she was to arrive in New York yesterday from Europe. And Mr. Carson left here on Saturday to meet her. The papers here are again full of the divorce proceedings. And the divorce it is said, will be granted in Novr. So I suppose, then, gifts to Maud will be in order.

Two newspapers articles refer to Maud Harrison and James A Carson, who seems to have been the proprietor of the Columbia Theatre Chicago. and General Manager of the Chicago & Western Indian Railroad and Belt Line Railway of Chicago. Born 1855. But Maud’s New York times 1907 obituary has no reference to any husband.

Marie Burroughs (1866-1926) was a member of the Madison Square Theatre Company. She married Louis Massen, who was also a member of the Madison Square (and Union Square) Theatre companies. When actress Marie Burroughs's divorce was announced in the papers, [Willa] Cather wrote in her column that Marie wanted to be free for her work and free from the obligation of matrimony. The fact that her husband had been her teacher and coach made her ungrateful, but then all actresses are ungrateful. "If they are actresses worthy of the name, they always have a premier amour to whom they return, their work." Willa Cather: A Literary Life, James Woodress 1987 http://cather.unl.edu/life.woodress.html

NY Times 1895 mentions that Louis Massen had been unfaithful and the couple had separated but Marie Burroughs had been assured [incorrectly] that a divorce in California could be procured in" utmost secrecy".

HOMOSEXUALITY
The biggest scandal EJ Phillips must have had some knowledge of was probably Oscar Wilde’s trials. This was reported in the New York Times, but I’m not sure how explicit coverage was. She had appeared in his Lady Windermere’s fan in 1894

The New York Times review of the London production of Lady Windermere's Fan [Feb. 28, 1892] has the subheading "The author makes an insolent speech from the stage. And assails the critics for their disapproval of his dramatic work". Calls it a "cynical society play”, “Oscar Wilde has made himself the talk of the busiest theatrical week for many months. The critics almost unanimously condemn the play. They say that the plot lacks novelty and that the principal scene is palpably cribbed from "The School for Scandal". The lines, however, are very clever and people in society will rush to see the play as they did on the first night, when the most brilliant audience that has gathered for years in the St. James Theatre gathered to witness the work. ... Mr. Wilde was adorned with one of his newly invented electric green boutonnière, as were also his followers”

Review of Lady Windermere's Fan. EJ Phillips played the Duchess of Berwick in Oscar Wilde's new and financially successful society play. Good sized audience. Frohman's Co. has the reputation of always casting a play well and having a company of uniform strength in all parts. An undoubted success in New York and Chicago but there is something about it which will prevent it from ever becoming popular. "Its moral tone is not very high and a great many who heard it are loath to believe that the English society is quite as bad as represented. The play glorifies the repentant woman and attempts to show that society forgives and forgets a woman's missteps...The play is like a familiar face. It reminds you of something you have seen or heard before. Sensitive folk are apt to think there are just a few too many "damnits" in the part of Mr. Hopper [Walter Dolman's role] On the whole the cast seems superior to the play"

Mrs. Thomas Whiffen wrote of Oscar Wilde in her autobiography Keeping off the Shelf "Oscar Wilde and his plays. The comedies were being done in America for the first time, and I'll never forget how the critics took this opportunity to condemn the playwright. When "The Woman of No Importance" was done by Rose Coghlan, one critic spoke of it as "one of Oscar Wilde's foul-minded plays,." I think it is one of the most moral plays ever written, but it just goes to show how a man's reputation can poison everything he touches, especially in the eyes of intolerant people.

Tom [Whiffen] and I knew Oscar Wilde and respected his talent and his keen wit. He was very fond of the violin and Tom used to play for him while he was in New York. I can see him now with his sorrowful eyes and long hair, slumped in a corner, nervously pulling his long fingers while Tom played Bach. Turning over my old letters, I find one from Mr. Wilde excusing himself for mixing up a date with my husband, regretting that he had made an engagement to speak in Philadelphia, and although he'd rather hear Tom play, he thought he'd better go, as they were paying him quite a sum to listen to him talk, and he supposed "they really expected him". He ended up by saying they didn't want to hear him, they only wanted to look at him, making him feel like a nice, fat Persian kitten at a cat show." Poor Oscar Wilde, how little we understood him in the Nineties! "The Ideal Husband' was taken off the boards in New York because of Mr. Wilde's reputation.

