Hugh Ford (director)

Hugh Ford
Hugh Ford in 1919
BornFebruary 5, 1868
Washington, D.C., USA
DiedDecember 29, 1942(1942-12-29) (aged 74)
New York City, New York, USA
EducationAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts
Alma materVan der Naillen School of Mines and Engineering
OccupationsActor, director, producer
Years active1889-1932
Notable workThe Garden of Allah, Merton of the Movies
Spouse
  • Jessie Weir Izett
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1899⁠–⁠1942)​
Children1

Hugh Ford (February 5, 1868 – December 29, 1942) was an American stage actor, director, and producer. He performed on stage as an actor from 1889 through 1904. From 1898 on he also directed plays: for stock companies, the F. F. Proctor organization, Liebler & Company, and later as an independent through 1932. His Broadway credits span over forty years as performer and creative crew; he also adapted and wrote several plays, and an article on modern stagecraft as employed in early films. He worked in the silent film industry for eight years, directing 31 films and writing for 19 between 1913 and 1921. This film experience later proved useful when he directed and co-produced the Kaufman and Connelly Broadway hit, Merton of the Movies, which ran an entire season for nearly 400 performances. Ford retired in 1932, devoting himself to landscape art until his death ten years later.

Early years

Hugh Ford[fn 1] was born February 5, 1868, in Washington, D.C.,[7] to German immigrants[8] George Ford and Henrietta Price Ford.[9] The family moved to California after Ford's birth. He attended the Van der Naillen School of Mines and Engineering in San Francisco.[9]

Stock company actor

According to a newspaper account, Ford said his first performance was as a member of the original cast for The Charity Ball, produced by Daniel Frohman at the Lyceum Theatre.[10] This three-act play by Henry Churchill de Mille and David Belasco premiered in November 1889. Ford's name does not appear in any cast list for the production. Assuming he did take part, it was while he was a drama school apprentice at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in that same theatre.[11]

His next known credit dates from October 1890, when he and Maude Adams were listed among players[fn 2] in the newly formed stock company of Charles Frohman slated to perform in the premiere of Men and Women on Broadway.[12][fn 3] Ford was still with the Charles Frohman stock company in April 1891, playing Men and Women on tour in Chicago,[14] and the following month in Salt Lake City.[15] The tour visited Los Angeles in June,[16] and finished up in Washington state during July 1891.[17][18]

Ford then joined the company of Gracie Emmett, touring in an old melodrama she bought and had rewritten, The Pulse of New York,[19] starting in April 1892,[20] and continuing through May 1893.[21] In late October 1893, he was engaged for a tour in Canada with H. B. Clarke. For a month the company played Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick, only to be abandoned at the latter by Clarke, without their final week's pay or return fare to New York.[22]

By August 1895 Ford was in San Francisco with the Henry E. Dixey company, which included Maurice Barrymore and Rose Coghlan. He performed minor roles in Masks and Faces[23] and As You Like It,[24] before going on tour with Dixey in The Lottery of Love through March 1896.[25] Ford returned to San Francisco for a summer season with the L. R. Stockwell company at the California Theatre.[26][27]

Ford was hired in September 1896 for character parts with the Grand Opera House stock company in Salt Lake City.[28] This was a new company,[29] and among its other members was actress Jessie Izett from Denver.[30] During March 1897 Ford won a bet with the company's juvenile,[fn 4] Thomas W. Ross, over the Corbett–Fitzsimmons fight. He then accepted an invitation to hold their own four-round bout, for a $50 wager. The Salt Lake Herald reported that Ford had eight pounds and a bit of a reach on Ross, and was known for his skill at boxing.[31] There was no acrimony between them, and they, along with other stock company actors, played baseball against officers of the 24th Infantry at Fort Douglas in April 1897.[32] Ford wrote a play titled Social Bubbles, which was accepted for production by Herbert Kelcey that same month.[fn 5] After the stock company's season ended, Ford joined leading man Walter Edwards for the summer season at Elitch Theatre in Denver. Jessie Izett, whose hometown it was, also went to Denver.[35]

