Jefferson De Angelis was an American actor. He was prominent during 19th-20th century and specialized in comedy and acrobatic clowning.
Background
Jefferson De Angelis was born on November 30, 1859 in San Francisco, California. He was the only son and eldest child of John and Susan (Loudenschlager) De Angelis. The boy was named Thomas Jefferson but the Thomas was soon dropped. He had a mixture of Anglo-Saxon, Irish, German, and Corsican blood in his veins. His father, at one time a pony-express rider, was well known as a member of the original San Francisco Minstrel Company.
The family moved East and Jefferson appeared on the stage with his sister Sarah, two years his junior, at the Odeon in Baltimore in May 1871, doing Irish comedy sketches. John De Angelis died after reaching California, leaving the son and daughter to carry on.
Career
In Indianapolis De Angelis went on by himself doing a German comedy act. The family trouped around the country and at St. Louis started for the coast with a wagon caravan, giving performances in small settlements and mining camps along the way. This trip took nearly two years and the hardships and meager returns made a lasting impression on the boy.
After playing for a time with Billy Emerson's minstrels Jefferson and his sister decided to go to Australia. A benefit was given them which netted six hundred dollars, and with one friend they sailed for Sydney on May 10, 1880. There, with other actors whom they were able to assemble, they put on their own play, One Word, but it lasted only three weeks. The three troupers then joined the Victoria Loftus Company and with it toured Australia, India, South Africa, China, and Japan. In Cape Town, in 1882, Sarah De Angelis was killed by the accidental distharge of a pistol.
In 1887, after a summer season of light opera in Philadelphia, De Angelis joined the McCaull Opera Company and was the first American to sing Sir Despard Murgatroyd in Ruddigore. For three years with McCaull he appeared in all the light operas of the period, then went to the Casino Theatre in New York, where he remained almost continuously from 1890 to 1895, playing similar parts.
He was with Della Fox in The Little Trooper and Fleur-de-Lis, with Lillian Russell in The Tzigane, and in 1897-98 he costarred with them in The Wedding Day. This engagement he always considered the high point of his career. At the head of his own company he presented The Jolly Musketeers, The Emerald Isle, and Fantana. In the last-named he sang "Tammany, " which was his greatest personal hit and was always associated with him. Subsequent appearances included parts in The Girl and the Governor, The Beauty Spot, The Passing Show of 1917, a revival of The Merry Widow, and many of the Gilbert and Sullivan works.
In 1927 he abandoned musical shows and played in Revelry and The Royal Family. His last part was in Apron Strings in 1927. De Angelis wrote The Jolly Tar, which was produced at Pittsburgh in 1910. With Alvin F. Harlow he wrote his autobiography, which was published in 1931 under the title A Vagabond Trouper. It is an interesting account of his life and deals largely with his early days and wanderings.
Achievements
Jefferson De Angelis was a prominent stage actor, best known for his appearance in numerous plays and short silent films.
De Angelis was unlike most theatrical people in that the days of hardship and adventure meant more to him than the days of success. In his time he appeared in more than one hundred operas, in minstrel shows, stock companies, vaudeville, drama, and even in the movies. He was a lively little man, a goodcomedian, an excellent dancer, with a comedian's singing voice. While he was never a great star he was always well liked and gave a capable performance. When his attempts at starring showed him to be more of a meteor than a constellation he went back to the trail of some other luminary and there glistened brightly.
Connections
De Angelis married Florence Conliffe in Bombay. She was a widow with two sons, whom he adopted. After his return he and his wife played in vaudeville acts and road shows.
His first wife died in 1926 and in 1931 he married Charlotte Elliott.