The Importance of Being Earnest had been produced in London in Feb 1895. NY Times Feb 27, 1895 reported that "No English play for many years has been the subject of so much competition among American managers as Oscar Wilde's latest farce... The manuscript of this play was sent to America before its production in London, but, after reading it, no manager developed any particular enthusiasm over it, and it began to look as though the American rights would go begging.... The trials shut down Wilde’s playwriting career, and his time in prison was wretched. After his release, Wilde, poor, ill, and alcoholic, lived a meandering life until he died in Paris in 1900. His misery has led many to assume that the trials guaranteed that his name, like his supposed crime, had become unspeakable. Actually, Wilde received constant attention in the newspapers even after his conviction. ... His [Wilde's] plays continued to be produced. Daniel Frohman’s Lyceum Theatre Company put on An Ideal Husband in New York, then toured with it to Chicago and Denver (“[Theater Notice]”). In London, His Majesty’s Theatre revived A Woman of No Importance in 1907 (“A Woman of No Importance at His Majesty’s”). Students at the University of Cincinnati’s Law School put on The Importance of Being Earnest during commencement week in 1908 (“Commencement Week, 1908”), and in London it appeared at the St. James’s Theatre in 1909, which revived Lady Windermere’s Fan in 1911 (“[Advertisement for The Importance of Being Earnest]”; “Lady Windermere’s Fan Revived at the St. James’s”). Salome was produced in France in 1896 as a gesture of support for Wilde, and by 1910, Strauss’s Salome, whose libretto came from Wilde’s play, appeared at Covent Garden (“[Review of Salome]); Salome spin-offs became a fad in early twentieth-century Britain (Dierkes-Thrun). The Vaudeville Theatre produced a poorly-reviewed stage version of The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1913 (“The Picture of Dorian Gray at The Vaudeville”). Elfenbein, Andrew. “On the Trials of Oscar Wilde: Myths and Realities.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. accessed 2018 Jan 29
http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=andrew-elfenbein-on-the-trials-of-oscar-wilde-myths-and-realities

Producer Daniel Frohman wrote "It is true that Oscar Wilde was proficient in all branches of literature; as a novelist, as an essayist, as a short story writer, as a poet and as a dramatist. ... few writers have excelled him in wit, satire and in epigrammatic speeches. First, before everything else, he was a dramatist. ... I was not fortunate enough to have known [Wilde] personally, although I produced several of his plays, the first of which was, "An Ideal Husband" at the old Lyceum, March 12th, 1895. [Wilde's first trial was in April 1895.] My brother Charles [Frohman] also produced Wilde's plays including, "Lady Windermere's Fan." This was Oscar Wilde's first great play ...It is my belief that Wilde would have been another Sheridan if he had not fallen on evil days." Daniel Frohman Presents, 1935.

The New York Times had a number of articles on the Wilde trials in 1895 and the New York Clipper had some.

Did EJ Phillips read any of them? She certainly kept his cigarette card and I can only imagine that she appreciated the cleverness of his plays and the beneficial effect Lady Windermere had on her own career. It has closed by the time of his trial, so it seems unlikely his own troubles influenced her employment prospects.

The Zavistowskis were somewhat less respectable than EJ Phillips.

Emeline married a man who had been in the Civil War, an Army man and a Marine. His early military record showed him a con-man and an abuser of authority. Emeline had previously been married by elopement (annulled later) to a young singer named William Carleton, warbler of Irish Ballads. Mother stopped that with warrant and revolver and had her then married off to the respectable (on the surface) Major J. C. Shailer to whom she bore one too many children and she died in middle age. … Alice and Emeline’s father went mad separated from her mother who then died and left poor Alice, who had all her family and even her husband, an ill heir to a shipping magnate, Marshall Webb, dead and gone. Out of the Inkbottle, Allister Hardiman 2009 http://outoftheinkbottle.blogspot.com/2009/05/alice-zavistowski.html