Marriage and early stage management

Hugh Ford 1901

Ford next went to Pittsburgh's Grand Theatre stock company, in which he would perform "old men's characters". Walter Edwards, playing "heavies", and Jessie Izett, "female juveniles", also joined this company in August 1897.[36] Ford directed a production of amateurs in Our Boys for a charity benefit in February 1898.[37] He was later reported as being assistant stage manager during his season with the Grand Theatre.[3] While Jessie Izett remained with the Grand Theatre stock company, Ford joined the Imperial Theater's new stock company in St. Louis, Missouri during September 1898.[38] After playing in Romeo and Juliet in St. Louis,[39] he took a week off in late March 1899 to marry Jessie Izett in Pittsburgh.[40] They continued their separate bookings until June 1899, when Jessie joined Ford in the newly-formed Lawrence Hanley stock company, performing outdoor theatre in Olympia Park.[fn 6]

Ford and his wife moved to New York City, where he signed with the William Morris company. He was on tour with them in The Adventure of Lady Ursula when their only child was born in late December 1899.[42] By October 1900 Ford and Jessie Izett had joined the Grand Opera House stock company in Indianapolis, Indiana.[10] Ford drew good reviews for his portrayal of Svengali in Trilby,[43] but the venue soon shut down and the Fords were forced to accept separate engagements. Jessie Izett went on tour with Howard Kyle's company in Nathan Hale,[44] while Hugh Ford joined the Dearborn stock company in Chicago, playing eccentrics and character parts.[45]

Their professional paths crossed again in Memphis, Tennessee when both were hired for the Hopkins stock company of the Grand Opera House. Jessie Izett, who had done well on the Nathan Hale tour, was hired as the leading lady, while Ford was appointed stage director, and expected to play character parts as well.[46] His first directorial effort, for The Little Minister, was well received,[47] while a later report praised not only his direction but his providing set designs for the scene painter to color.[48] Both Ford and Jessie Izett were popular with Memphis audiences; their benefit[fn 7] performance on February 14, 1902 in Caprice were SRO at the matinee and evening show.[49]

Proctor's organization

Jessie Izett 1907

After Memphis, Ford and his wife again went in different directions for employment. Jessie Izett toured with William S. Hart and J. H. Gilmour in The Suburban,[50] while Ford joined F. F. Proctor's organization, a group of stock companies based at the four Manhattan theatres Proctor owned. In those pre-Equity days, Proctor moved performers and plays between theatres at will. Ford was with Proctor's 125th Street Theatre in Harlem during February 1903,[51] and in April with the company at Proctor's Fifth Avenue Theatre.[52] By that time Jessie Izett and The Suburban company were playing at the Academy of Music in Manhattan.[53] Ford was stage director for Proctor's Fifth Avenue Theatre by July 1903.[54] A month later Jessie Izett joined Ford at Proctor's to star in a revival of Caste.[55] This was a one-week run for Jessie Izett, who was committed to touring. Ford stayed with Proctor's, both performing and directing. At a revival of Trilby in December 1903, Ford directed and played Svengali opposite Lotta Linthicum in the title role.[fn 8]

Ford recounted tales of stage effects gone wrong to Adolph Klauber in January 1904, mentioning the 125th Street Theatre in particular: "The Harlem house was always a Jonah to me... whenever there was a smash in an intricate scene, it was always in Harlem that it happened."[57] Jessie Izett replaced female lead Agnes Ardeck as Molly Wood in the original Broadway production of The Virginian the following month,[58] but was able to join Ford in a one time performance of Her First Offense by Julius Chambers in March 1904.[59] They teamed up again in April for a revival of Audrey by Harriet Ford, for which they had permission from Liebler & Company, and used the original scenery and costumes for that Eleanor Robson vehicle.[60] By June 1904 Ford was referred to as the general stage director for Proctor's organization.[61]

Liebler & Company

T. A. Liebler 1909
George C. Tyler 1907

Ford was hired by Liebler & Company in August 1905, to direct their new production of The Prodigal Son by Hall Caine on its opening tour.[62] Liebler & Company was a partnership between producer George C. Tyler and investor Theodore A. Liebler (1852-1941)[63] They had founded Liebler & Company in 1898,[64] and since then had become a major producer of plays.[65] By the time Ford staged Sydney Rosenfeld's musical The Vanderbilt Cup[fn 9] in January 1906, he was general stage director for Liebler & Company.[66]

