Maude Adams
Encyclopedia
Maude Ewing Kiskadden (November 11, 1872 – July 17, 1953), known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage
actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan
. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more than one million dollars during her peak. She was often referred to simply as "Maudie" by her fans.
, the daughter of Asaneth Ann (née
Adams) and James (or John) Henry Kiskadden.
Little is known of Adams's father. He died in 1878 when Maude was only six. It has been written that he came to Utah from Montana, and that the Kiskaddens originated in Ohio
. He was not a Mormon (member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka "LDS Church"), and Adams herself once wrote of her father as having been a "gentile". The surname "Kiskadden" is Scottish
. Most of what is known of her ancestry traces through her maternal grandmother, Julia Ann Adams (née Banker).
The Banker family came from Plattsburgh, a small town in upstate New York. Maude's great grandfather Platt Banker converted to the LDS Church, and it is said that the family migrated to Missouri with fellow members of the LDS Church. Whether this is true or not, the family did migrate to Missouri
, where Julia married Barnabus Adams (is not a distant cousin of Presidents John Adams
and John Quincy Adams
). The family then migrated to Utah, settling in Salt Lake City where Maude's mother, Asaneth Ann "Annie" Adams was born. Maude Adams was also a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland
.
The true extent of Maude Adams's connection to the LDS Church remains somewhat of a mystery. It was little spoken of in her lifetime, and Adams was known to take long sabbaticals in Catholic rectories. In 1922 she donated her estates at Lake Ronkonkoma to one of these places, the Sisters of St. Regis, for use as a novitiate and retreat house. Because of this, and because her father was not a member of the LDS Church, it has been speculated that Maude was not a practicing Mormon.
Her mother, Asaneth Ann Kiskadden, was an actress and, travelling with her, Maude spent her early years in provincial theaters, first appearing in plays at the age of nine months when she was carried onstage in her mother’s arms. At the age of five, she starred in a San Francisco theater as "Little Schneider" in Fritz, Our German Cousin and as "Adrienne Renaud" in A Celebrated Case. Often described as shy, Adams was referred to by Ethel Barrymore
as the "original 'I want to be alone' woman". She gave the impression of being refined and dignified at all times, and she was openly helpful to aspiring young actors and actresses. She was known at times to raise the salaries of fellow performers out of her own pocket and also for quietly giving small gifts to stagehands. Once while touring, a theater owner doubled the price of tickets knowing Adams's name meant a sold-out house. Adams made the owner refund the difference before she appeared on the stage that night.
debut at age 16 in The Paymaster
. Remaining in New York after the close of the play, she then became a member of E. H. Sothern
's theater company appearing in The Highest Bidder and finally on Broadway in Lord Chumley
. Charles H. Hoyt
then cast her in The Midnight Bell
where audiences, if not the critics, took notice of her. Sensing he had a potential new star on his hands, Hoyt offered her a five year contract, but Adams declined in favor of a lesser offer from the powerful producer Charles Frohman
who from that point forward took control of her career.
and Henry C. de Mille to specially write the part of Dora Prescott for her in their new play Men and Women
, which Frohman was producing. The next year, she appeared as Nell in The Lost Paradise.
In 1892, John Drew, Jr. (one of the leading stars of the day) ended his eighteen year association with Augustin Daly
and joined Frohman's company. Frohman paired Adams and Drew in a series of plays beginning with The Masked Ball
and ending with Rosemary
in 1896, at last taking ingénue roles. She spent five years as the leading lady in John Drew's company.
The Masked Ball opened on October 8, 1892. Audiences came to see its star, John Drew, but left remembering Maude Adams. Most memorable was a scene in which her character feigned tipsiness for which she received a two minute ovation on opening night. Drew was the star, but it was for Adams that the audience gave twelve curtain calls, and previously tepid critics gave generous reviews. Harpers Weekly wrote: "It is difficult to see just who is going to prevent Miss Adams from becoming the leading exponent of light comedy in America.
The New York Times wrote that "Maud Adams [sic], not John Drew, has made the success of The Masked Ball at Palmer's, and is the star of the comedy. Manager Charles Frohman, in attempting to exploit one star, has happened upon another of greater magnitude." The tipsy scene started Adams on her path to being a favorite among New York audiences and led to an eighteen month run for the play. Less successful plays followed, including The Butterflies
, The Bauble Shop
, Christopher, Jr.