Melbourne, Australia got to see at first hand the footlight stylings of the Zavistowski Sisters when they made their debut on September 9th, 1872, at the Theatre Royale that Saturday evening. Ixion, their stock piece was their opening number. Critics praised their lightness, quick speech, and mercurial suitability to burlesque. Ixion was a Lydia Thompson piece, that British queen of the art who had taken America by storm with her "British Blondes." Offering the perfect vehicle for Alice and Emeline, coming out of juvenile ballet and popular song, Emeline, the blue-eyed, luscious lipped extrovert, sang her popular Californian number, "Moet and Shandon", a sequel to "Champagne Charlie" that insanely popular hit of 1868 by Alfred Lee and Alice, the doe eyed, more graceful younger sister sang "Love among the Roses." Christine was not actually a sister but rather the mother of the other two. They dyed their hair three different colors for easy identification; Silver for Emeline, Gold for Christine and Red for Alice according to the press who likened them to flowers, naming them, Camellia, Fuchsia and Pansy. Allister Hardiman Catching Zs. https://www.maryglenchitty.com/zavistowski.htm

EJ Phillips performed with Lydia Thompson in 1873 Dec in St. Louis.

Clara Morris, a Union Square Theater Company colleague was a morphine addict, had contentious relationships, and an extramarital affair A Spectacle of Suffering. . A SPECTACLE OF SUFFERING: CLARA MORRIS ON THE AMERICAN STAGE by Barbara Wallace Grossman

Theater and Sins Mary Shortt has noted the theatre was a favourite target for moral censure because of its accessibility and capacity to turn youthful, especially female, minds towards sins of the flesh.

In 1849 the Canada Christian Advocate pungently labelled it as: Satan's synagogue. It is the constant resort of the most corrupt portions of society the pickpocket the black leg the prostitute and profane are there. . . . It is known that the morals of thousands have been ruined both for time and eternity by attending these haunts of vice. 5 The Christian Guardian had in 1840 already passed its ringing judgment on actors: The stage is a nursery of candidates for perdition. Spendthrifts and prodigals, men and women who have lacerated their parents' hearts, have frequently jumped on to the stage, there to fill up their iniquities and perfect their baseness by teaching others to do the same. 24-26 Mary Shortt, "Victorian Temptations" (1988) 68 The Beaver 4 at 5. John McLaren, "Recalculating the Wages of Sin: the Social and Legal Construction of Prostitution, 1850-1920", Manitoba Law Journal, Volume 23, Numbers 1 & 2 (Manitoba, 1995), 1, pp. 524 – 555 https://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/lawdemo/webread/jm524.htm

LASCIVIOUSNESS

Olga Nethersole
Lewis Strang writes in Famous Actresses she made her American debut at Palmer's Theatre, New York, on October 15th [1894] and subsequently making a most successful tour of the country. She played besides "The Transgressor" Marguerite Gauthier in "Camille", Gilberte in "Frou-Frou" and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet." ... "The Transgressor" by AW Gattie, in which Miss Nethersole made her first appearance in this country, was a somewhat crude play of the "problem" order, and in it the actress's opportunities to show her emotional power were somewhat limited.... Miss Nethersole made her greatest success that first season in "Camille".' It was an intensely realistic impersonation, deeply emotional and ardently passionate, an impersonation that moved on by its great dramatic vigour rather than by subtilty of conception of finish in acting... Miss Nethersole's Juliet was not highly esteemed. While she had moments of genuine power, her acting as a whole was uneven, besides being hurt by undue force and intensity." I should be pleased to omit any reference to "Carmen" but the notoriety of the Nethersole kiss will hardly permit that. The adaption of the novel that Miss Nethersole used, made a filthy play in which lust and animal passion were shown with disgusting frankness. Even if one ignored the vileness, he found but a cheap melodrama, poorly constructed at that, and abounding in mock heroics, false platitudes, and cheap sentiment... Miss Nethersole's acting was a study in lasciviousness, marvelously vivid and marvelously true to life". Lewis Strang, Famous Actresses, 1899.

Olga Nethersole was arrested for "violating public decency" 1900 - a great marketing tool http://elections.harpweek.com/1900/cartoon-1900-Medium.asp?UniqueID=14&Year=

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RESPECTABILITY

475 4th Avenue New York Feby 7th 1886 I do not think a cheaper Flat can be found in the City although a smaller one would now do me and Hattie - but where to find one in a respectable locality is the difficulty. I have not had a talk with Mr. AMP[almer] about next season and cannot tell whether I shall be able to pay for this Flat or any other.

Philadelphia, June 27, 1892 Mr. Ramsay Morris was with us in our late visit to Chicago. Paid salaries and procured tickets for our return. I was introduced to him there. He is said to be an excellent business man…. The [Joseph] Co is to be first class in every respect, play in first class theaters &c, &c.

