Our American Cousin is a three-act play by English playwright Tom Taylor. It is a farce featuring awkward, boorish American Asa Trenchard, who is introduced to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate. The play premiered with great success at Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City in 1858, with Laura Keene in the cast, the title character played by Joseph Jefferson, and Edward Askew Sothern playing Lord Dundreary. The play's long-running London production in 1861 was also successful.
Lawrence Patrick Barrett was an American stage actor.
Joseph Jefferson III, often known as Joe Jefferson, was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous 19th century American comedians. Beginning as a young child, he continued as a performer for most of his 76 years. Jefferson was particularly well known for his adaptation and portrayal of Rip Van Winkle on the stage, reprising the role in several silent film adaptations. After 1865, he created no other major role and toured with this play for decades.
Edwin Adams was an American stage actor, considered to have been one of America's best light comedians.
James O'Neill was an Irish-American theatre actor. He was the father of American playwright Eugene O'Neill and the inspiration for one of the primary characters in his son's play Long Day's Journey into Night.
Fay Templeton was an American actress, singer, songwriter, and comedian.
William Gaxton was an American actor of vaudeville, film, and theatre. For many years Gaxton was president of The Lambs Club, a theatrical organization in New York City. He and Victor Moore became a popular theatre duo in the 1930s and 1940s; they also appeared in a film together.
Charles Fisher was an American stage actor and comedian. Born to a prolific theatrical family from Norfolk, England, Fisher went on to find success as an actor in different parts of England, and then from 1852 onwards in New York City where he worked as a highly regarded performer for almost 40 years in the companies of William E. Burton, Laura Keene, James William Walluck, and Augustin Daly.
John Edward Owens was an English-American comedian, born in the Aigburth district of Liverpool, England but taken to the United States when three years old. He began his stage career in 1841 in Philadelphia. In 1844 he was engaged at the Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts (BMGFA), and after a three year absence returned to that theatre where he was a frequent performer in the late 1840s. He purchased the BMGFA from P.T. Barnum in 1850, only to sell it a year later to Henry C. Jarrett.
Charles Hale Hoyt was an American dramatist and playwright. He was married twice, to stage actresses Flora Walsh and Caroline Miskel Hoyt, both of whom died young. The shock of the death of his second wife contributed towards his mental health issues and the alcohol consumption which culminated in his death.
Blanche Yurka was an American stage and film actress and director. She was an opera singer with minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera and later became a stage actress, making her Broadway debut in 1906 and established herself as a character actor of the classical stage, also appearing in several films of the 1930s and 1940s.
John Grinham Kerr was an American actor and attorney.
John Craven was an American actor in theater, film, and television.
Julia Stewart was an English actress. Beginning her career as a child actress, she went on to success on the London stage in adult roles in the late 1870s. She appeared on stage in New York from 1879.
The California Theatre was located at 414 Bush Street, San Francisco. It was built in 1869 by William Ralston, at that time the treasurer of the Bank of California. S. C. Bugbee & Son were the architects and the theatre cost $250,000 to build. The original theatre was demolished and rebuilt in 1889. It was destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The former site is now a California Historical Landmark, with a historical marker commemorating the theatre and its artists. The original theater encompassed 165 feet of frontage, 117 feet in depth, resting on 4 1/2 foot foundation walls; a handsome building with a dress circle, gallery and 51 foot ceiling space in the interior auditorium.
William E. Sheridan was an American stage actor and Civil War veteran, active on stage from 1858 until his death in 1887. Sheridan was a respected actor who played both lead and supporting roles, but was probably best suited when cast as the villain.
George Henry Jessop was an Irish playwright, librettist, journalist, and novelist. Born in Ireland and educated at Trinity College Dublin, Jessop began his career as a writer working for magazines in London before moving to California in 1873. There he worked as both a journalist and newspaper editor for five years before beginning a career as a playwright in the United States. His first play, A Gentleman from Nevada (1879), was a success and had a profitable run at Broadway's Fifth Avenue Theatre. This work was eclipsed by his third play, Sam'l of Posen; or, The Commercial Drummer (1881), which brought both fame and fortune to its star, the actor M. B. Curtis, who purchased the rights to the work outright from Jessop. It was notably the first play in the history of American theatre to present a positive portrayal of a Jewish character.
Daniel Howard Harkins was an American stage actor. His career spanned almost 50 years and included performances around the world. He also served as a Union officer during the American Civil War.
Arthur McKee Rankin (1841–1914) was a Canadian born American stage actor and manager. He was the son of a member of the Canadian Parliament. After a dispute with his father he left home to become an actor. He made his stage debut in Rochester, New York in 1861 using the name George Henley. In 1863 he was seen at Wood's Theatre in Cincinnati in the play The Stranger as The Count. During this time he was engaged by Mrs. John Drew at her Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Rankin, a Canadian, had no role or participation in the American Civil War. In 1866 he appeared at the Olympic Theatre in London run by Mrs. John Wood. Rankin increasingly became popular in the melodramas of the period and in 1867 was in a play called The Hunchback. In 1870 he appeared with Lydia Thompson in Mosquito and was a leading man from 1873 to 1875 at the famous Union Square Theatre. Having married Elizabeth Blanchard better known as Kitty they acted together in the 1870s appearing in the smash hit play The Two Orphans in 1874. He collaborated with playwright Frederick G. Maeder on several plays, among them The Runaway Wife and The Canuck.
George Kunkel was an American character actor and operatic baritone.