As general stage director, he supervised other directors who had responsibility for revivals and touring companies, while he himself staged new works, such as Salomy Jane (1907),[67] The Man from Home (1907),[68] The Melting Pot (1908),[69] The Dawn of a Tomorrow (1909),[70] Alias Jimmy Valentine (1909),[71] and The Deep Purple (1910).[72] He also worked with English writer Louis N. Parker to stage the latter's work, when Pomander Walk (1910)[73] and Disraeli (1911) had their premieres.[74] Ford travelled with Tyler and Edward A. Morange to Biskra, Algeria during April 1911, where they met up with English author-playwright Robert Hichens,[75] for inspiration on set designs, and to recruit local people for The Garden of Allah.[76]

The Garden of Allah was a highly successful spectacle; over 375,000 people saw it during the Broadway run (Oct 1911-May 1912) at the massive Century Theatre, more than any single play to that date.[77] To follow it, Liebler & Company chose a French drama by Pierre Loti and Judith Gautier, called The Daughter of Heaven (La fille du ciel). This was a tragedy set in Ming dynasty China. Hugh Ford and Edward A. Morange travelled to Paris for consultations with the playwrights, while a young writer, Heywood Broun, was sent to China to collect photos and drawings for the settings and costumes. The translation from French was done by Mrs. Golding Bright under her pen name of George Egerton. Tang Young Lee, nephew of Tang Shaoyi, was engaged as technical advisor on Chinese culture.[78] Ford spent nine months preparing and staging the play, which ran for nearly 100 performances, but still lost money. His final work for Liebler & Company was to produce and direct plays for the Children's Theatre that was installed on the roof of the Century Theatre in the Fall of 1912.[79]

Film industry

After leaving Liebler & Company, Ford staged the long-running success Potash and Perlmutter during the summer of 1913, but received little credit for it. According to George S. Kaufman in 1916, the success of the play was due to Ford's staging. Kaufman, then a drama critic for the New-York Tribune said of Ford: "He did more than stage it; he built it. So valuable were his services, in fact, that he is said to have been paid a royalty upon the play. Yet few persons heard of Mr. Ford in connection with the production of Potash and Perlmutter."[80]

Ford joined the Famous Players Film Company, along with another Liebler stage director, Frederick Stanhope, and set designer Edward Morange, during December 1913.[81] Ford was the first major stage director to try making films.[82] He directed 31 films between 1913 and 1921.[83] He was inactive in the theater during these years. Ford also wrote for 19 films between 1913 and 1920.[84] He started his film career as co-director of The Prisoner of Zenda in 1913.[85]

Kaufman and Connelly

Ford joined with his old Liebler & Company boss George C. Tyler to produce two plays by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. Tyler had given the duo their first playwriting assignment with Dulcy in 1921,[86] followed by To the Ladies,[87] and the musical revue The Forty-Niners.[88]

Kaufman and Connelly's most successful play for Tyler, Merton of the Movies, was co-produced by Ford, who also staged it. An adaptation of the Harry Leon Wilson novel, the comedy starred Florence Nash and Glenn Hunter in a Hollywood satire.[89] The production lasted eleven months on Broadway, running to nearly 400 performances.[90][91]

Kaufman and Connelly's last collaboration with George C. Tyler was The Deep Tangled Wildwood, a light satire on rural comedies, which Ford again staged and co-produced. Critic Arthur Pollock said the jokes were good but there was little else to the play;[92] it was withdrawn after two weeks on Broadway.[93]

Later years

During Spring 1924, Ford and George C. Tyler produced a series of Broadway matinee performances by Madame Simon.[94] They recruited José Ruben and Eva Le Gallienne to support her in La vierge folle by Henry Bataille,[95] followed by La couturière de Lunéville by Alfred Savoir, and Le passé by Georges de Porto-Riche.[96] They also continued to manage Glenn Hunter and the Merton of the Movies touring company,[97] and produced Mrs. Fiske in a long-running revival tour for The Rivals.[98] Ford also directed, and co-produced with Tyler, the Owen Davis comedy Ma Pettengill, which toured the Midwest starting in March 1925.[99][100]

Ford had retired from film-making in 1921, but told Burns Mantle he had made enough money in that industry to last his lifetime.[82] His stage activities tapered off from 1925, but he indulged in some playwriting in 1927 with It Makes a Difference, which vanished after a brief run in Chicago.[101] However, the Wall Street crash of 1929 persuaded him to accept a staging job for Diana in December 1929. Originally titled Isadora in tryouts, it depicted the famous dancer Isadora Duncan, who had died two years earlier.[102] Ford had unwisely invested some money in Diana, for this work by Irving Kaye Davis failed after one week, leading the playwright to make accusations of moral prejudice against critics.[103]