UNITED STATES HOTEL Hartford, Conn City Hall Square Ryan, Clark & Daniels, proprietors Hartford, Conn Novr 8th 1892 I do not like our play [Joseph] and do not like my part but the salary is good and I like it. The travelling is pretty severe on your young Mother [aged 62], but I hope I shall be able to stand it. I am with a very nice party of people, all respectable and well-behaved and I am happy with them.

The theater became more respectable in the latter half of the 19th century.

Theater crowds in the first half of the 19th century had gained a reputation as unruly, loud and uncouth. The improvements made to theaters in the last half of the 19th century encouraged middle- and upper class patrons to attend plays, and crowds became quieter, more genteel, and less prone to cause disruptions of the performance. … In the 18th century and early 19th century, the acting profession was considered sinful and actors were subject to social ostracism. However, by the mid-19th century actors could be considered quite socially respectable. "Prominent persons in society, politics, and literature went out of their way to entertain leading members of the acting profession, while lesser actors seemed to have no trouble fitting into middle-class America. The memoirs of theatrical people like Wood, Ludlow, Smith, or William Warren gave no suggestion of social ostracism. On the contrary, once established in their profession, they became solid and respected citizens. Of course, to some extend their background, to a greater degree their modest salaries, limited actors' social success. But if actors succeeded, lived decently, and, perhaps most important, made money, they were socially accepted." David Grimsted, Melodrama Unveiled: American Theater and Culture, 1800-1850, University of California Press, 1988 https://content.lib.washington.edu/19thcenturyactorsweb/essay.html

Badly Behaved 19^th Century Theaters

Certainly John Nickinson’s theatres were not always well behaved. Theatre critic and son-in-law Daniel Morrison was so outspoken in his opinions that John Nickinson canceled advertisements for his plays at one point.

Although Nickinson succeeded in attracting the upper class of Toronto Society to the theatre, the Royal Lyceum did not house the stars with the decorum of a modern theatre. Audiences in the Great Lakes theatres were not models of public behaviour. Actor and audience alike endured considerable noise and confusion during the progress of a performance. In an article entitled, "Our Manners--The Theatre," on 27 October 1855, Daniel Morrison reviewed the auditorium rather than the stage at the Royal Lyceum: Of course, we expect noise and tumult in the pit. Gentlemen who go there have half their amusement in their own bawling, and certainly the skill with which the fine art of whistling is perfected, is a guarantee of much patient practice. However, we do not begrudge the denizens of the pit their harmless amusements, and shrill as their cry may strike our tympanum, we recognize a time-honoured custom and bear the infliction accordingly. But we must confess that we have been taught to think that people who go to the boxes should show some propriety of deportment. To wear hats in the presence of unescorted ladies, is one of the acts of Vandalism which we thought might be ranked with the past. . .. But it is inconceivable how a person of the least propriety of manner would wrap himself in his plaid and sitting on the box front turn his stern to the stage. What ethics warrant a knot of men in taking the front row to the exclusion of the ladies behind them, and all wearing their hats to show their breeding--talking remarkably loud where they ought to be silent, and applauding in the wrong places?

The editor concluded his article with the suggestion the manager install more gas lights in the boxes to provide them with better lighting, and the box keeper endeavour to maintain better order and attend to the removal of all hats. Morrison's concern with social behaviour in the theatre reflected the general concern at that time regarding the influence of the theatre on the social manners of its patrons. ... Another consistent complaint labelled against Nickinson's theatre, decried the continual noise created by audience members in the lobby. In the [Toronto] Daily Leader of 7 October 1856, the editor noted that although Nickinson stationed policemen in the pit to maintain order, perhaps he ought also to obtain "the services of a constable in the boxes." The review suggested that patrons partook of intoxicating beverages before and during the performances, and the editor commented that those who could not maintain the requisite of good breeding while in their cups, ought not to indulge. O'Neill, PB Anthony, A History of Theatrical Activity in Toronto, Canada, from its beginning to 1858, Louisiana State University dissertation, 1973

