Edith Taliaferro
Encyclopedia
Edith Taliaferro was a popular Broadway
actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was active on the stage until 1935 and she had roles in three silent films. She is best known for her 1913 performance in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
. The younger sister of Mabel Taliaferro
, she was from Richmond, Virginia
.
once said of Taliaferro that "she was the greatest child actress." She made her acting debut at the age of two in Shore Acres with James A. Herne. It was rumored that she obtained the part because her sister Mabel was too big to depict the character. Her New York City
debut came in 1896 at Miner's Theatre on Fifth Avenue
, in the same play. The Harlem
Opera House presented Shore Acres in October 1897. The play was beginning a sixth consecutive year with leading man
Herne portraying Nathaniel Berry.
At the age of ten, in 1904, Taliaferro was paid $100 per week by George Tyler of Liebler & Company. She signed a contract for the following season to appear with Ezra Kendall. She was the youngest Shakesperean actress on the stage. She portrayed Puck
in a Ben Greet
production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
before an audience at Princeton University
in May 1904. She was lauded by professors there and they sent her a Princeton flag and pin.
By then she had performed in six to eight juvenile roles after her professional debut. When she returned to New York, Taliaferro appeared with Clara Bloodgood
in The Girl With The Green Eyes. Early in her career she toured with such stars as Olga Nethersole
and E.H. Sothern.
Taliaferro played a youthful ciecus rider in Polly of the Circus 1907. The setting is a small midwestern town. Like her mother before her, the character depicted by Taliaferro knows no other life than as an entertainer beneath the round top. The play, written by Frederic Thompson, was performed for more than a year at the Liberty Theater, 242 West 42nd Street
. The production moved to the Wieting Theater in Syracuse, New York
in November 1908.
. It was staged at the Republic Theater (New Victory Theatre
), 209 West 42nd Street
. Her other successful theatrical performances include roles in Young Wisdom, Tipping The Winner, A Breath of Old Virginia, Mother Carey's Chickens, The Bestsellers, Please Get Married, Kissing Time
(1920), A Love Scandal, The Evangelist, Tarnished and Private Lives
. She performed in London, England and in Australia
with the Toronto
Theatre Guild. In vaudeville
she appeared at the Palace Theater, New York, 1564 Broadway. Most of her later work was with summer theaters and on radio.
in 1915. Taliaferro starred as Esther Field in Who's Your Brother? (1919). The genre is drama, with much suspense, surrounding a theme about immigration. It is also a love story. The film was adapted from the writing of Robert Bronson Stockbridge. Her other movie role was The Conquest of Canaan (1916). Taken from a Booth Tarkington
novel, the film was shot
on location in Asheville, North Carolina
.
in 1958, aged 63. She was married to House B. Jameson, also an actor.
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was active on the stage until 1935 and she had roles in three silent films. She is best known for her 1913 performance in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her two stern aunts in the village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy for life inspires her aunts, but she faces many trials in her young life, gaining...
. The younger sister of Mabel Taliaferro
Mabel Taliaferro
Mabel "Nell" Taliaferro was an American stage, and a silent screen actress, known as the Sweetheart of American Movies...
, she was from Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
.
Child actress
Henry Arthur JonesHenry Arthur Jones
Henry Arthur Jones was an English dramatist.-Biography:Jones was born at Granborough, Buckinghamshire to Silvanus Jones, a farmer. He began to earn his living early, his spare time being given to literary pursuits...
once said of Taliaferro that "she was the greatest child actress." She made her acting debut at the age of two in Shore Acres with James A. Herne. It was rumored that she obtained the part because her sister Mabel was too big to depict the character. Her New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
debut came in 1896 at Miner's Theatre on Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the center of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The section of Fifth Avenue that crosses Midtown Manhattan, especially that between 49th Street and 60th Street, is lined with prestigious shops and is consistently ranked among...
, in the same play. The Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
Opera House presented Shore Acres in October 1897. The play was beginning a sixth consecutive year with leading man
Leading man
Leading man or leading gentleman is an informal term for the actor who plays a love interest to the leading actress in a film or play. A leading man is usually an all rounder; capable of singing, dancing, and acting at a professional level, but never outshining his female co-star...
Herne portraying Nathaniel Berry.
At the age of ten, in 1904, Taliaferro was paid $100 per week by George Tyler of Liebler & Company. She signed a contract for the following season to appear with Ezra Kendall. She was the youngest Shakesperean actress on the stage. She portrayed Puck
Puck (Shakespeare)
Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever and mischievous elf and personifies the trickster or the wise knave...
in a Ben Greet
Ben Greet
Sir Philip Barling "Ben" Greet was a Shakespearean actor, director, and impresario.-Early life:The younger son of Captain William Greet RN and his wife, Sarah Barling, Greet was born on board HMS Crocodile, a Royal Navy recruiting ship tied up at the Tower of London. He was educated at the Royal...
production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
before an audience at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in May 1904. She was lauded by professors there and they sent her a Princeton flag and pin.
