Lizzie Evans
Encyclopedia
Lizzie Evans was an entertainer in vaudeville
and musical theatre
in New York City
and Chicago, Illinois from the 1880s into the 20th century. A New York Times article described her as a bright little person of the Lotta Crabtree
physique and school, but with less naturalness and more nasal twang.
After severing her connection with Mr Callahan, Miss Evans retired from the stage for two years. Afterwards she returned to play the part of Madge in "Old Kentucky", meeting with great success. She was next seen in vaudeville
until the 1900-01 season, when she was featured in "A Romance of Coon Hollow." By this time she had formed her own troupe. She also returned to her favorite role of Chip, the character in which she had made her debut when she was only seventeen years old.
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...
and musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
in 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...
and Chicago, Illinois from the 1880s into the 20th century. A New York Times article described her as a bright little person of the Lotta Crabtree
Lotta Crabtree
Lotta Mignon Crabtree was an American actress, entertainer and comedian. She was also a significant philanthropist....
physique and school, but with less naturalness and more nasal twang.
Biography
Lizzie Evans was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio in 1864 or 1865, and was the wife of Harry Mills, who was also a well known comedian. At the time of their marriage in Atlanta, Georgia in 1891, he was playing in her company. Miss Evans first appearance on the stage was at seventeen on August 25, 1882, with Barney McAuley as Clip in "A Messenger from Jarvis Section". She was next seen with Milton and Dolly Nobles in their well known play, "The Phoenix." After leaving Mr Nobles' company, she joined C.E. Callahan, who starred her for nine years in such roles as Chip in "Fogg's Ferry" and Jane in "The Buckeye". Miss Evans also took the leading part in "Our Angel" and a number of other plays (see the list below). A reviewer for the New York Times observed about her acting:Miss Lizzie Evans, who fills the part around which "Fogg's Ferry" is built, is a bright little person of the Lotta physique and school, but with less naturalness and more nasal twang. Her performance, however, is earnest and vivacious; she emphasizes her comic lines with her nether limbs and feet, more or less in accordance with Shakespeare's advice as to suiting the action to the word and the word to the action, but always with a marked effect upon the spectator, and her pathos, although scarcely profound, is a good deal more genuine and touching than that of her prototype. Miss Evans has no voice for song, and her cleverness as an actress is sufficiently appreciable to warrant her avoidance of vocal efforts.
After severing her connection with Mr Callahan, Miss Evans retired from the stage for two years. Afterwards she returned to play the part of Madge in "Old Kentucky", meeting with great success. She was next seen 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...
until the 1900-01 season, when she was featured in "A Romance of Coon Hollow." By this time she had formed her own troupe. She also returned to her favorite role of Chip, the character in which she had made her debut when she was only seventeen years old.
List of Vaudeville and Theater Credits
- August 1881: Impersonation of Clip at the reopening of the Standard Theatre, 6th Avenue between 32nd Street and 33rd Street, Manhattan (New York). Evans was part of a show at Tony Pastor's Theatre, East 14th Street (Manhattan)14th Street (Manhattan)14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street rivals the size of some of the well-known avenues of the city and is an important business location....
between Irving Place and Third Avenue (Manhattan)Third Avenue (Manhattan)Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Cooper Square north for over 120 blocks. Third Avenue continues into The Bronx across the Harlem River over the Third Avenue Bridge north of East 129th Street to East Fordham Road at...
.
- May 5 through May 10, 1884, National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)The National Theatre is located in Washington, D.C., and is a venue for a variety of live stage productions with seating for 1,676.Despite its name, it is not a governmentally funded national theatre, but operated by a private, non-profit organization....
DEWDROP – romantic comedy by Con.T. Murphy and C.E. Callahan. Starring Miss Lizzie Evans. Cast includes Al Phillips, George W. Deyo, [Harry] Henry ScharfHenry ScharfHenry Scharf was an illustrator, Shakespearean actor, and a professor of elocution. He was the son of illustrator George Johann Scharf and brother to Sir George Scharf, the first director of the National Portrait Gallery in London.-Biography:...
, C.R. Burrows, E.D. Tannehill, Ed Clifford, W.T. Sheehan, Ida Burrows, Marie LeGros, Selina Anderson, Charline Weidman.