Nickinson’s experiences in New York’ Olympic Theatre in the 1840’s seems similar ““While the fashionable members of New York society were making the Olympic dress circle and boxes a place in which to be seen, the opposite end of the socioeconomic spectrum was busily making the pit their particular province. ..Mitchell's pit became the favorite haunt for the newsboys, butcher boys and apprentices known collectively to that day and age as the "b'hoys".... The better class of people went to the Park and the rude mechanicals, and "riff-raff" attended the Bowery. But everyone went to the Olympic."...John Nickinson joined the Olympic in the fall of 1841 "and rapidly became a favorite". Rinear, David, The Temple of Momus: Mitchell's Olympic Theater, Scarecrow Press, 1987

In the mid-Victorian period, a remarkable shift occurred in the professionalization of the theatre, the respectability of performance, and the depiction of actresses. My interdisciplinary analysis of the representation of both historic and fictional actresses uncovers the intricate connections linking the personae of actresses and the ideology of Victorian femininity. In addition to some better-known sources, such as George Eliot's Daniel Deronda and Charlotte Bronte's Villette, I examine less studied works to assess the variety of ways in which the mid-Victorian actresses came to be received as respectable. By analyzing plays like Dion Boucicault's Grimaldi; or, The Life of an Actress and T. W. Robertson's Vie, novels like Harriett Jay's Through the Stage Doorand Geraldine Jewsbury's The Half Sisters, and prose like Dinah Mulock Craik's A Woman's Thoughts about Women and Madge Kendal's Dramatic Opinions, this project studies a broad spectrum of representations of angels in the theatre. In addition to fictional and dramatic representations, my work examines the representations of historic actresses to illustrate how the cult of celebrity actually enabled these women to achieve social mobility. Through performances, both actual and textual, actresses began to be defined and to redefine themselves by middle-class standards of femininity. The growing number of representations of actresses as angels reveal new tensions in Victorian class and gender roles. In this project, I argue that by constantly negotiating the boundaries between the actresses' public careers and their private respectability, these depictions of angelic stars offer unique insight into Victorian culture. The repeated representation of respectable actresses exposes the anxiety inherent in Victorian definitions of class, gender, and propriety. Andrea Werner Angels in the theatre: Mid-Victorian actresses and the representation of respectability, Tulane University dissertation 2003 https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A27401

FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES
Mrs. Benedict DeBar (1828-1894) born Henrietta Vallee in Philadelphia, retired from the stage in New Orleans in 1857. History of the American Stage EJ Phillips attended Mrs. DeBar’s funeral of in Philadelphia in Aug. 1894. The DeBars had married in 1843. Mrs. DeBar died in the Forrest Home in Philadelphia.

A Jan 27, 1878 New York Times article "Ben DeBar's estate" reports a suit filed by Mrs. DeBar claiming a forged power of attorney had deprived her of DeBar's considerable estate, largely in real estate. "Mrs. DeBar is living very humbly, her only income being $15.00 as a subordinate actress at the Opera house. She is about 40 [actually 50] years of age. Jolly Old Ben and his wife never got along very well, and his friends scout the idea that he could have been a party to the forgery of his wife's name. There will be a big fight in the courts.

The case seems to have been settled in 1884 by the Supreme Court of Missouri
http://books.google.com/books?id=T9MaAAAAYAAJ&dq=ben+debar&source=gbs_navlinks_s

SYPHILIS & AFFAIRS
Maurice Barrymore (1847-1905) joined AM Palmers in 1888, playing Wilding in Captain Swift (1889) and Captain Davenport in Alabama (1891). "In his last active years, his erratic behavior, stemming from the paresis [syphilis] that ultimately killed him, caused producers to shun him, so he turned to vaudeville." [Oxford]

According to a 2004 A & E Biography piece, after the Ben Porter tragedy, Barrymore asked [his wife] Georgiana to tour with him and Helena Modjeska in a play he had written. Georgiana and the children had converted to Roman Catholicism under Helena's influence. Learning that he and Helena had resumed their romance, Georgiana, who had been given ownership of the play by Barrymore, forced his hand by closing it. Helena's husband, its producer, sued her. The real reason for Georgiana's actions never got into the press. However, Barrymore's many dalliances did make the newspapers …. In reporting his death on 25 March 1905, The New York Times recalled that "He was playing a vaudeville engagement [in 1901] at a Harlem theatre when he suddenly dropped his lines and began to rave". The following day he became violent and was taken to Bellevue insane ward by his son, John, who lured him under the pretense of starring in a new play. At Bellevue and later Amityville he was diagnosed with the lingering effects of syphilis, an incurable disease in his day. During his stay at Bellevue he almost strangled his daughter Ethel when she paid a visit to him. Ethel, through her early success on the stage, would pay for her father's stay in the institutions. A trained boxer, Barrymore's strength remained, as in a scuffle with one of the Bellevue attendants, he picked the man up over his head and threw him into a corner. Wikipedia accessed 2019 Feb 17 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Barrymore