Ford's last stage involvement was in the Fall of 1932, when he and co-producer Harry Askin took on the managerial lease for the Hudson Theatre, which had fallen into bankruptcy with the Great Depression. Their idea was to present original plays for low prices, letting each one run for so long as it made money.[82] Their first offering was a three-act play by actor Robert Middlemass, The Budget, which Ford staged.[104] It failed after a week, and Ford retired permanently. Ten years later he died, on December 29, 1942.[105]

Personal character

Outgoing and athletic in the 1890s, Ford became wary of personal publicity as he moved into stage directing. He was often interviewed by newspaper and magazine journalists on various aspects of the theater, but never discussed himself. A private person, his wedding had only two guests: the married couple with whom his bride then boarded, who also served as witnesses.[40] Originally trained for an engineering career, he was a fair draftsman. He also had some sketching ability; when a reporter wanted a photo of Ford in character, he obliged with a drawing instead.[10] Ford said his approach to theatre staging was to give impressions and avoid ultra-realism, as he felt it only distracted the spectator.[106]

“Do you know Mr. Hugh Ford? Yes? Then you know a courteous and amiable volcano. Or, shall I say, a polite streak of lightning? In a flash he sees faults and in another flash he corrects them. He is alert, watchful, eager. You would think that the play he happens to be at work on is the only play he has any interest in, that it is the one object of his existence. Presently you learn he is rehearsing sixteen others in the same week, and is traveling sixteen thousand miles to do so. And with all his speed and energy he is patient, considerate, and encouraging, so that he gets the best possible results, with the slightest amount of friction.” — Louis N. Parker in The Green Book Magazine[107]

Columnist Frederick Donaghy said Hugh Ford "... has been the uncredited collaborator of many playwrights in his career as a stage director. The late Paul Armstrong, when a play of his was put on by Mr. Ford without changes to the manuscript, is said to have screamed in triumph: My God! My play is Fordproof![108] The English playwright Louis N. Parker, whose Pomander Walk was produced by Liebler & Company in 1911, was more appreciative of Ford's revisions to that work after the first tryout.[107]

Producer George C. Tyler said Ford had an enthusiasm for what he called "dramaturgy". Tyler recounted how this quality once got Ford into a ticklish situation with William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry. Tyler had advanced Porter $2000 to dramatize his own short story, The World and the Door, but had received nothing except a brief scenario. Tyler sent Ford to the apartment Porter had taken in Manhattan, where he found the author "boiled as an owl" but able to sit upright at a table. Ford began discussing the structure of the play and let his "professional enthusiasm run away with him". He advanced notions about how the play might be developed to an impassive Porter, who suddenly opened a drawer in the table and took out a pistol. Waving it about, Porter said "Do you see this? Well, I keep this here just for fellows like you." According to Tyler, Ford grabbed his hat and ran, and Porter never did write the play.[109]

While working in Hollywood, he was said to be the only one who followed "the quaint New York custom of wearing a bowler hat".[110] Burns Mantle, who had been a Ford collaborator[fn 10] as well as a critic of his work, said: "It was like Hugh Ford, who died last week, to request that nothing more than necessary be mentioned of his passing". Mantle reported that since Ford's retirement he had developed "marked skill as a landscape artist".[112]

Jean Ford

Jean Ford

Ford and his wife Jessie Izett had a daughter in December 1899,[42] whom they burdened with the name Izetta Henrietta,[113] but who from an early age went by Jean.[114] At six months, she appeared with her mother in a stock production, and at one year old with her parents at Indianapolis in Confusion.[115] She was introduced to both stage management and acting as a child.[79] She was assistant stage manager on Tip Top in 1921, when she composed music for Fred Stone's song I'm a Bad, Bad Man.[116] Jean Ford was a principal performer in George White's Scandals of 1921 during the summer of that year. She graduated from Vassar College in June 1922,[117] When her father co-produced The Romantic Age by A. A. Milne, starring Leslie Howard and Margalo Gillmore, in November 1922, Jean Ford had a featured role. She then spent a season with a Rochester, New York stock company, Most of her subsequent professional work was for projects in which her father had a hand. She spent time touring in his production of Merton of the Movies, had a prominent part in Ma Pettengill during its Midwest tour,[99][100] spent a season with Mrs. Fiske in The Rivals,[118] and performed in It Makes a Difference, before leaving acting to get married in 1928.[118]

Writings

Non-fiction

  • Throwing a New Light on the Drama (1913) Two-page article on the importance of lighting for stage productions, with illustrations by Ike Morgan, published in Sunday supplements for newspapers.[119]

Plays

This includes only works where Ford was the sole or principal author, and excludes "play doctoring" for other writers.

