Josephine Hall | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Hallc. 1888 | |
| Born | (1865-04-19)April 19, 1865 |
| Died | December 5, 1920(1920-12-05) (aged 55) Apponaug, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Other names | Josie Hall Annie Josephine Hall |
| Occupation(s) | Stage actress, soprano |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Annie Josephine Hall (April 19, 1865 – December 5, 1920) was an American actress andsoprano. She began her career performing in musicals and operettas produced byEdward E. Rice from 1883 to 1886, including the 1885Broadway productions ofPolly, or The Pet of the Regiment, andBillee Taylor at theCasino Theatre. She remained active on the stage in both plays and musicals into the early 1900s, often in works produced or created byCharles Frohman, with whom she was under contract for many years. According to her 1920 obituary inThe New York Times, she was most famous for her performances of the song "Sister Mary Jane's Top Note" and for her appearances in the Broadway productions ofThe Girl from Paris (1896) andThe Girl from Maxim's (1899).[1]
Hall retired from performance in 1904. She briefly came out of retirement in 1910 to perform inKlaw & Erlanger's production ofThe Air King. She was the mother of Broadway producer Alexander A. Aarons, who had a longterm collaboration withVinton Freedley.[2] His father was the Broadway composer and producer Alfred E. Aarons. Hall married Alfred in 1899, nine years after Alex was born. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1911. She died in 1920.
The daughter of Albert A. Hall and his wife Marion J. Hall, Annie Josephine "Josie" Hall was born inEast Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1865.[3][4][5] Her parents descended from early American settlers toNew England and were very religious. They opposed their daughter's ambitions as an actress, and she ran away from home in order to have a stage career.[6] Her sister, Frances Hall, also had a career on the stage as an opera singer.[7]
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In her early career Hall performed under the stage name Josie Hall. In 1883 she performed with Rice's Surprise Party, a theater troupe managed by producerEdward E. Rice, as the young maid Jeanette inPop[8][9] for performances in Maryland,[10] Maine,[11] and Ohio.[12] OnChristmas Eve of 1883 she made her New York stage debut in this show at theFourteenth Street Theatre.[13] She continued to tour inPop in 1884 for performances in Missouri,[8] Illinois,[9] Michigan,[14] and upstate New York.[15] When the tour reached Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in March 1884, Hall quit the show along with other performers because the producers had not been paying the actors their salaries.[16] In July 1884 she returned to Rice's reorganized company ofPop in which she succeeded May Stembler in the larger role of Adele Pop.[17] The resumed tour included performances in Iowa,[18] Massachusetts,[19] and California.[17]
After the conclusion of the 1883–1884 season, Hall was hired by Eugene Tompkins ofthe Boston Theatre to star inZanita in thetrouser role of Prince Huon.[20][21] This original work was co-authored by Tompkins and Dexter Smith.[21] Its premiere on September 16, 1884, received a glowing review inThe Boston Globe.[22] It played there until December 1884 when it toured to theAcademy of Music in Philadelphia.[23] It then toured in the early months of 1885 to theAcademy of Music in Baltimore[24] andMcVicker's Theater in Chicago.[25]
By April 1885 Hall had joined a theater troupe headlined byLillian Russell and managed by Rice, with whom she made herBroadway debut at theCasino Theatre as Sarah inJames Mortimer andEdward Solomon's operettaPolly, or The Pet of the Regiment, on April 27, 1885.[26] It played there through June 19, 1885.[27] Immediately following this show, the same company remained at the Casino Theatre with a production ofBillee Taylor in which Hall portrayed the part of Susan.[28][29]
Hall remained with Rice's company for the 1885–1886 season as Eulalie in the revival of Rice'sEvangeline, which had a lengthy run at theFourteenth Street Theatre.[30] When the production left New York for Chicago in May 1886, she did not continue with the show but returned to Rhode Island to spend the summer performing in the playsUnder the Gaslight andThe Two Orphans at the Providence Opera House.[31] She later returned toEvangeline in May 1887 for a production produced by Rice at theHollis Street Theatre in Boston.[32]
In September 1887 Hall was with Rice's Surprise Party once again in a short-lived production ofEduard Holst andWoolson Morse'sCircus in Town at theBijou Opera House. She played a flying trapeze artist in this show.[33]