EJ Phillips appeared in 1873 Sept in St. Louis with John McCullough [and in Toronto] Along with Edwin Forrest and Edwin Booth, he was one of 19th century America's greatest and most celebrated Shakespearean tragic actors. Tall and classically handsome, with a stentorian Shakespearean voice, he excelled as Shakespeare's Othello, King Lear, Coriolanus and Antony, and Richard III. His most celebrated role was of Sheridan Knowles Virginius. Find a grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6212308 Became insane and died of paresis [syphilis].

Lola Montez1857 Toronto Royal Lyceum Theatre
On Saturday she [Lola Montez] appeared as “Lady Teazle” in the “School for Scandal.” Our limits forbid us to say more than that she was received with great applause, and that she threw much archness and vivacity into the character. The acting of Capt. Nickinson as Sir Peter is too well known to need comment for we consider it one of his happiest impersonations. ... After the curtain descended, Lola was summoned back to receive the most flattering and hearty applause. She was led in by Capt. Nickinson. ... Having established my identity, I would thank you for the kind manner in which you have received me during my stay here. (Applause.) To the Manager -- Mr. Nickinson -- I would especially express my indebtedness for the great attention shown by him to make my stay here as pleasant as possible. (Applause.) The theatrical company also deserves my thanks for their consideration and desire to make me comfortable while among them. I am an old stager now, having been on the stage since 1842, and therefore can speak from experience, when I say that Mr. Nickinson’s company -- although most of the members are young -- embraces ladies and gentlemen of promising talent. (Applause.) Again, I would thank the audience for their kind reception of me. To the Toronto press, I have only to say a few words; but it is not to thank its members -- except one person. Let me say to the press of Toronto a word of advice. The stage may be made an instrument of much good, and it is the province of the press to watch over it and encourage it. And I hope that the press will take down my words and act upon them! An intense silence that ensued when Lola commenced to speak of the press, was broken by a burst of applause, as, in conclusion she bowed, and, extending her hand to Capt. Nickinson, retired, frequently acknowledging the applause vouchsafed to her. The Leader, Toronto 27 July 1857, page 2, cols 2-3 Chronological Documentation for 1857, Bruce Seymour, Harvard Theatre Collection

Lola Montez (1821-1861) Known for being the mistress of Ludwig of Bavaria, her Tarantula or "spider dance" and the origin of the phrase "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets".

Lola Montez, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_Montez

Seymour, Bruce, Lola Montez: A Life, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1996 mentions Lola's School for Scandal appearance in Toronto, but "no record survives except a copy of a program billed as her last night. From there she went to Hamilton, Ontario to begin her career as a lecturer, speaking in Hamilton on "Beautiful Women." Lola Montez had performed Lady Teazle in New Orleans, San Francisco (where a review called her acting "entirely original and the rendering piquant and effective" but noted that she "was rather free with Sheridan's text". She died in January 1861, a parishioner of Calvary Church in New York, which EJ Phillips attended some years later.

SUICIDES
At least three members of Palmer's company committed suicide in the 1890s Frederick A Lovecraft in 1893, May Brookyn in San Francisco in 1894 and Will Palmer in St. Louis in 1895.

New York Times Sept 11 1895 Will Palmer Commits Suicide The Brother of AM Palmer kills himself in St. Louis after a long carouse St. Louis, Mo. "William R Palmer, traveling manager of AM Palmer's "Trilby" company committed suicide early this morning in his room at the Southern Hotel by shooting himself through the head ... He was about forty-five years old, a very brainy man, but troubled with an inclination to dissipate."

