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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2010
On 14 March 1892, dedicated theatregoers in Cleveland, Ohio, found themselves facing a difficult decision: the city's two major touring houses were presenting similar star performers in superficially similar plays. One actress was an old acquaintance, having made regular appearances in Cleveland for more than a decade. The other was making her Cleveland debut, although she was a highly publicized, world-famous star. As the debutante was performing in French and the old favorite played in English—even though an English heavily accented by French—not surprisingly, the larger audience opted for their native tongue.
1 15 March 1892, p. 2.
2 Ibid.
3 The Constitution (Atlanta), 23 February 1886, p. 5.
4 Chicago Tribune, 5 March 1882, p. 16, citing Pittsburgh Chronicle.
5 Rhea's career has been reconstructed from data appearing in the New York Dramatic Mirror's weekly issues from 1881 through 1898, and several dozen published and unpublished sources. It is impossible to list them all here; specific references will be found below.
6 George Odell, C.D., Annals of the New YorkStage, XI (New York, 1939), 452.Google Scholar
7 Odell, XII (1940), 360.
8 23 January 1882; republished in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 25 January 1882, p. 4.
9 Fort Wayne Journal, 16 April 189 5, p. 1.
10 12 September 1883, p. 1.
11 15 December 1883; as cited by Coleman, Marion Moore, Fair Rosalind: The American Career of Helena Modjeska (Cheshire, Conn., 1969), p. 317.Google Scholar
12 New York Mirror, 14 October 1882, p. 5.
13 Boston Evening Transcript, 13 December 1881, p. 8.
14 26 April 1884, p. 4.
15 Democratic Press (Ravenna), 4 March 1897, p. 3.
16 Rhea's early career is detailed most thoroughly in “The Death of Rhea,” The New York Dramatic Mirror, 3 June 1899, p. 13.
17 See, for example, “M'lle Rhea—The Actress,” The Sun (Baltimore), 1 April 1882, p. 1. Much of the press material published in North America is suspect at best; of the biographical data above, only the single matinee at the Gaiety can be verified in American and English sources. See bill, Gaiety Theatre, 2 June 1881, Enthoven Coll., British Theatre Museum (Victoria & Albert Museum); and The Era (London), 43 (28 May 1881), p. 8.
18 29 November 1881,p. 5.
19 18 March 1890, p. 5.
20 18 March 1890, p. 10.
21 I have been unable to locate any prompt boob, accounts, correspondence, or other materials pertaining to Mademoiselle Rhea except for scattered collections of playbills and the newspaper accounts.
22 Playbill, Collection of Professor John Marsh, Edinboro, Pennsylvania.
23 10 June 1884, p. 5; as cited by Crowley, E.S., “The History of the Tabor Grand Opera House, Denver, Colorado 1881–1891” (Thes. Univ. of Denver 1940), p. 221.Google Scholar
24 Aspen Times, 18 June 1889; as cited by Riker, K.B., “Theatrical Activity in Aspen, Colorado, from 1881 to 1900” (Thes. Univ. of Colorado 1964), p. 71.Google Scholar
25 “Telegraphic News,” New York Dramatic Mirror, 13 October 1883, p. 10.
26 New York Dramatic Mirror, 21 June 1884, p. 2.
27 See, for example, my “James J. Corbett: Theatrical Star,” Journal of Sports History, 3 (1976), 162–75.
28 Rhea appeared in the following plays for two seasons each: Diane de Lys, The Power of Love, Fairy Fingers, Pygmalion and Galatea, A Dangerous Game, and The New Magdalen.
29 15 January 1878; as cited byColeman, pp. 160–1.
30 Cleveland Plain Dealer, 24 January 1882, p. 8.
31 Zanesville (Ohio) Daily Courier, 3 February 1882, p. 4.
32 7 February 1882; as cited by Lowrie, J.A., “A History of the Pittsburgh Stage (1861–1891)” (Diss. Univ. of Pittsburgh 1943), p. 162.Google Scholar
33 As published in the Zanesville (Ohio) Daily Courier, 31 January 1882, p. 4.
34 24 January 1882, p. 4.
35 The play has not been published. According to a bill in the Players' Collection (13,557), Theatre Collection of the Library for the Performing Arts, New York, the play was initially performed in five acts but “owing to the construction” it was “sometimes necessary to divide it into six acts.” However many acts were performed, the play always concluded “with the death of Josephine.”
36 Aspen Daily Times, 18 June 1889, p. 4; as cited by B.L. Shaw, “History of the Wheeler Opera House, Aspen, Colorado 1889–1894” (Thes. Western State Coll., Gunnison, Colorado, 1965), p. 103.
37 27 January 1882, p. 4.
38 18 December 1888; as cited by Lowrie, p. 202.
39 14 September 1883, p. 4.
40 20 February 1884, n.p.
41 4 April 1882, p. 4.
42 New York Dramatic Mirror, 8 December 1883, p. 8.
43 Fargo Daily Argus, 17 May 1887; as cited by R.J. Browning, “A Record of Professional Theatre Activity in Fargo, Dakota Territory, from 1880 Through 1888” (Thes. North Dakota Agricultural Coll. 1958), p. 225.
44 “Provincial—Boston,” New York Mirror, 20 May 1882, p. 4.
45 “Mirror Interviews,” New York Dramatic Mirror, 10 August 1895, p. 3.
46 10 May 1884; as cited by McElhaney, J.S., “The Professional Theatre in San Francisco, 1880–1889” (Diss. Stanford 1972), p. 246.Google Scholar
47 14 May 1890, p. 4; as cited by Bruskern, L., “History of the Laramie Theatre, 1881–1890” (Thes. Univ. of Wyoming 1961), p. 131.Google Scholar
48 Seattle Daily Press, 7 June 1887; as cited by Nelson, E.L., “A History of Road Shows in Seattle from Their Beginnings to 1914” (Thes. Univ. of Washington 1947), p. 46.Google Scholar
49 The Constitution (Atlanta), 1 March 1884, p. 8.
50 The Sun (Baltimore), 1 April 1882, p. 1.
51 The Constitution (Atlanta), 12 February 1895, p. 3.
52 The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), 13 January 1895, p. 7.
53 See esp. Favorini, Attilio, “The Old School of Acting and the English Provinces,” QJS, 58 (1972), 204–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
54 New York Times, 23 May 1899, p. 7; “The Death of Rhea,” New York Dramatic Mirror, 3 June 1899, P.13.
55 The Herald (Montreal), 6 December 1897, p. 5.
56 Graham, Franklin, Histrionic Montreal (1902; rpt. New York and London, n.d.), pp. 259–60.Google Scholar