, The Imprudent Young Couple
and The Squire of Dames
. But 1896 saw an upturn with Rosemary. A comedy about the failed elopement of a young couple, sheltered for the night by an older man (Drew), the play received critical praise and box office success. J. M. Barrie
(future author of Peter Pan
) saw a performance and decided that Adams was the actress to play Miss Babbie in the adaptation of his book The Little Minister
.
Charles Frohman
had been pursuing J. M. Barrie
to adapt the author's popular book The Little Minister
into a play, but Barrie had resisted because he felt there was no actress who could play Lady Babbie. On a trip to New York in 1896, Barrie attended a performance of Rosemary and at once felt he had found his Lady Babbie. Bruce Adamson wrote: "On November 1, 1897 Maude Adams, Ethel Barrymore and John Drew performed in Rosemary, at the Opening Night of The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel before her close friends Jonas, Grace and Lillian Kissam, and the George W. Ely's. Lillian's husband Henry Bidwell Ely was in charge of building the Astoria Hotel for John Jacob Astor. Lillian's grandfather Abner Bartlett built The Waldorf Hotel for William Waldorf Astor." Frohman worried that the masculine aspects of the book might overshadow Adams's role. With Barrie's consent, several key scenes were changed to favor Lady Babbie. The play was a tremendous success, running for three hundred performances in New York (289 of which were standing room only) and set a new all time box office record of $370,000. In one year, Adams had been transformed from a popular supporting player into one of the biggest stars on Broadway.
Her greatest triumphs followed with more works of Barrie, including The Little Minister
, Quality Street
, What Every Woman Knows
, A Kiss for Cinderella
, The Legend of Leonora
, and Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up
, the latter being the role with which she was most closely identified and which she often reprised. Adams was the first actress to play Peter Pan
on Broadway. Only days after her casting was announced, Adams had an emergency appendectomy and it was uncertain whether her health would allow her to assume the role as planned. Peter Pan opened on October 16, 1905 at the National Theatre
in Washington, D.C. to little success. It soon moved to Broadway, however, where the play had a long run, and Adams appeared in the role on Broadway several times over the following decade.
While Adams was mainly associated with the plays of Barrie from 1897 until her retirement in 1918, she also made appearances in other works during that period. The Little Minister
was followed in 1899 with her portrayal of Shakespeare's Juliet. While audiences loved her in the role, selling out the sixteen performances in New York, the critics disliked it.
Romeo and Juliet
was followed by L'Aiglon
in 1900, a French play about the life of Napoleon II of France
in which Adams played the leading role, foreshadowing her portrayal of another male (Peter Pan) five years later. The play had starred Sarah Bernhardt
in Paris with enthusiastic reviews, but Adams's L'Aiglon received mixed reviews in New York. In 1909, she played Joan of Arc in Friedrich Schiller
's The Maid of Orleans
. This was produced on a huge scale at the Harvard University
Stadium by Frohman. The June 24, 1909 edition of the Paducah Evening Sun (Kentucky) contains the following excerpt:
She appeared in another French play with 1911's Chantecler
, the story of a rooster who believes his crowing makes the sun rise. She fared only slightly better than in L'Aiglon with the critics, but audiences again embraced her, on one occasion giving her twenty two curtain calls. Adams later cited it as her favorite role, with Peter Pan a close second.
in 1916. Following a thirteen year retirement from the stage, during which she worked with General Electric
to develop improved and more powerful stage lighting, she appeared in several regional productions of Shakespeare
. It has been suggested that the true reason for her association with General Electric (in developing better lighting instruments) and the Eastman Company (in developing color photography) during the 1920s was because she wished to appear in a color film version of Peter Pan, and this would have required better lighting for color photography.
Adams headed the drama department at Stephens College
in Missouri from 1937 to 1943, becoming well known as an inspiring teacher in the arts of acting.
