1889 1st New York Theater History Manager Actor LESTER WALLACK autobiography

Description: Title: Memories of Fifty Years Author: Lester Wallack Publisher: Scribner's (1889) Description:Story and memories of Lester Wallack (1820-1888), one of the most famous theatrical managers, producers and actors of the 19th century New York stage who knew everyone and tells great stories in this memoir. Beautifully illustrated and a history of New York that would otherwise have vanished were it not for Wallack's personal recollections. Lester Wallack made his American debut in 1847, under the name of John Lester, in Boucicault's adaptation of Used Up. His father's brother, Henry Wallack, the father of James William Wallack Jr. (1818–1873), was also in the Broadway Theatre's company. His second appearance was as Viscount de Ligny in Captain of the Guard by James Planché. Subsequently, he performed at the Bowery Theatre, Burton's Theatre, Niblo's Garden and the first Wallack's Theatre. His first appearance at the Bowery Theatre was in 1849 as Don Caesar de Bazan by Adolphe d'Ennery and Philippe Dumanoir. He was manager of the second Wallack's Theatre from 1861 (demolished in 1901), and in 1882 he opened the third at 30th Street and Broadway (demolished in 1915). Among the productions staged at the latter was Margaret Mather's ill-fated production of Cymbeline in 1897. Another Wallack's Theatre, at 254 West 42nd Street in New York, was named for him in 1924. Wallack joined The Lambs in 1875, which frequently met at Wallack's Theater. He served as its Shepherd (president): 1878-1879, 1880-1882. 1884-1888, and was one of the founders of the Actors' Fund of America. His greatest successes were as Charles Surface, as Benedick, and especially as Elliot Grey in his own play Rosedale, and similar light comedy and romantic parts, for which his fascinating manners and handsome person well fitted him. He married a sister of Sir John Millais. Bio from Lehigh UniversityBorn in New York City on New Year’s Eve in 1820, John Lester Wallack was christened John Johnstone Wallack; he later adopted Lester John Wallack as his professional name. He first became interested in drama while being schooled in England at private schools; Wallack admits that he “hesitated long before [he] made up [his] mind to become an actor" (Memories of Fifty Years 24). Wallack made his first professional appearance in Tortesa the Usurer; he used the alias “Allan Field,” so as not to rely on the draw of his father’s name. He next appeared as “John Lester” and soon played at theaters in Dublin, Southampton, and Manchester before earning the chance to appear at the Haymarket in London. In 1847 he traveled to America where he made his debut at the Broadway Theatre as Sir Charles Coldstream in a farce titled Used Up. He used the name “John Wallack Lester,” appearing in Shakespearean dramas, before gaining his big break as Don Cesar de Bazan in July 1848; he followed up with a successful run as Edmond Dantes in Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Perhaps inspired by this success, Wallack presented his own well-received plays based on Dumas’ material: The Three Guardsmen and The Four Musketeers, or Ten Years After; Wallack is also credited with the authorship of the short-lived comedy First Impressions which only ran for four nights, co-starring Pfaff’s frequenter E.A. Sothern (Odell 6:530). In addition, Wallack claimed authorship of The House with Two Doors, played in Central Park, and laid disputed claim to Lady Lee’s Widowhood (Odell 7:542). Wallack's level of involvement in the Pfaffian circle is uncertain. Francis Wolle claimed that in the pre-war days Wallack frequented Pfaff’s with O’Brien (Wolle 50). William Winter does substantiate the idea that Wallack and O'Brien are friends; however, Wolle remains the only source directing connecting Wallack to frequenting Pfaff's (Winter 76). Neverthless, Wallack was known to the major theater personalities, actors, dramatists, and critics of the day, many of whom had connections to Pfaff's including: Laura Keene, John Brougham, Joseph Jefferson, E.A. Sothern (who served as an usher at his funeral), and Rose Eytinge (New York Times, Sept. 9, 1888, pg. 5). For example, Wallack was added to Burton’s company in the 1850-51 season where he acted under Brougham’s direction (Odell 6:52). Wallack also shared a close professional relationship with Rose Eytinge, whom he offered the position of the leading lady for a season at his theater and also encouraged to return to acting after her return in 1873 to New York from traveling and living abroad (Eytinge 88, 215). Wallack’s success as an actor was crowned when he became both player and stage manager once his father took over Pfaff’s regular, John Brougham’s Lyceum in September 1852. Here he played comic and romantic parts alongside actors associated with Pfaff’s including Laura Keene, John Brougham, and E. A. Sothern. Wallack continued his dual role as stage manager and actor when Wallack’s Theatre opened at Broadway and Thirteenth Street in 1861. Wallack’s theater became the leading New York (and possibly American) theater in the 1859-60 season. (Odell 7:206). Wallack began appearing as “Lester Wallack,” a name