SUICIDE OF W. R. PALMER HE KILLS HIMSELF IN A ST. LOUIS HOTEL. A BROTHER Of THE WELL-KNOWN NEW YORK MANAGER-SHOT HIMSELF WHILE A DETECTIVE SLEPT IN THE NEXT ROOM. St. Louis, Sept. 10. William R. Palmer, travelling manager of Palmer & Jarrett's "Trilby" Company, committed suicide early this morning In his room in the Southern Hotel by shooting himself through the head. Mr. Palmer arrived in St. Louis a week ago last Monday, and, it is said, began to drink heavily Immediately after his arrival. On Friday last he suddenly disappeared from the hotel, on Saturday Mr. Short, of the Olympic Theatre telegraphed to A. M, Palmer, In New-York. Messrs. Palmer and Jarrett immediately started for St. Louis, arriving here yesterday. They found the missing man at the St. Nicholas Hotel In an Intoxicated condition. He. was taken back to the Southern and put to bed. Detective Allen remained with him until 3:30 o'clock this morning, and then went to an adjoining room. At 7 o'clock Allender arose, and, on trying the door of Palmer's room, found It locked on the inside. A carpenter was summoned, and the door removed from the hinges. Lying on the bed, clothed only in an undershirt, was found the still warm body. A revolver lying by Palmer's side and a bullet hole behind his right ear showed how he had met his death. William R. Palmer was the brother of A. M. Palmer, the prominent theatrical manager, and was about forty-two years old. He was associated with his brother from the beginning of the latter's theatrical career He began as treasurer at the Union Square Theatre when A. M. Palmer took charge of It, and he held the same place at one time at the Madison Square Theatre. For the most part, however, he acted as business manager of his brother's numerous attractions, and he directed the tours of many of the travelling companies. He managed the Madison Square Theatre while his brother was. In Europe a few years ago, and was business manager of this house for some time, holding the same place afterward at Palmer's Theatre.

It appears that A. M. Palmer heard some time last week that his brother had been drinking heavily and telegraphed to him about it, receiving what was supposed at the time to be a satisfactory reply and an assurance that everything would be right. But on Saturday he suddenly started for St. Louis, either in response to a bill from there, as Indicated by the foregoing dispatch, or because of a sudden determination to be on the ground and to keep affairs right if there should any necessity. He took .Mr. Jarrett with him. with the intention, as it was supposed, of leaving him in charge of the company and bringing his brother back and putting him in some place nearer home, where he could have a constant eye on him. This Is the third time within two years that a person connected with A. M. Palmer has committed suicide. The former business manager of Palmer's Theatre, Frederick A. Lovecraft. was the first who killed himself, and a few months Iater Miss May Brookyn, who was at the time leading woman of Mr. Palmer's company, committed suicide In San Francisco. Both she and W. R, Palmer were particular friends of Lovecraft. Mr. Palmer leaves two sons. The body was brought East and the funeral will take place in Stonington, Conn., where be was born. The burial will also be there, In the Palmer family vault. New York Tribune , September 11, 1895 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1895-09-11/ed-1/seq-1/

The San Francisco Examiner 1894 Feb 21 Page 12 AS TOLD TO THE CORONER: Holding the Formal Inquest on May Brookyn's Body. THE LAST WORDS OF SORROW. Madeleine Bouton Tells of Her Friend's Despondency and Threats of Self-Destruction. - She was Completely Overcome by Her Loneliness,-The Carbolic Acid Bottle Had been Emptied Before, Of all the throngs who have wept or smiled with and at May Brookyn In her stage interpretations, of all those who have stood before her pictures displayed In prominent places since her death, of the thousands who have read with eager Interest every scrap of information about her lust life tragedy In which she assumed the leading role, not one appeared at the Coroner’s inquest yesterday morning to listen to the cold and formal Inquiry as to how and why she died. An actor, stage manager, the manager the company In which she was leading lady, and a lawyer who looks after the interests of many theatrical people were all those identified in any way with the stage who dripped in and out of the bleak morning to tell and to bear.

The Coroner and his clerk droned through a sleepy Inquiry, and a quick-fingered stenographer took it all down, the members of the Palmer company having agreed to pay for full copy of the evidence offered.

DIDN’T BELIEVE HER THREATS.
Wilton Lackaye was there looking quite as handsome and almost as depressed as he does as "Jim the Penman." Manager Presbrey was ready to identify the body which the Jury had viewed on Saturday, and which is now on its way to an eastern cemetery. Stage Manager Millward bad been summoned, but. was not called upon to testify.