After her retirement in 1918, Adams was on occasion pursued for roles in film. The closest she came to accepting was in 1938, when producer David O. Selznick persuaded her to do a screen test (with Janet Gaynor
, who would later play the female lead) for the role of Miss Fortune in the film The Young in Heart
. After negotiations failed, the role was played by Minnie Dupree
, who like Adams had been a girlish whimsical type of actress. The twelve-minute screen test was later preserved by the George Eastman House in 2004.
She died, aged 80, at her summer home, Caddam Hill, in Tannersville, New York
, and is interred in the cemetery of the Sisters of the Cenacle
, Lake Ronkonkoma, New York
.
's 1975 novel Bid Time Return
and its 1980 film adaptation, Somewhere in Time
, in which the character was played by Jane Seymour
, was reportedly based on Maude Adams. In the novel, Elise is appearing in The Little Minister, which role was also said to have been written especially for her.
}}
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more than one million dollars during her peak. She was often referred to simply as "Maudie" by her fans.
Early life and ancestry
Adams was born as Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden in Salt Lake City, UtahSalt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, the daughter of Asaneth Ann (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Adams) and James (or John) Henry Kiskadden.
Little is known of Adams's father. He died in 1878 when Maude was only six. It has been written that he came to Utah from Montana, and that the Kiskaddens originated in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. He was not a Mormon (member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka "LDS Church"), and Adams herself once wrote of her father as having been a "gentile". The surname "Kiskadden" is Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
. Most of what is known of her ancestry traces through her maternal grandmother, Julia Ann Adams (née Banker).
The Banker family came from Plattsburgh, a small town in upstate New York. Maude's great grandfather Platt Banker converted to the LDS Church, and it is said that the family migrated to Missouri with fellow members of the LDS Church. Whether this is true or not, the family did migrate to Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, where Julia married Barnabus Adams (is not a distant cousin of Presidents John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
and John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
). The family then migrated to Utah, settling in Salt Lake City where Maude's mother, Asaneth Ann "Annie" Adams was born. Maude Adams was also a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland
John Howland
John Howland was a passenger on the Mayflower. He was an indentured servant who accompanied the separatists, also called the Pilgrims, when they left England to settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts...
.
The true extent of Maude Adams's connection to the LDS Church remains somewhat of a mystery. It was little spoken of in her lifetime, and Adams was known to take long sabbaticals in Catholic rectories. In 1922 she donated her estates at Lake Ronkonkoma to one of these places, the Sisters of St. Regis, for use as a novitiate and retreat house. Because of this, and because her father was not a member of the LDS Church, it has been speculated that Maude was not a practicing Mormon.
Her mother, Asaneth Ann Kiskadden, was an actress and, travelling with her, Maude spent her early years in provincial theaters, first appearing in plays at the age of nine months when she was carried onstage in her mother’s arms. At the age of five, she starred in a San Francisco theater as "Little Schneider" in Fritz, Our German Cousin and as "Adrienne Renaud" in A Celebrated Case. Often described as shy, Adams was referred to by Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
as the "original 'I want to be alone' woman". She gave the impression of being refined and dignified at all times, and she was openly helpful to aspiring young actors and actresses. She was known at times to raise the salaries of fellow performers out of her own pocket and also for quietly giving small gifts to stagehands. Once while touring, a theater owner doubled the price of tickets knowing Adams's name meant a sold-out house. Adams made the owner refund the difference before she appeared on the stage that night.
Early career in New York
After touring in Boston and California, she made her New York CityNew 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 at age 16 in The Paymaster
The Paymaster
The Paymaster is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1888 and starred Maude Adams....
. Remaining in New York after the close of the play, she then became a member of E. H. Sothern
E. H. Sothern
Edward Hugh Sothern was an American actor who specialized in dashing, romantic leading roles and particularly in Shakespeare roles.-Biography:...
's theater company appearing in The Highest Bidder and finally on Broadway in Lord Chumley
Lord Chumley
Lord Chumley is a 1914 short drama film directed by James Kirkwood. Prints of the film survive at the film archive of the Library of Congress.-Cast:* Lillian Gish - Eleanor Butterworth* Henry B. Walthall - Lord Chumley* Mary Alden* Walter Miller...