In the autumn of 1886 Hall joined the theater company of Eben Plympton to perform as Baby Blanchemayne in the playJack by Mrs. Harry Beckett (widow of the actorHarry Beckett).[34][35] The tour of this show included a brief stop on Broadway atWallack's Theatre in early November 1886,[36] after which it played at thePark Theatre in Boston[34] and the Brooklyn Theater in late 1886.[37] In 1887 she continued to tour in the production to theaters in Kentucky,[35] Indiana,[38] Missouri,[39] and Illinois[40] before returning with the show for further performances on Broadway at theFifth Avenue Theatre in February 1887.[41]
In November 1887 Hall returned to Wallack's Theatre inT. W. Robertson'sSchool, which was produced byHenry Eugene Abbey.[42] Not long after this production she became severely ill and was not able to continue performing.[43] It was reported in the American press in July 1888 that she had gone to Europe to convalesce and there had married a German baron.[44][45] While in Europe in this period she studied acting withFrançois Jules Edmond Got in Paris.[46] She returned to the stage in October 1888, replacingMaude Adams inThe Paymaster atNiblo's Garden.[47]
On June 11, 1889, Hall created the role of Abdallah in the world premiere ofClay M. Greene,Fred J. Eustis, Richard Maddern, andJohn Joseph Braham Sr.'sBlue Beard, Jr. at theGrand Opera House, Chicago.[48][49] The work was a critical triumph.[50] Hall's performance of its "Cigarette Song" was popular with Chicago audiences.[51] She left the production for New York in July 1889 to join the theater troupe ofFrederick Hallen andJoseph Hart in their company's production of the musical farceLater On.[52] She toured nationally in this production in 1889–1890.[53][54][55][56][57][58][59]
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On May 15, 1890, Hall gave birth in Philadelphia to Alexander A. Aarons, her child by the Broadway composer and producer Alfred E. Aarons.[2] Hall and Aarons married a little over nine years later in December 1899.[60] Immediately following the birth of their son in 1890, Hall began touring under the management ofCharles Frohman, who oversaw her career through the 1890s. One of the plays he was responsible for producing wasBronson Howard'sCivil War dramaShenandoah in which Hall portrayed Jenny Buckthorn.[30] This production began its tour at the Hyperion Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, in May 1890.[61] It then toured Connecticut,[62] Delaware,[63] Massachusetts,[64] upstate New York,[65] Pennsylvania,[66] and Virginia.[67] By Christmas of 1890, the production was playing in Alabama.[68] It continued to tour nationally in early 1891 with Hall in the cast.[69][70]
Another play produced under the management of Frohman in which Hall appeared wasWilliam Gillette'sAll the Comforts of Home.[30] Hall portrayed Emily Pettibone in this work's April 1891 run at Herrmann's Theatre at Broadway and 29th Street in New York.[71] It then played at the Park Theatre in Brooklyn in September 1891.[72] The following month she resumed performing inShenandoah at theColumbus Theatre in Upper Manhattan.[73] In late 1891 she toured inShenandoah to Washington D.C.,[74] Pittsburgh,[75] and Chicago.[76] By February 1892 she was no longer being billed as Josie Hall in theShenandoah production but was credited as Josephine Hall,[77] the name which she used in her later career.[78] She was still in theShenandoah tour as late as March 1892 when it was playing at theGrand Opera House in Boston.[79]
On November 7, 1892, Hall performed in the world premiere of Bronson Howard'sAristocracy at theNew National Theatre in Washington D.C. which was co-produced by Frohman andAl Hayman.[80] She played the role of Katherine Ten Broeck Lawrence in this production,[30][81] which transferred to Broadway'sPalmer's Theatre immediately after its premiere in Washington D.C.[82] The production left New York forFord's Grand Opera House in Baltimore where it opened on February 13, 1893.[83] It then toured to cities including Chicago,[84]Louisville,[85]St. Louis,[86] and Boston.[87] When the tour went on hiatus in the summer of 1893 she returned to her family's home in Greenwich, Rhode Island.[88] She returned to the tour in September 1893,[89] and remained in it until December 1893 when she left temporarily after learning about the death of her father.[90] She continued to tour in the production as late as April 1894.[91]