Stage credits

Actor

Selected plays in which Hugh Ford performed, by year of his first appearance.
Year Play Role Venue Notes/Sources
1889 The Charity Ball Lyceum Theatre Ford was an uncredited drama school apprentice for this production.[10][11]
1890 Men and Women Mr. Wayne Proctor's Theatre
Touring company 		Ford was on tour with this production through July 1891.[13][12][18]
1891 Work and Wages Bob Dormer National Theatre[fn 11] An English melodrama set in a steel mill that advocated eight hour work days and profit sharing.[126][127]
1892 The Pulse of New York Dicey Moran Touring company Ford played a bouncer from April 1892[20] through May 1893.[21]
1893 The Plunger Walter Glyndon Touring company Melodrama by Oliver Doud Byron, with songs, dances, and electrical effects.[128]
1894 A Ride for Life Giovanna Touring company Train melodrama by Walter Fessler, who also starred. Ford played an "Italian rascal".[129]
1895 Masks and Faces Hundsdon Columbia Theatre The Henry E. Dixey company performed at this San Francisco venue.[23]
As You Like It Adam Sutro Estate An al fresco production, with Maurice Barrymore and Rose Coghlan as the leads.[24]
1896 The Lottery of Love Capt. Sam Merrimac Touring company Adapted by Augustin Daly from a work by Alexandre Bisson and Albert Carré.[25]
The Lost Paradise Schwarz Grand Opera House[fn 12] By Henry Churchill de Mille, this was Ford's first performance with future wife Jessie Izett.[29]
1897 Doris Mr. Merriegood Grand Opera House Five-act 1895 drama by Robert Drouet had Ford and Izett playing spouses.[130]
The Lights o' London Clifford Armytage Grand Opera House Last production for the Grand Opera House stock company.
1898 A Wife's Peril Crossley Beck Imperial Theater Drama by Victorien Sardou starred Frank Losee in this St. Louis revival.[38]
1899 Romeo and Juliet Tybalt Imperial Theater [39]
As You Like It Jaques Olympic Park Theatre An outdoor venue in St. Louis.[131]
Hamlet Ghost/Laertes Olympic Park Theatre A dual role for Ford while Jessie Izett had a trouser role as Osric.[132]
1900 Diplomacy Baron Stein Grand Opera House[fn 13] Ford drew a sketch of his character for this drama by Victorien Sardou.[10]
Trilby Svengali Grand Opera House A rare lead for Ford, while Jessie Izett played Honorine.[43]
1901 Sowing the Wind Mr. Watkin Dearborn Theatre[fn 14] "Problem play" by Sydney Grundy was Ford's first performance with the Dearborn stock company.[45]
The Little Minister Wearywald Grand Opera House Besides his comic character, Ford also directed this 1897 J. M. Barrie play.[47]
1902 Caprice Jim Baxter Grand Opera House An 1884 play by Howard P. Taylor, in which Jesse Izett played Ford's daughter.[49]
1903 A Social Highwayman Hanby Fifth Avenue Theatre A romantic drama by Marie Stone from a story by E. T. Train.[52]
Caste Old Eccles Fifth Avenue Theatre Ford and Jessie Izett had leading roles in this three-act comedy.[55]
Trilby Svengali Fifth Avenue Theatre Besides reprising his role of Svengali, Ford also directed.[56]
1904 Her First Offense Fifth Avenue Theatre One-act play by Julius Chambers starred Ford and Jessie Izett.[59]
Audrey Fifth Avenue Theatre Adaptation by Harriet Ford of a Mary Johnston novel.[60]