. Charles H. Hoyt
Charles Hale Hoyt
Charles Hale Hoyt was an American dramatist.-Biography:Hoyt was born in Concord, New Hampshire. He had a difficult childhood, as his mother died when he was nine years old. He graduated at the Boston Latin School and, after being engaged in the cattle business in Colorado for a time, took up...
then cast her in The Midnight Bell
The Midnight Bell
The Midnight Bell is a gothic novel by Francis Lathom. It was one of the seven "horrid novels" lampooned by Jane Austen in her novel Northanger Abbey....
where audiences, if not the critics, took notice of her. Sensing he had a potential new star on his hands, Hoyt offered her a five year contract, but Adams declined in favor of a lesser offer from the powerful producer Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
who from that point forward took control of her career.
Association with Charles Frohman
In 1890, Frohman asked David BelascoDavid Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...
and Henry C. de Mille to specially write the part of Dora Prescott for her in their new play Men and Women
Men and Women (play)
Men and Women is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1890 and starred Maude Adams.Fields, Armond. , p.79-83...
, which Frohman was producing. The next year, she appeared as Nell in The Lost Paradise.
In 1892, John Drew, Jr. (one of the leading stars of the day) ended his eighteen year association with Augustin Daly
Augustin Daly
John Augustin Daly was an American theatrical manager and playwright active in both the US and UK.-Biography:Daly was born in Plymouth, North Carolina and educated at Norfolk, Va...
and joined Frohman's company. Frohman paired Adams and Drew in a series of plays beginning with The Masked Ball
The Masked Ball
The Masked Ball is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1892 and starred Maude Adams....
and ending with Rosemary
Rosemary (play)
Rosemary is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1896 and starred Maude Adams, John Drew Jr and featured Ethel Barrymore....
in 1896, at last taking ingénue roles. She spent five years as the leading lady in John Drew's company.
The Masked Ball opened on October 8, 1892. Audiences came to see its star, John Drew, but left remembering Maude Adams. Most memorable was a scene in which her character feigned tipsiness for which she received a two minute ovation on opening night. Drew was the star, but it was for Adams that the audience gave twelve curtain calls, and previously tepid critics gave generous reviews. Harpers Weekly wrote: "It is difficult to see just who is going to prevent Miss Adams from becoming the leading exponent of light comedy in America.
The New York Times wrote that "Maud Adams [sic], not John Drew, has made the success of The Masked Ball at Palmer's, and is the star of the comedy. Manager Charles Frohman, in attempting to exploit one star, has happened upon another of greater magnitude." The tipsy scene started Adams on her path to being a favorite among New York audiences and led to an eighteen month run for the play. Less successful plays followed, including The Butterflies
The Butterflies (play)
The Butterflies is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1894 and starred Maude Adams....
, The Bauble Shop
The Bauble Shop
The Bauble Shop is a play by Henry Arthur Jones. It is about modern London life. It opened at the Criterion Theatre in the West End in 1893. It was featured on Broadway in 1894 and starred Maude Adams.Act 1: At Lord Clivebrook's, St...
, Christopher, Jr.
Christopher, Jr.
Christopher, Jr. is a four act American play, by Madeleine Lucette Ryley.In June 1895, it tried out in Wilkes-Barre.It was featured on Broadway in October 7, 1895 at the Empire Theater, and starred Maude Adams....
, The Imprudent Young Couple
The Imprudent Young Couple
The Imprudent Young Couple is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1895 and starred Maude Adams and Brian Pelf....
and The Squire of Dames
The Squire of Dames
The Squire of Dames is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1896 and starred Maude Adams....
. But 1896 saw an upturn with Rosemary. A comedy about the failed elopement of a young couple, sheltered for the night by an older man (Drew), the play received critical praise and box office success. J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
(future author of Peter Pan
Peter and Wendy
Peter and Wendy, published in 1911, is the novelisation by J. M. Barrie of his most famous play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up...
) saw a performance and decided that Adams was the actress to play Miss Babbie in the adaptation of his book The Little Minister
The Little Minister
The Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
.