In August 1894 a revival ofShenandoah produced by Frohman opened at theAcademy of Music in New York City with Hall returning to the part of Jenny Buckthorn.[92] She once again toured nationally in this work in the 1894–1895 season.[93][94][95][96] She left the tour in March 1895.[97] She next performed the role of Victorine inThe Gay Parisians, Frohman's American adaptation of the French playL'Hôtel du libre échange.[98] It premiered at the Star Theatre in Buffalo on September 18, 1895,[99] before playing on Broadway atHoyt's Theatre.[98]
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In November 1896 it was announced that Frohman had struck a deal with Edward E. Rice to loan out Josephine Hall (who was still under contract with Frohman) for the upcoming Broadway production ofThe Girl From Paris, in which she was cast as Ruth.[100] This work was an adaptation of the Edwardian musical comedyThe Gay Parisienne byGeorge Dance and it premiere at theHerald Square Theatre on December 8, 1896.[101] It was the hit Broadway production of the 1896–1897 season,[102] and Hall's lauded performance as Ruth brought her fame in the United States.[1][103] She was particularly celebrated for her performance of the song "Sister Mary Jane's Top Note"[1][103] in which she deliberately sang a high off-key note at the end to great comedic effect.[103] She toured nationally in this part during the 1897–1898 season.[104][105][106][107]
Hall next performed in the United States premiere of Mark Ambient, Alban Atwood, and Russell Vaun'sOh, Susannah! at the Hyperion Theatre in Connecticut on February 3, 1898.[108] She portrayed the lead female role of the maid Aurora in this production,[109] a character similar to the one she had taken on inA Girl from Paris.[110] The production moved to Broadway where it opened atHoyt's Theatre on February 7, 1898.[111] It closed there after eight weeks of performances on April 2, 1898, and then went on a brief tour.[112]
In the summer of 1898 Hall appeared in the comic part of Measles inCook's Tour by playwrightJoseph W. Herbert and composer Max Gabriel (1861–1942) atKoster & Bial's Music Hall.[113] She remained at that theater the following autumn in multipleburlesque shows. One of these wasIn Gotham in which she performed a comedy routine withRichard Carle,[114] and another was a send up of the playCyrano de Bergerac which was then playing at theGarden Theatre.[115] She took a break from performance beginning in late 1898 after experiencingappendicitis that necessitated anappendectomy in early December 1898.[116]
On February 10, 1899, Hall left New York aboardThe Mexico, an American passenger steamship, which carried her and a vaudeville company she led toAmerican Cuba for a short four-day long performance tour.[117] She then rejoined the touring production ofThe Girl from Paris for further performances as Ruth beginning in Philadelphia in March 1899.[118] During the first portion of the 1899–1900 season she portrayed Fraline in the Broadway production ofThe Girl from Maxim's,[119] another work for which she was celebrated,[1] although more so outside of New York where the show was more warmly received.[120] She toured in this production after its Broadway run ended in October 1899.[121] She was still with the tour in mid-February 1900 when it was playing at theBoston Museum.[122]
Hall left the tour ofThe Girl from Maxim's to take on the title role in a new musicalMam'selle 'Awkins, which produced by her husband, Alfred E. Aarons. Aarons co-wrote the music to this show with Herman Perlot, and the work's libretto was written byRichard Carle.[123] It played at the Victoria Theatre located at 201 West 42nd Street from February 26 through March 31, 1900, just 35 performances.[124] In October of that same year she returned to Broadway in another musical featuring music by Aarons, portraying Fleurette d'Norville inThe Military Maid at theSavoy Theatre.[125] She later appeared in a comic opera by Aarons, the part of Anastasia inThe Ladies Paradise, which was performed at the oldMetropolitan Opera House on 39th Street in September 1901.[126]
On Christmas Eve 1900 the comic operaA Royal Rogue opened at theBroadway Theatre with Hall in the role of Stephanie. It ran there for 30 performances and closed on January 19, 1901.[127] She returned to Broadway for one final appearance in June 1903 as Mehitabel Merton inThe Knickerbocker Girl.[128]
After 1903 Hall's performance career slowed and then stopped. She briefly came out of retirement in 1910 after a six year absence from the theater inKlaw & Erlanger's production ofThe Air King.[129] Her marriage with Alfred E. Aarons ended in divorce in 1911.[130] Aarons married his second wife, the actress Leila Hughes, in 1915.[131]
Josephine Hall died on December 5, 1920, inApponaug,Warwick, Rhode Island, at the home of her sister Frances, who had married Eugene Chesebro.[132][133][134][1] She had been ill for eight months prior to her death.[134]