Charles Melton Walcot

Background

Charles Melton Walcot was born in London, England about 1816.

Education

He received a public school education, and was then trained as an architect.

Career

He is said to have emigrated to Charleston, S. C. , probably in 1837, and to have become treasurer of the Charleston Theatre. Natural inclination and a singing voice carried him to the stage. The first record of Walcot in New York is at the Military Garden, June 28, 1842, when he played Wormwood in The Lottery Ticket and later other roles. The next season found him at Mitchell's famous Olympic, where he remained, with few interruptions, for the next seven years, and built up a substantial reputation both as an eccentric comedian and a dramatic actor. Those were busy days for any actor, especially in a stock company where the bills were changed sometimes almost every night and each bill numbered more than one play or skit. For the first two or three years Walcot was seldom off the program. He was the first to play Don Cesar de Bazan in America, at the Olympic, December 9, 1844. More interesting to a later age, no doubt, would be Walcot's own farces, or burlesques, in the composition of which he seems to have been adept. On January 1, 1844, at the Olympic, was produced The Imp of the Elements, or The Lake of the Dismal Swamp. Much more successful were his Don Giovanni in Gotham and its successor, The Don Not Done, or Giovanni from Texas, described as "an original musical, fantastical, local extravaganza. " On March 27 came his Old Friends and New Faces, in which Mrs. Walcot played four roles. On April 8 Mitchell had the temerity to produce The Marriage of Figaro, "with the overture and music selected chiefly from Mozart's operas. " Walcot sang Figaro, but how much of Mozart's music he selected to render we do not know. There are many evidences that he fancied himself as a vocalist. To finish that season, he had a brief try at summer management at Vauxhall Gardens. He appeared at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, October 29, 1847, as Sir Harcourt Courtly in Dion Boucicault's London Assurance, and at various times acted other roles in standard comedy, including those of Charles Surface and Bob Acres. Among the roles, other than burlesque, in which he was esteemed seem to have been those of Bert Lavater in Planche's drama of that name, and Redlaw in an adaptation of Dickens' The Haunted Man. In 1852 he was engaged by J. W. Wallack, and except for a brief excursion abroad and a briefer experiment in stage management in Baltimore (1853) he played chiefly at Wallack's until 1859. Criticisms found fault sometimes with his exaggerated methods and facial contortions. It was generally conceded that he was an "honest, upright and kind-hearted man. " Many of his burlesques were topical, and hence were a part of the mid-century movement, both in England and America, to free the stage of "classical" shackles and bring it closer to contemporary life. Though his plays are quite forgotten, Walcot evidently had no inconsiderable share in this movement. After leaving Wallack's, he acted less and less, chiefly because his voice was failing him, and he died at a son's home in Philadelphia in May 1868.

Achievements

• Ireland says he was "one of the very best light and eccentric comedians who ever trod our stage. "

Works

More photos

• book

  • Nothing to nurse; an original farce, in one act

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

  • One coat for two suits, an entirely original comic drama, in two acts

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

  • "A good fellow"; a petite comedy, in one act

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

Personality

Existing portraits show a sensitive face beneath an unusually high, bald, and domelike forehead, with side hair combed forward and slight side whiskers, almost the portrait of a pleasant clergyman rather than an actor.

Connections

He married about this time Miss Powell, an actress, and evidently went touring, for his son Charles Melton, was born in Boston in 1840.

Spouse:

Miss Powell

An actress