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George W. Munroe (1857 – January 29, 1932) was an American actor and comedian who specialized infemale impersonation.[1] He was actively performing in American theaters from the 1880s into the early 1920s. He performed in bothBroadway shows and invaudeville. He was best known for his comic portrayals of gossipy old Irish women.[2][3]
George W. Munroe was born inPhiladelphia and began his career in that city as a member of the Wheatley Dramatic Association.[3] He joined the touring theater company of actor George S. Knight (1850–1892), making his debut as Bridget, an Irish woman, inOver the Garden Wall at theChestnut Street Opera House (built 1870 as Fox's American Theatre) on September 1, 1884.[4] The production then went on tour eventually arriving atBroadway'sUnion Square Theatre in January 1885.[5] Munroe was still in the cast when it moved to theFifth Avenue Theatre in March 1885.[6]
In placing Munroe's career within the context of the broader history ofdrag during the 19th century,Laurence Senelick, writing inThe Cambridge Guide to American Theatre, stated that
Puritans had attacked as 'sodomitical' theElizabethan convention of boys playing girls, and it disappeared with theRestoration; but the accompanying tradition of the "dame" role – an elderly woman impersonated by a male comedian – survived on the American stage, carried on byNeil Burgess as the Widow Bedotte, George W. Munroe as various Irish biddies,Gilbert Sarony as Giddy Gusher, and theRussell Brothers as clumsy Irish maids.[2]
Munroe developed a partnership with comedian and fellow PhiladelphianJohn C. Rice;[3] an actor who had also had a comic role inOver the Garden Wall. They capitalized on the success of Munroe's Irish female character from that play, and repurposed it into a new play written byScott Marble entitledMy Aunt Bridget with Munroe as the title character. It premiered in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1886.[7] Munroe and Rice toured this play throughout the United States invaudeville theaters in the latter half of the 1880s.[3] A second play followed this work,Aunt Bridget's Baby, which debuted at thePark Theatre in Boston in January 1891.[8] The actorAndrew Mack became part of the Munroe and Rice team, and they continued to perform plays led by Munroe as Bridget through 1898; marking a 12-year-long span for the Munroe and Rice vaudeville team.[3]
In the first two decades of the twentieth century Munroe starred in several Broadwaymusicals. His roles on the New York stage included the title role inThe Doings of Mrs. Dooley at theGrand Opera House in 1902;[9] Aurora Borealis inAnne Caldwell'sThe Top o' th' World at theMajestic Theatre in 1907–1908;[10] Miss Tiny Daley inThe Mimic World of 1908;[11] Pansy Burns inRaymond Hubbell andGlen MacDonough'sThe Midnight Sons (1909,Broadway Theatre);[12] Patricia Flynn inA. Baldwin Sloane'sThe Never Homes (1911, Broadway Theatre);[13] and Mrs. Honoria O'Day inLew Fields' production ofThe Sun Dodgers (1912, Broadway Theatre).[14]
Munroe also starred in themusical revueThe Passing Show in 1914[15] and 1915.[16] He performed regularly in both Broadway and regional theaters owned by theShubert family from 1911 until his retirement from the stage in 1922.[3]
Munroe died atAtlantic Shores Hospital inSomers Point, New Jersey, on January 29, 1932. He was survived by his wife, the actress Anna Sedgewick.[3]