Director and producer

Selected plays which Hugh Ford directed and/or produced by year.
Year Play Role Venue Notes/Sources
1898 Our Boys (Director) East End Theatre Ford's first known directorial credit was for an amateur benefit in Pittsburgh.[37]
1901 The Little Minister (Director) Grand Opera House The first of many plays Ford would direct for the Hopkins stock company.[47]
1902 Caprice (Director) Grand Opera House Ford's last directorial role for the Hopkins stock company.[49]
1903 Pair of Boots (Director) Fifth Avenue Theatre One-act marital farce by Julius Chambers.[54]
Trilby (Director) Fifth Avenue Theatre Ford both directed and reprised his role of Svengali in this four-act drama.[56]
1905 The Prodigal Son (Co-Director) New Amsterdam Theatre Ford co-directed with Murray Carson in his first job for Liebler & Company.[62]
1906 The Vanderbilt Cup (Director) Parsons Theatre
Broadway Theatre 		Musical by Robert Hood Bowers and Sydney Rosenfeld starred 16-year-old Elsie Janis in her Broadway debut.[66]
1907 Salomy Jane (Director) Liberty Theatre The play had no tryouts; its first public performance was its Broadway premiere.[67]
The Man from Home (Director) Astor Theatre [68]
1908 The Melting Pot (Director) Comedy Theatre [69]
1909 Alias Jimmy Valentine (Director) Wallack's Theatre Written by Paul Armstrong from a story by O. Henry.[71]
The Dawn of a Tomorrow (Director) Lyceum Theatre Eleanor Robson starred in this drama by Frances Hodgson Burnett.[70]
1910 The Deep Purple (Director) Lyric Theatre Melodrama by Paul Armstrong had Richard Bennett, Emmett Corrigan, and Ada Dwyer.[72]
Pomander Walk (Director) Wallack's Theatre [73]
1911 Disraeli (Director) Wallack's Theatre [74]
The Garden of Allah (Director) Century Theatre [76]
1912 Cabbages and Kings (Director) Alcazar Theatre Ford and Joseph Medill Patterson play based on O. Henry story.[121]
The Daughter of Heaven (Director) Century Theatre Adaptation of La fille du ciel by Pierre Loti and Judith Gautier.
1913 Potash and Perlmutter (Director) George M. Cohan's Theatre George S. Kaufman attributed the success of this long-running show to Ford's uncredited direction.[80]
The Marriage Game (Director) Parsons Theatre
Comedy Theatre 		Ford staged this Anne Crawford Flexner comedy for John Cort.[133]
1923 Aren't We All? (Director) Gaiety Theatre Broadway debut of a London production by Frederick Lonsdale.
Home Fires (Director) 39th Street Theatre Three-act play by Owen Davis ran for seven weeks on Broadway.
The Deep Tangled Wildwood (Director)/(Co-Producer) Frazee Theatre
1924 La vierge folle
La couturière de Lunéville
Le passé 		(Co-Producer) Gaiety Theatre Three French matinees starring Madame Simon were performed during March 1924.[94]
The Rivals (Co-Producer) Touring company Mrs. Fiske starred, with Chauncey Olcott, Tom Wise, and James T. Powers in support.[98]
A Nameless Comedy (Director) Montauk Theatre A gimmick production, inviting audiences to name the play by Mark Reed.[fn 15]
1925 Ma Pettengill (Director)/(Co-Producer) Touring company Comedy by Owen Davis, adapted from Harry Leon Wilson stories, starred Edna May Oliver, Burr McIntosh, Raymond Hackett, and Jean Ford.[99][100]
1929 Diana (Director)/(Assoc. Producer) Longacre Theatre Three-act drama starring Mary Nash as a thinly-veiled Isadora Duncan.[102]
1932 The Budget (Director)/(Co-Producer) Hudson Theatre Weak domestic comedy starred Lynne Overman, Mary Lawlor, and Raymond Walburn.[104]

Filmography

Advertisement (1919)