- August 29, 1887: Our Angel, a drama at the Lexington Opera House in Ohio.
- January 1890: Haymarket Theatre, 722-24 West Madison Street (Chicago)Madison Street (Chicago)Madison Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to human intervention, the Chicago River emptied into Lake Michigan at the present day intersection of Madison Street and Michigan Avenue....
, Chicago. She had a role in The Buckeye at the Windsor Theatre, 1225 North Clark Street, Chicago, in April 1890.The Chicago Playhouses, New York Times, April 14, 1890, p.4. The following November she was again at the Haymarket, beginning a new rendition of Fogg's Ferry.
- In May 1891 she was featured in the same play at Havlin's Theatre, 1838 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago.
- Evans replaced Annie Lewis in the role of Cinders in A Nutmeg Match in March 1893. It was staged at the 14th Street (Manhattan)14th Street (Manhattan)14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street rivals the size of some of the well-known avenues of the city and is an important business location....
Theatre, 344 East 14th Street.
- Proctor's Pleasure Palace, East 58th Street between Lexington Avenue (Manhattan)Lexington Avenue (Manhattan)Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...
and Third Avenue (Manhattan)Third Avenue (Manhattan)Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Cooper Square north for over 120 blocks. Third Avenue continues into The Bronx across the Harlem River over the Third Avenue Bridge north of East 129th Street to East Fordham Road at...
, hosted a production of The Man Up Stairs by Augustus ThomasAugustus ThomasAugustus Thomas was an American playwright, born in St. Louis, Missouri. The son of a doctor, he worked a number of jobs including a page in the 41st Congress, studying law and gaining some practical railway work experience before he turned to journalism and became editor of the Kansas City Mirror...
in January 1897. Evans was in the cast with Lucille Lee, William Ranous, and Maggie Fielding.
- She was leading her own theatrical troupe when A Romance of Coon Hollow was presented before an audience at the Grand Opera House in 1896, 23rd Street (8th Avenue), Manhattan (New York), in April 1896. Set in the mountains of TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
,two quartets and twelve African American plantation singers embellished the performance.
- In July 1897 she was in a show with Phyllis RankinPhyllis RankinPhyllis Rankin was a Broadway actress and singer from the 1880s until the 1920s. Her full name was Phyllis McKee Rankin.-Family:...
and George Thatcher at Keith's New Union Square (Manhattan) Theatre, 50 East 14th Street (Manhattan)14th Street (Manhattan)14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street rivals the size of some of the well-known avenues of the city and is an important business location....
. Evans returned to the Pleasure Palace in A Strange Catastrophe with Harry Mills in August.
- She performed in a comedy entitled A Gay Deceiver at the Harlem Opera House, 211 West 125th Street, in February 1898. In December 1899 Mills joined Evans in the comedietta, Two Girls and One Man, at Proctor's Theatre.
- She performed a sketch with Mills at the Union Square Theatre in July 1902. In June 1903 Evans was part of a bill at Hurtig & Seamon's (Apollo TheaterApollo TheaterThe Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
), West 125th Street, HarlemHarlemHarlem 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...
. The travelling troupe was directed by Florenz ZiegfeldFlorenz ZiegfeldFlorenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...
and William A. BradyWilliam A. BradyWilliam Aloysius Brady, Sr. was an American theatre actor, producer, and sports promoter.-Biography:Brady was born to a newspaperman in 1863. His father kidnapped him from San Francisco and brought him to New York City, where his father worked as a writer while William was forced to sell...
.
- She played a comic servant who bore the worst part of the comic reliefComic reliefComic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
in a production of Two Little Sailor Boys at the Academy of Music (Manhattan)Academy of Music (Manhattan)The Academy of Music was a New York City opera house, located at East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. The 4,000-seat hall opened on October 2, 1854. The New York Times review declared it to be an acoustical "triumph", but "In every other aspect .....
, in May, 1904. Described as English melodramaMelodramaThe term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, Evans depicted Lucy Wilson in the play.
- In September 1906 she appeared at the Metropolis Theatre, 142nd Street and 3rd Avenue and Alexander Avenue, in a presentation of When Knighthood Was In Flower. The show had enjoyed success in a previous staging at the Criterion Theatre, 1514 Broadway (Manhattan).