he kept through the opening of the new Wallack Theatre until his retirement in 1887. Wallack’s memorable performances include roles in Pfaffian John Brougham’s A Decided Case as well as Night and Morning, Playing with Fire, The Game of Life, and The Game of Love. He also appeared in Stephen R. Fiske’s My Noble Son-in-Law (T. Miller 104). ORIGINAL 1889 REVIEW From The CriticWallack’s "Memories of Fifty Years" Those who have read Lester Wallack’s ‘Memories of Fifty Years’ as they ran through the pages of Scribner's Magazine will be delighted, if they are collectors of dramatic literature, to get the series as it now reappears, made up into a volume of rare beauty. If Mr. Wallack had gone to his grave without leaving these reminiscences behind him, his name after a while would have been, like those of most actors who are dead and gone, a shadowy memory. But in in this book he has erected a Monument to his own fame that will stand in duplicate in every library where a corner is set apart for memorials of the stage. Mr. Hutton has edited these ‘Memories,’ most of which were taken down, as he intimates in his introduction, in his own snug study in West Thirty-fourth Street. Mr. Wallack talked and Mr. Hutton wrote, and in this way was put together one of the most delightful of books relating to the drama. Few actors have held a place in the hearts of a nation for so long a time as Lester Wallack. The circumstances that conspired to this end were exceptional. In the first place, the name of Wallack was already an honored one in the history of the stage when young Lester came upon the scene. His handsome face, dashing air, graceful manners and kind heart would soon have made a way for him, however, even if the path had not been open, From being at first an actor only, he became erelong a manager as well; and Wallack’s Theatre was as much an ‘institution’ in New York as the Battery, or Trinity Church, or Central Park. It was a place that every New Yorker believed it to be his duty as well as knew it to be his pleasure to ‘stand by,’ and no sojourner from out of town would look upon his visit as a success if he had not passed an evening or two at ‘ Wallack’s,’ Not only Mr.Wallack himself, but his company, it seems as we look back over our play-bills, was more to us than the theatrical companies of to-day. Who will ever take the place in our hearts of Mary Gannon, Mrs. John Hoey, William Blake, or—to come down to later years—of Effie Germon, Madeline Henriques, John Gilbert, Harry Beckett or Harry Montague? The charm of Wallack’s Theatre was left behind when the company went up-town from Broadway and Thirteenth Street; so we were broken in gradually to the disbandment of the company and the change of the theatre’s name. In this volume Mr, Wallack goes back over the years of his professional career and chats in his amiable way of the distinguished people he met on and off the stage, telling delightful anecdotes of his personal experiences. Additional interest is given to the book by the portraits of the author and his contemporaries, printed on full sheets of fine paper. Some of these have never been engraved before; a few of them—notably the sketches by J. E. Millias—might well have been left in oblivion. Among the ‘old, familiar faces’ thus summoned before us again are the elder Wallack, ‘Tom’ Taylor, Charles Kean, Macready, Burton, Chanfrau, Samuel Lover, Bulwer Lytton, Mathews, Couldock,Boucicault, Joe’ Jefferson, Fisher, Gilbert, Charlotte Cushman, George Vandenhoff, Tom Robertson, Mary Gannon, Mrs, Hoey, Mrs. Vernon and Laura Keene, But there are many besides these; and there are ‘instantaneous’ views of theatres, and facsimiles of old letters, ‘historic’ play-bills, etc., etc.—the flotsam and jetsam for which theatrical collectors spend money as if they had a ‘Treasury surplus at their backs, and time as if an eternity of ‘collecting’ were before them. On the whole, the book is about as handsome as clear ‘old-style’ type, good ink, heavy paper and careful printing could make it, and the five hundred subscribers who possess copies of it are to be reckoned among the fortunate. We are indebted to Mr. Hutton for a well made index, and a carefully prepared list of the characters, some three hundred and over, to which Mr. Wallack lent the distinction of his art. Condition:Book is very good with light wear. Top edge gilt. Tissue guard to frontis. Book is clean and tightly bound. Faint ghost of possible bookplate on front pastedown. Also on spine a private / previous owner's library label was once probably there, but was removed long ago. (see final 2 photos) There are no markings though indicating this was part of a library. See all photos. No dustjacket was issued. Details:hardcover 232 pages approx. 5" x 7 1/2"1889 First edition (after limited edition of 500 copies) Scribner Terms (payment, shipping, tax, returns, feedback, etc.) Please read before buying U.S. bidders only Payment Please pay within 48 hours of winning. eBay managed payments Shipping Shipping will be $6.50 and will be shipped USPS media mail with tracking. 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End Time: 2024-12-22T00:12:01.000Z

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