Stardom
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
had been pursuing J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
to adapt the author's popular book The Little Minister
The Little Minister
The Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
into a play, but Barrie had resisted because he felt there was no actress who could play Lady Babbie. On a trip to New York in 1896, Barrie attended a performance of Rosemary and at once felt he had found his Lady Babbie. Bruce Adamson wrote: "On November 1, 1897 Maude Adams, Ethel Barrymore and John Drew performed in Rosemary, at the Opening Night of The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel before her close friends Jonas, Grace and Lillian Kissam, and the George W. Ely's. Lillian's husband Henry Bidwell Ely was in charge of building the Astoria Hotel for John Jacob Astor. Lillian's grandfather Abner Bartlett built The Waldorf Hotel for William Waldorf Astor." Frohman worried that the masculine aspects of the book might overshadow Adams's role. With Barrie's consent, several key scenes were changed to favor Lady Babbie. The play was a tremendous success, running for three hundred performances in New York (289 of which were standing room only) and set a new all time box office record of $370,000. In one year, Adams had been transformed from a popular supporting player into one of the biggest stars on Broadway.
Her greatest triumphs followed with more works of Barrie, including The Little Minister
The Little Minister
The Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
, Quality Street
Quality Street (play)
Quality Street is a comedy in four acts by J. M. Barrie, written before his more famous work Peter Pan. The story is about two sisters who start a school "for genteel children"....
, What Every Woman Knows
What Every Woman Knows
What Every Woman Knows is a four-act play written by J. M. Barrie. It was first presented by the impresario Charles Frohman at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 3 September 1908...
, A Kiss for Cinderella
A Kiss for Cinderella
A Kiss for Cinderella is a play by J. M. Barrie. It was featured on Broadway in 1916 and starred Maude Adams. The play opened at the Empire Theater on December 25, 1916 and ran for 152 performances...
, The Legend of Leonora
The Legend of Leonora
The Legend of Leonora is a play by J. M. Barrie. It was featured on Broadway in 1914 and starred Maude Adams.-References:*...
, and Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up
Peter and Wendy
Peter and Wendy, published in 1911, is the novelisation by J. M. Barrie of his most famous play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up...
, the latter being the role with which she was most closely identified and which she often reprised. Adams was the first actress to play Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
on Broadway. Only days after her casting was announced, Adams had an emergency appendectomy and it was uncertain whether her health would allow her to assume the role as planned. Peter Pan opened on October 16, 1905 at the National Theatre
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....
in Washington, D.C. to little success. It soon moved to Broadway, however, where the play had a long run, and Adams appeared in the role on Broadway several times over the following decade.
Other plays
The Little Minister
The Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
was followed in 1899 with her portrayal of Shakespeare's Juliet. While audiences loved her in the role, selling out the sixteen performances in New York, the critics disliked it.
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
was followed by L'Aiglon
L'Aiglon
L'Aiglon is a play in six acts by Edmond Rostand based on the life of Napoleon's son, Napoleon II of France, Duke of Reichstadt. The title comes from a nickname for Napoleon II, the French word for "eaglet" . The title role was created by Sarah Bernhardt in the play's premiere on 15 March 1900 at...
in 1900, a French play about the life of Napoleon II of France
Napoleon II of France
Napoléon II , after 1818 known as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria...
in which Adams played the leading role, foreshadowing her portrayal of another male (Peter Pan) five years later. The play had starred Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
in Paris with enthusiastic reviews, but Adams's L'Aiglon received mixed reviews in New York. In 1909, she played Joan of Arc in Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
's The Maid of Orleans
The Maid of Orleans (play)
The Maid of Orleans is a tragedy by Friedrich Schiller, written in 1801 in Leipzig. During his lifetime, it was one of Schiller's most frequently-performed pieces.-Plot:...
. This was produced on a huge scale at the Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Stadium by Frohman. The June 24, 1909 edition of the Paducah Evening Sun (Kentucky) contains the following excerpt:
Joan at Harvard, Schiller's Play reproduced on Gigantic scale. […] The experiment of producing Schiller's "Maid of Orleans" beneath starry skies … was carried out…by ... Adams and a company numbering about two thousand persons … at the Harvard Stadium. … A special electric light plant was installed … a great cathedral was erected, background constructed and a realistic forest created. … Miss Adams was accorded an ovation at the end of the performance.
She appeared in another French play with 1911's Chantecler
Chantecler
Chantecler can refer to:*Chantecler, the rooster in the epic tale of Reynard*Chantecler, a breed of chicken*Chantecler , a play by Edmond Rostand, whose characters are barnyard animals, and whose eponymous protagonist is a rooster...
