Joseph Jefferson; Reminiscences of a Fellow Player
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This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Francis Wilson was born on February 2, 1854, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the nine children of Charles Edwin Wilson and Emily Von Erdon. His father was of a Quaker family, but enlisted and fought through the Civil War. He is said to have been of a "Micawber-like temperament, " and the family was not particularly prosperous.
Career
Francis was early drawn to the theatre. At the age of fourteen he formed a partnership with another boy, James Mackin, and for nine years the pair did a black-face song-and-dance act about the country.
In 1877 Wilson dissolved the partnership and became utility man at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, at a salary of fifteen dollars a week.
In 1880 he appeared in a musical comedy, Our Goblins, at Haverly's Brooklyn Theatre and afterward at Haverly's Lyceum, New York, known also as Haverly's Fourteenth Street Theatre. Later he took the play on tour, at a considerable loss. He also sang in Pinafore, but lacked the musical training to succeed in Sullivan's songs.
He next joined the McCaull Opera Company and appeared in The Queen's Lace Handkerchief, and thereafter in Strauss's Prince Methusalem; he then played Marsillac in Nanon, an opera by Genée, and Zsupan in The Gypsy Baron at the Casino. It was not till the production of Erminie at the Casino, May 10, 1886, that he rose to fame. In this operetta, based on the old play Robert Macaire, with music by Jacobowski, Wilson played Cadeaux, the rogue-hero's handy-man, but he made it the leading part. The play ran for 1, 256 performances, on Broadway and the road, and laid the base both for Wilson's reputation and his fortune.
He next appeared in The Oolah (Broadway Theatre, May 13, 1889), which was followed by The Merry Monarch, The Lion Tamer, The Chieftain, Half a King, The Little Corporal, and Cyrano (music by Victor Herbert). These musical comedies occupied him during the eighteen nineties, interrupted by a tour in the famous "all star" revival of The Rivals, in 1896, headed by Joseph Jefferson.
In 1900 he appeared in The Monks of Malabar, and in 1901, in The Strollers, but in 1904 he decided to give up musical comedy and satisfy his early ambition to be a "legitimate" actor. His first venture was an adaptation of a French play, made by Clyde Fitch and called Cousin Billy, followed after a few months, in April 1905, by a one-act play, The Little Father of the Wilderness, by Austin Strong and Lloyd Osbourne.
In 1906 his vehicle was The Mountain Climber, from the German Der Hochtourist. In 1907 - 1908 it was When Knights Were Bold, by Harriet Jay. This was followed by The Bachelor's Baby, which he wrote himself. It opened in Baltimore, Maryland, in April 1909 and in New York in December of the same year. It ran for three years and made a fortune for Wilson. Next came The Spiritualist, also written by himself - and it failed immediately.
From 1914 to 1920 he lectured frequently on Joseph Jefferson and Eugene Field.
In 1920 - 1921 he revived Erminie, with DeWolf Hopper as costar, and made a farewell tour of the country. He played Bob Acres, in The Rivals, however, for the Players' Club revival in June 1922, and for the Equity Players the next year.
In 1925 he acted the part of Rip van Winkle at the opening of the Repertoire Theatre in Boston and in 1930 revived The Little Father of the Wilderness for the Players. He died on October 7, 1935, in New York, of a heart attack.
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Membership
In 1913, Wilson was elected president of the newly formed Actors' Equity Association. He resigned as president in 1921.
Personality
Francis Wilson was a man of short stature, long-nosed, alert, and he had humorous face and bandy legs.
Interests
Francis Wilson was a passionate book-collector, especially of items connected with the Booth family.
Connections
In 1881 Francis Wilson married Mira Barrie of Chicago, by whom he had two daughters, Frances Barrie and Adelaide Craycroft. She died in 1915 and in January 1917 he married Edna Bruns, by whom he had two children, Craycroft Francis and Margalo Francis.