Proprietor Gallagher of the Langham, the bell-boy who discovered the body and Dr. O’Connell were the other witnesses. Miss Madeleine Bouton, the close friend of the dead actress and the Buttons of the strange will, was not able to attend at the inquest but her deposition had been taken by the Coroner, and this was read to the Jury. Mrs. Bouton said: "I was with Miss Brookyn on Thursday morning.

She was in a very excitable state, but I had no Idea she was going to commit suicide. She threatened suicide, but I did not believe her. Sho said she was tired of life because she was alone in the world. I saw her again in the afternoon. She was In the same excitable condition of mind, though she did not repeat that she intended to destroy herself.

Sne left my room at 3:15 promising me faithfully that she would lie down and sleep. I went to sleep and was called at 6 o'clock. Then went to my bath.

STUMBLED OVER THE BODY. "While I was in the bath the landlord called me and said that Miss Brookyn was in a fit and lying on the floor. Ho asked me to hurry downstairs. 1 did so as rapidly as possible. When I entered her room it was utterly dark. I stumbled over her body, which was about two and a half feet from the door.

I went out, got a taper and lit. the gas. When I bent over her I thought she had a fit her body was warm, and I put my ear down to hear her heartbeat. It was not beating. Mr. Gallagher, the landlord. said he thought she was dead, but I did not believe it, until the doctor confirmed his idea. I tried to pour whisky down her throat I did not discover the carbolic acid until after the doctor came." "Do you know whether anybody could have gone Into her room and given her carbolic acid during. The afternoon after she left you?" asked the Coroner. "I know nothing from 3:15 P. m. to 6:25 p.m. because I was sound asleep. When she left my room she said: 'I am utterly alone in the world, you are the only woman who has been kind to me thoroughly. You are nearer and dearer than any woman to me. Promise me that you will always be my friend.

I can rely on you lor secrecy, 1 am going downstairs to bed. Call me at 6 o'clock. We will dine together at 6:30. About three weeks before she had spoken to me in the same way. I had known her since last October and been with her constantly for the last two months. She would have been thirty-four years old at her next birthday, and her real name was Mrs. Walter Bentley. The only writing I noticed in the room was that on a picture addressed to me, an envelope addressed to John Brill, and another envelope on which she had written, 'Give my clothes to Madeline Bouton "Buttons" May This was stuck on her sealskin with a hat-pin, and the sealskin was over a pile of clothes.

THE BOTTLE OF ACID. "She told me she had been in better health during the last two months than at any time since she went on the stage. Four weeks ago she showed me a carbolic acid bottle the same bottle found in her room after her death. It was then empty. She said she used the acid as a gargle for her throat, and that she was going out to get the bottle tilled. I don't know what drugstore she was going to, nor do I know bow she got the bottle refilled without having a new label put on it" Do you know of anyone who would have been interested in her death who would have been apt to force her to take this acid?" No; no one. She did not show me any letter or telegram received on the day of her death, nor do I know of any occurrence which specially irritated her on that Did you know of her being a spiritualist?" “I did." Was she in the habit of consulting mediums" Not since I have been Intimate with her. She told me she bad consulted mediums In New Yoric, but not in San Francisco.

She went' with me to see Mrs. Sandy Bowers, a fortune-teller, but not to any spiritualist. I think I have told everything I know about her death." Wilton Lackaye said that be knew Miss Brookyn had committed suicide, because on the day after her death he had received a note from her through the mails saying simply, "Good-by," and signed "May." Albert Hoper the bell-boy at the Hotel Langham, told how he found the body of Miss Brookyn lying on the floor near the door of her room when he went to call her at 6 o'clock, according to the order she had given in the morning.

THE CURTAIN FALLS.
Landlord Gallagher said that Miss Brookyn and Miss Bouton had been out little late the night before the suicide and left word that they did not wish to be disturbed, so no ono visited them in the afternoon, though one person left a card, Dr. O'Connell, who mode the autopsy on the body, briefly testified that death re suited from carbolic acid poisoning, Thero was nothing else.

The cold law was read to the cold jury, and the few people present retired to talk In whispers during the deliberations. The Jury soon returned a formal verdict finding that Miss Brookyn was thirty three years old, an actress and married and that she came to her death from carbolic acid poisoning, and that the acid was administered by her own hand with suicidal intent.

Suicide? Recalled from retirement March 15th 1898 Dr. Nagle's statistics on suicides

Last revised March 25, 2024

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