, the story of a rooster who believes his crowing makes the sun rise. She fared only slightly better than in L'Aiglon with the critics, but audiences again embraced her, on one occasion giving her twenty two curtain calls. Adams later cited it as her favorite role, with Peter Pan a close second.
Retirement and death
Adams last appeared on the New York stage in A Kiss for CinderellaA Kiss for Cinderella
A Kiss for Cinderella is a play by J. M. Barrie. It was featured on Broadway in 1916 and starred Maude Adams. The play opened at the Empire Theater on December 25, 1916 and ran for 152 performances...
in 1916. Following a thirteen year retirement from the stage, during which she worked with General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
to develop improved and more powerful stage lighting, she appeared in several regional productions of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. It has been suggested that the true reason for her association with General Electric (in developing better lighting instruments) and the Eastman Company (in developing color photography) during the 1920s was because she wished to appear in a color film version of Peter Pan, and this would have required better lighting for color photography.
Adams headed the drama department at Stephens College
Stephens College
Stephens College is a women's college located in Columbia, Missouri. It is the second oldest female educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United States. It was founded on August 24, 1833 as the Columbia Female Academy. In 1856, David H. Hickman turned it into a college,...
in Missouri from 1937 to 1943, becoming well known as an inspiring teacher in the arts of acting.
After her retirement in 1918, Adams was on occasion pursued for roles in film. The closest she came to accepting was in 1938, when producer David O. Selznick persuaded her to do a screen test (with Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
, who would later play the female lead) for the role of Miss Fortune in the film The Young in Heart
The Young in Heart
The Young in Heart is a film comedy starring Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard, Roland Young, and Billie Burke....
. After negotiations failed, the role was played by Minnie Dupree
Minnie Dupree
Minnie Dupree was a stage and film actress.She made her acting debut in a touring company in 1887. The next year, she made a big impression in a small role in William Gillette's New York play Held by the Enemy...
, who like Adams had been a girlish whimsical type of actress. The twelve-minute screen test was later preserved by the George Eastman House in 2004.
She died, aged 80, at her summer home, Caddam Hill, in Tannersville, New York
Tannersville, New York
Tannersville is a village in Greene County, New York, USA. The village is in the east-central part of the town of Hunter on Route 23A. The population was 539 at the 2010 census.- History :...
, and is interred in the cemetery of the Sisters of the Cenacle
Sisters of the Cenacle
The Sisters of the Cenacle is a Roman Catholic Congregation founded in 1826 in the village of Lalouvesc , France...
, Lake Ronkonkoma, New York
Lake Ronkonkoma, New York
Lake Ronkonkoma is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 19,701 at the 2000 census.Lake Ronkonkoma is located in the town of Brookhaven, but has small sections in the Town of Smithtown....
.
In popular culture
The character of Elise McKenna in Richard MathesonRichard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
's 1975 novel Bid Time Return
Bid Time Return
Bid Time Return is a 1975 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson. It concerns a man from the 1970s who travels back in time to court a 19th century stage actress whose photograph has captivated him...
and its 1980 film adaptation, Somewhere in Time
Somewhere in Time (film)
Somewhere in Time is a 1980 romantic science fiction film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is a film adaptation of the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay...
, in which the character was played by Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour (actress)
Jane Seymour, OBE is an English actress best known for her performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die , East of Eden , Onassis: The Richest Man in the World , and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman...
, was reportedly based on Maude Adams. In the novel, Elise is appearing in The Little Minister, which role was also said to have been written especially for her.
Appearances on Broadway
- The PaymasterThe PaymasterThe Paymaster is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1888 and starred Maude Adams....
- 1888 - Lord ChumleyLord ChumleyLord Chumley is a 1914 short drama film directed by James Kirkwood. Prints of the film survive at the film archive of the Library of Congress.-Cast:* Lillian Gish - Eleanor Butterworth* Henry B. Walthall - Lord Chumley* Mary Alden* Walter Miller...
- 1888 - A Midnight BelleA Midnight BelleA Midnight Belle is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1889 and starred Maude Adams....