By then she had performed in six to eight juvenile roles after her professional debut. When she returned to New York, Taliaferro appeared with Clara Bloodgood
Clara Bloodgood
Clara Bloodgood Clara Bloodgood Clara Bloodgood (August 23, 1870 - December 5, 1907 was an American socialite who became a successful Broadway stage actress.-Early Life:Clara Stephens was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, the daughter of Edward and Annie (née Sutton) Stephens. Her father, a...
in The Girl With The Green Eyes. Early in her career she toured with such stars as Olga Nethersole
Olga Nethersole
Olga Isabella Nethersole, CBE, RRC was an English actress, theatre producer, and wartime nurse/health educator.-Biography:...
and E.H. Sothern.
Taliaferro played a youthful ciecus rider in Polly of the Circus 1907. The setting is a small midwestern town. Like her mother before her, the character depicted by Taliaferro knows no other life than as an entertainer beneath the round top. The play, written by Frederic Thompson, was performed for more than a year at the Liberty Theater, 242 West 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
. The production moved to the Wieting Theater in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
in November 1908.
Mature roles
She is most noted for her 1913 performance in Rebecca of Sunnybrook FarmRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her two stern aunts in the village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy for life inspires her aunts, but she faces many trials in her young life, gaining...
. It was staged at the Republic Theater (New Victory Theatre
New Victory Theatre
The New Victory Theater is an Off-Broadway theater located at 209 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, in Midtown Manhattan. The New Victory is New York's first and only theater for children and family audiences...
), 209 West 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
. Her other successful theatrical performances include roles in Young Wisdom, Tipping The Winner, A Breath of Old Virginia, Mother Carey's Chickens, The Bestsellers, Please Get Married, Kissing Time
Kissing Time
thumb|right|[[Leslie Henson]] and [[Phyllis Dare]] Kissing Time, an earlier version of which was titled The Girl Behind the Gun, is a musical comedy with music by Ivan Caryll, book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, and additional lyrics by Clifford Grey...
(1920), A Love Scandal, The Evangelist, Tarnished and Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
. She performed in London, England and in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with the Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
Theatre Guild. In vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
she appeared at the Palace Theater, New York, 1564 Broadway. Most of her later work was with summer theaters and on radio.
Film actress
She made motion pictures for a short time beginning with Young RomanceYoung Romance (1915 film)
Young Romance is a 1915 silent film romance produced by Jesse Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on a play, Young Romance, by William C. deMille and was directed by George Melford. Edith Taliaferro, who made only three films in her career, stars in the film and it's the only one...
in 1915. Taliaferro starred as Esther Field in Who's Your Brother? (1919). The genre is drama, with much suspense, surrounding a theme about immigration. It is also a love story. The film was adapted from the writing of Robert Bronson Stockbridge. Her other movie role was The Conquest of Canaan (1916). Taken from a Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
novel, the film was shot
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
on location in Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
.
Death
Edith Taliaferro died after a long illness in Newtown, ConnecticutNewtown, Connecticut
Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 27,560 at the 2010 census. Newtown was founded in 1705 and incorporated in 1711.-Government:...
in 1958, aged 63. She was married to House B. Jameson, also an actor.
Filmography
- Who's Your Brother? (1919)
- The Conquest of Canaan (1916)
- Young RomanceYoung Romance (1915 film)Young Romance is a 1915 silent film romance produced by Jesse Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on a play, Young Romance, by William C. deMille and was directed by George Melford. Edith Taliaferro, who made only three films in her career, stars in the film and it's the only one...
(1915)(*beautifully preserved; and on DVD)
Stageplays
- The Hook-up [Comedy]
- A Love Scandal [Play]
- Fashions of 1924 [Musical]
- Kissing TimeKissing Timethumb|right|[[Leslie Henson]] and [[Phyllis Dare]] Kissing Time, an earlier version of which was titled The Girl Behind the Gun, is a musical comedy with music by Ivan Caryll, book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, and additional lyrics by Clifford Grey...
[Musical, Comedy] - Please Get Married [Play]
- Muggins [Play]
- Mother Carey's Chickens [Play]
- Captain Kidd, Jr. [Play]
- Tipping the Winner [Play]
- Young Wisdom [Comedy]
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm [Comedy]
- The Evangelist [Play]
- Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch [Comedy]
- The Girl with the Green Eyes [Drama]
- The Bonnie Brier Bush [Drama]
- The Sunken Bell [Drama]