Minnie Maddern Fiske, (1865-1932) Actress, Star, Manager, Crusader

A peerless comedienne, a respected director, a fearless manager who vigorously opposed the Theatrical Syndicate and tireless performer, Mrs. Fiske was one of the great champions of the Ibsen and a realistic approach to theatrical production. She was greatly admired by audiences and the acting profession alike for her versatility and personal charm.

Minnie Maddern Fiske (Mrs. Harrison Grey Fiske) was born Marie Augusta Davey in New Orleans, December 19, 1865. Her father was Thomas Davey, prominent in the South as a theatrical manager, and her mother, Mrs. Minnie Maddern, the daughter of Richard Maddern, an English musician, who came to this country with a large family and organized a traveling concert company composed of his own children. The organization was known as the Maddern Family. Mrs. Maddern became a well known actress later under her husband's management. Mrs. Fiske was two years old when she first went on the stage. Between acts she sang a ballad, "Jamie Coming Over the Meadow." As Minnie Maddern, Mrs. Fiske made her debut in Little Rock, Ark., at the age of three years as the Duke of York in Richard III. She first appeared in New York when she was only five years old with Laura Keene in Hunted Down. She later played Prince Arthur in the revival of King John at Booth's Theatre, New York, with John McCullough, Junius Brutus Booth and Agnes Booth in the cast. When she was twelve years old she played Francois in Richelieu and Louise in The Two Orphans. At thirteen, she assumed the part of the Widow Melnotte with astonishing success. She played the round of child's parts with Barry Sullivan and later with Lucille Western. She was the original Little Fritz in J. K. Emmett's first production at Wallack's and Niblo's, New York; Paul (a boy slave) in The Octoroon at Philadelphia, Franko in Guy Mannering with Mrs. Waller, Sybil in A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing with Carlotta Le Clerq, Little Mary Morgan in Ten Nights in a Barroom with Yankee Locke in Boston, and the Child in Across the Continent with Oliver Doud Byron. She took the child's part with E. L. Davenport in Damon and Pythias and other plays in Philadelphia; she played Heinrich and Meenie in Rip Van Winkle, Adrienne in Daly's Monsieur Alphonse the boys part in The Bosom Friend: Alfred in the first road production of Divorce, Georgie in Frou-Frou with Mrs. Scott-Siddons; the Child in The Chicago Fire, Hilda in Emmet's Carl and Hilda; Ralph Rackstraw in Hooley's juvenile Pinafore company, and Clip in A Messenger from Jarvis Section. At the age of ten she acted the Sun God in David Bidwell's production of The Ice Witch at New Orleans, and she also appeared in Aladdin, The White Fawn and other spectacular pieces. Brief periods were spent by the young actress in French or convent schools in the cities of New Orleans, St. Louis, Montreal and Cincinnati. Her education, despite her constant change of locality, was methodical, and it was carefully supervised by her mother. As Minnie MAddern, Mrs. Fiske became a star at the age of sixteen. After that time and up to the time of her temporary retirement she had become identified with several plays, among them being Caprice and In Spite of All.

When she was married tp Harrison Grey Fiske, in 1890, she retired from the stage, but she had no thought of a permanent relinquishment of the theatre. Because of the couple's stong opposition to the Syndicate, they leased the Manhattan Theatre to star the new MIrs. Fiske in Mr. Fiske's Hester Crewe. Thus began six years of an artistic odyssey with few parallels in theatre history. On her return to the stage she soon transcended mere stardom and took a place in the front rank of American actresses. Her repertoire included the parts of Nora in A Doll's House, Marie Deloche in The Queen of Liars (La Menteuse ), Cesarine in La Femme de Claude, Madeline in Love Finds the Way (Marguerite Merington's adaptation of the German play, Das Recht auf Gluck) , Cyprienne in Divorcons, Magda Gilberte in Frou-Frou, and the one-act plays, Little Italy, A Bit of Old Chelsea, A Light from St. Agnes, Not Guilty and A White Pink. Mrs. Fiske had been accepted throughout the country as one of the foremost American actresses when, in the spring of 1897, she appeared in Stoddard's adaptation of Hardy's novel, Tess of the D'Urbervilles which catapulted her to even greater heights . Subsequent successes were Langdon Mitchell's comedy, Becky Sharp, founded on Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Miranda of the Balcony, The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch, Mary in William Winter's 1902 version of Paul Heyse's Mary of Magdala, Hedda in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1903), Leah in C. M. S. McLellan's Leah Kleschna, produuced in 1904-5, and a one-act play by John Luther Long entitled Dolce. The season of 1906-7 she starred as Cynthia Karslake in Langdon Mitchell's The New York Idea, and on December 30, 1907, appeared as Rebecca West in a revival of Ibsen's Rosmersholm at the Lyric Theatre, New York with George Arliss as Ulric Brendel. Next came a long run as Nell Sanders in Edward Sheldon's Salvation Nell in 1908. Lena Hessel in Ibsen's Pillars of Society, Hannele in Gerhart Hauptmann's Hannele (Hanneles Himmelfahrt) 1910 and Della Bumpstead-Leigh in Harry James-Smith's Mrs. Bumpstead-Leigh in 1911. There followed Agnes Bromley in Langdon Mitchell's 1911 The New Marriage, Julia France in Gertrude Atherton's 1912 Julia France, Lady Patricia Cosway in Rudolph Besier's 1912 Lady Patricia, Mary Page in Edward Sheldon's 1912 The High Road, Lady Betty in John Luther Long's Lady Betty Martingale; or the Adventures of a Lively Hussy.

Mrs. Fiske collaborated with Marian de Forest in creating a starring vehicle for herself, Erstwhile Susan (1916). The Fiske role of Juliet Miller was taken from a novel, Barbetta, by Helen Martin, but it was designed to showcase Mrs. Fiske's particular skills and personality. Juliet Miller is a cultured, early feminist "elocutionist" from Iowa who lectures on woman's rights, lavishly quoting poetry and (hardly surprising) especially Shakespeare. Somewhat surprisingly, she marriesBarnaby Dreary, a Pennsylvania Dutchman whom she finds in a matrimonial advertisement. He has effectively killed two wives with overwork and virtually made a slave of his daughter who has to care for him and his two doltish sons. The crusading reformer meets the old order, and comic mayhem ensues. Farfetched as the premise seems, William Eaton Pritchard reports:

Near the end of the following year (1917), Mrs. Fiske assayed the title character in Phillip Moeller's comedy Madame Sand, under the direction of Arthur Hopkins. 1918 saw Mrs. Fiske in William C. Taylor's version of Henri Lavedan's Service. and then touring the country in a fund-raiser for the Red Cross by J. Hartley Manners called Out There. In 1919, she returned to New York in a "comedy of Moonshine, Madness and Make-Believe" presented by Cohan and Harris and directed by Mr. Fiske called Mis' Nelly of N' Orleans.

RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING:
Binns, Archie, Mrs. Fiske and the American Theatre, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, 1955.
Woolcott, Alexander, Mrs Fiske, Her Views On Actors, Acting, and the Problems of Productions, The Century Co., New York, 1917.