- 1889 - Men and WomenMen and Women (play)Men and Women is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1890 and starred Maude Adams.Fields, Armond. , p.79-83...
- 1890 - The Masked BallThe Masked BallThe Masked Ball is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1892 and starred Maude Adams....
- 1892 - The ButterfliesThe Butterflies (play)The Butterflies is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1894 and starred Maude Adams....
- 1894 - The Bauble ShopThe Bauble ShopThe Bauble Shop is a play by Henry Arthur Jones. It is about modern London life. It opened at the Criterion Theatre in the West End in 1893. It was featured on Broadway in 1894 and starred Maude Adams.Act 1: At Lord Clivebrook's, St...
- 1894 - The Imprudent Young CoupleThe Imprudent Young CoupleThe Imprudent Young Couple is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1895 and starred Maude Adams and Brian Pelf....
- 1895 - Christopher, Jr.Christopher, Jr.Christopher, Jr. is a four act American play, by Madeleine Lucette Ryley.In June 1895, it tried out in Wilkes-Barre.It was featured on Broadway in October 7, 1895 at the Empire Theater, and starred Maude Adams....
- 1895 - The Squire of DamesThe Squire of DamesThe Squire of Dames is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1896 and starred Maude Adams....
- 1896 - RosemaryRosemary (play)Rosemary is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1896 and starred Maude Adams, John Drew Jr and featured Ethel Barrymore....
- 1896 - The Little MinisterThe Little MinisterThe Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
- 1897 - Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
- 1899 - L'Aiglon - 1900
- Quality StreetQuality Street (play)Quality Street is a comedy in four acts by J. M. Barrie, written before his more famous work Peter Pan. The story is about two sisters who start a school "for genteel children"....
- 1901 - The Pretty Sister of JoseThe Pretty Sister of JoseThe Pretty Sister of Jose is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1903 and starred Maude Adams. It was made into a 1914 silent film by Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures and starred Marguerite Clark and Jack Pickford, brother of Clark rival Mary Pickford. The film of Pretty Sister of...
- 1903 - The Little MinisterThe Little MinisterThe Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
- 1904 - 'Op o' Me Thumb'Op o' Me Thumb'Op o' Me Thumb is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1905 and starred Maude Adams....
- 1905 - Peter PanPeter PanPeter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
– 1905, 1906, 1912, 1915 - Quality StreetQuality Street (play)Quality Street is a comedy in four acts by J. M. Barrie, written before his more famous work Peter Pan. The story is about two sisters who start a school "for genteel children"....
- 1908 - The JestersThe JestersThe Jesters were a doo-wop group based in New York City who achieved success in the late 1950s. They were students at Cooper Junior High School in Harlem who graduated from singing under an elevated train station near 120th Street to the amateur night contest at the Apollo Theater, where Paul...
- 1908 - The-Merry-Go-RoundThe-Merry-Go-RoundThe-Merry-Go-Round is an American play. It was featured on Broadway in 1908 and starred Maude Adams....
- 1908 - What Every Woman KnowsWhat Every Woman KnowsWhat Every Woman Knows is a four-act play written by J. M. Barrie. It was first presented by the impresario Charles Frohman at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 3 September 1908...
- 1908 - ChanteclerChantecler (play)Chantecler is a verse play in four acts, written by Edmond Rostand. The play is notable in that all the characters are farmyard animals including the main protagonist, a chanticleer, or rooster. The play centers on the theme of idealism and spiritual sincerity, as contrasted with cynicism and...
- 1911 - The Legend of LeonoraThe Legend of LeonoraThe Legend of Leonora is a play by J. M. Barrie. It was featured on Broadway in 1914 and starred Maude Adams.-References:*...
- 1914 - The Little MinisterThe Little MinisterThe Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
- 1916 - A Kiss for CinderellaA Kiss for CinderellaA Kiss for Cinderella is a play by J. M. Barrie. It was featured on Broadway in 1916 and starred Maude Adams. The play opened at the Empire Theater on December 25, 1916 and ran for 152 performances...
- 1916
External links
- Image Gallery at NYPublic Library, Billy Rose collection]
- Maude Adams portrait gallery; University of Washington, Sayre collection
- Maude Adams; PeriodPaper.com c. 1910
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