Director

Screenwriter

Notes

  1. ^ Ford's middle initial is given as "G" on a death index,[1] and in a brief obituary notice in The New York Times,[2] but otherwise there is no record of him using it. From 1899 through 1905 he occasionally was cited as Hugh J. Ford, for a report of his wedding[3] and marriage,[4] and two stage credits.[5][6]
  2. ^ Others in the troupe were William Morris, Etta Hawkins, Emmett Corrigan, and Odette Tyler.
  3. ^ Ford's role, Mr. Wayne,[13] was not mentioned by any reviewer on opening night, and IBDb assigns it to E. Mackey, which the Wikipedia article on the play has as Edgar Mackey.
  4. ^ A juvenile in theatre was a stock character, and not indicative of the actor's age. Unlike an ingénue, the juvenile could be either male or female, though the former predominated.
  5. ^ Ford had hoped to get a tryout at the Grand Opera House before the stock company ended its season,[33] but the play had only one part for a leading man. The stock company had two leading men, Walter Edwards and Howard Kyle, neither of whom was willing to perform in a lesser role.[34]
  6. ^ Originally called Klondyke Park, it had just been renamed. It comprised the area near Grand Blvd and Arsenal Street that is now part of Tower Grove Park in St. Louis.[41]
  7. ^ A benefit was a 19th Century tradition of stock companies, whereby a performer was rewarded for long service or popularity by having a day dedicated to them. The benefit was usually proposed and underwritten by patrons who guaranteed the box office receipts, a portion of which went to the honoree, in case of a low turnout. The play to be performed and their own part in it was agreed upon between the honoree and theater management.
  8. ^ During one evening show, Ford had just collapsed backwards onto a table for Svengali's death scene and lay motionless, waiting for Trilby to discover his corpse and end the third act. But Lotta Linthicum didn't appear, so Ford stayed motionless in a supine position across the table, in front of the audience. After five minutes someone found the actress collapsed against a backstage piano, and thought to bring the curtain down, releasing Ford. With the aid of a doctor, Lotta Linthicum was brought around and played the fourth act.[56]
  9. ^ Named after the annual Vanderbilt Cup auto race that had begun in 1904.
  10. ^ Mantle had written the scenario for the film Lady Rose's Daughter, which Ford directed in 1920.[111]
  11. ^ Sometimes referred to as "The National", this venue was located during 1891 on Ridge Avenue between Tenth and Calloway in Philadelphia.[125]
  12. ^ This was in Salt Lake City, Utah.
  13. ^ This was in Indianapolis, Indiana.
  14. ^ This was located on Randolph Street, between Dearborn and Clark, in Chicago.
  15. ^ The title eventually selected was Let's Get Rich, which is what the author had originally proposed.[134][135]

References

  1. ^ Hugh G Ford in the New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948, retrieved from Ancestry.com
  2. ^ "Deaths". The New York Times. New York, New York. December 30, 1942. p. 23 – via NYTimes.com.
  3. ^ a b "Play People Married". The Pittsburgh Post. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. March 28, 1899. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Return of a Popular Actress". The Pittsburgh Post. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. March 29, 1900. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "'Leah Klechna'". New-York Tribune. New York, New York. March 21, 1905. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Leah Klechna' Burlesque". The New York Times. New York, New York. March 21, 1905. p. 8 – via NYTimes.com.
  7. ^ U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925, for Hugh Ford, retrieved from Ancestry.com
  8. ^ 1910 United States Federal Census for Hugh Ford, New York > New York > Manhattan Ward 12 > District 0703, retrieved from Ancestry.com
  9. ^ a b Albert Nelson Marquis, ed. (1928). Who's Who in America: Volume 15, 1928-1929. The A. N. Marquis Company, Chicago. p. 791.
  10. ^ a b c d e "Two New Stock Company Members". The Indianapolis News. Indianapolis, Indiana. October 30, 1900. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b "Entertainment at Garden City". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. April 11, 1890. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b "A Lull at the Theatres". New-York Tribune. New York, New York. October 19, 1890. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ a b "Musical and Dramatic Notes". The New York Times. New York, New York. October 10, 1890. p. 4 – via NYTimes.com.
  14. ^ "Two New Attractions". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. April 12, 1891. p. 36 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Salt Lake Theatre (ad)". The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City, Utah. May 3, 1891. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Amusements". Los Angeles Herald. Los Angeles, California. June 11, 1891. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Amusements". The Post-Intelligencer. Seattle, Washington. July 9, 1891. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ a b "At the Auditorium". The Spokane Chronicle. Spokane, Washington. July 11, 1891. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Dramatic Dots". Daily Sentinel. Rome, New York. July 11, 1891. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ a b "Amusement Notes". The Cleveland Leader. Cleveland, Ohio. April 6, 1892. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ a b "Holmes' Star Theatre". The Daily Standard Union. Brooklyn, New York. May 2, 1893. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "An Answer to Mr. Clarke (letter)". The Daily Telegraph. St. John, New Brunswick. December 7, 1893. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
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  24. ^ a b "Dramatis Personae". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco, California. September 22, 1895. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
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Bibliography

  • Robert Grau. Forty Years Observation of Music and the Drama. Broadway Publishing Company, 1909.
  • George C. Tyler and J. C. Furnas. Whatever Goes Up. Bobbs Merrill, 1934.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Ford_(director)