The Stage Reminiscences of Mrs. Gilbert (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from The Stage Reminiscences of Mrs. Gilbert
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Excerpt from The Stage Reminiscences of Mrs. Gilbert
flushed cheeks, the merry little laugh, that have emphasized and punctuated every good story that has come up during our hours together.
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The Stage Reminiscences of Mrs. Gilbert. Edited by Charlotte M. Martin
(Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)
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Gilbert Anne Hartley was a character actress, dancer. Of the many parts which Mrs. Gilbert acted, the Baroness de Cambrai in Frou-frou, Hester Dethridge in Man and Wife, Curtis in The Taming of the Shrew, and the duenna in Cyrano de Bergerac were among her most unusual successes.
Background
Ann Gilbert was born on October 21, 1821, in Rochdale, Lancashire, England. She was the daughter of a printer, Samuel Hartley, and his wife, formerly a Miss Colborn.
As a small child, she accompanied her family to London.
Education
When Ann was about twelve years old, she obtained the reluctant consent of her parents to enter the ballet school of Her Majesty’s Theatre in the Haymarket, where she paid for her training by playing super in mob scenes.
Career
Ann's first public appearances as a dancer were at Her Majesty’s and Drury Lane. By dint of hard work, she moved up the ranks of the ballet to the “second four” and the “first four, ” but did not become a solo performer until after her marriage, in 1846, to George H. Gilbert, a dancer-manager.
Together they traveled through England and Ireland on barnstorming tours, and within three years had saved enough to retire into private life as emigrant farmers.
After five weeks on a sailing vessel, they reached Staten Island on October 21, 1849, proceeded to Wisconsin, part of the way in a prairie wagon, and settled on the edge of the wilderness. Their agricultural venture was unsuccessful.
By 1850, they were back on the stage in the frontier town of Milwaukee. The following year, they went to Chicago, and later to Cleveland, Louisville, and Cincinnati.
While they were in Chicago Gilbert fell through a stage trap, and was so badly injured that although he was later able to work as prompter and stage manager, he was obliged to give up dancing altogether.
Mrs. Gilbert had already begun to supplement dancing with minor acting parts, and as it became apparent that she was well qualified as a character actor, she was given the opportunity to develop her gift.
Most of her western experience was with Lewis Baker and John Ellsler, for whom she specialized in elderly parts. She was given several offers in eastern theatres but refused them all until 1864, when she became “first old woman” in Mrs. John Wood’s Olympic.
She made her New York début on September 19 of that year, as Baroness Frietenhorsen in Finesse.
After Mrs. Wood’s retirement, Mrs. Gilbert joined George Wood’s Company, leaving it in 1867 to join Barney Williams, under whose management she appeared as the Marquise St. Main in the first American production of Caste.
After Daly’s death in 1899, Ann acted under Frohman’s management in support of Annie Russell, then starred for a time in Granny, a play written for her by Clyde Fitch. She died suddenly after the company was moved to Chicago.
Achievements
For thirty years, from 1869 to 1899, Mrs. Gilbert acted in Augustin Daly’s company, excepting only a short interlude when she played at Palmer’s Union Square Theatre.
For most of these years, James Lewis, who had also been in Mrs. Wood’s Company, played opposite her in comedy parts. They, with John Drew and Ada Rehan, were known as the “Big Four, ” and during their long years together developed an unrivaled ensemble technique.
Most of the time they played in Daly’s theatres in New York but made several tours of England, France, Germany, and the American provinces. Of the many parts which Mrs. Gilbert acted with this group, the Baroness de Cambrai in Frou-frou, Hester Dethridge in Man and Wife, Curtis in The Taming of the Shrew, and the duenna in Cyrano de Bergerac were among her most unusual successes.
During her long career, she had played with some of the most famous actors of her time; with Edwin Forrest as the queen in Hamlet, with Edwin Booth as Lady Macbeth, and with the younger Wallack as both Goneril and Regan.
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Views
Quotations:
“I believe that an actor who is not willing to try everything, and able to do most of it, is not worth his salt. ”
Personality
Ann's attitude toward her work insured her success. No part was too difficult or too insignificant for her to accept, and upon every role, she concentrated all her energies.
Although she was competent in tragic parts, it was to comedy that her angular body and homely face were best adapted.
Because of her acute sense of time and her facial and bodily discipline, she acquired rare technical excellence, and to the end of her life, she retained a vitality and originality which marked her work as definitely distinguished.
Connections
In 1846, Ann married George H. Gilbert, a dancer-manager.