Emily Wakeman Hartley

Emily Wakeman Hartley (1872 – February 20, 1935) was an American actress and theatrical manager, founder of the Stamford Theatre in Stamford, Connecticut.

Emily Wakeman Hartley at her desk, from a 1914 publication.
A postcard featuring the Stamford Theatre, from 1919

Early life

Emily I. Wakeman was born in New York, the daughter of Thaddeus B. Wakeman and Emily Ludlam Wakeman. Her father was a lawyer and writer interested in philosophy. Her mother was a clubwoman, active in working for women's suffrage.[1] Emily Wakeman attended Friends Seminary and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.[2]

Career

Emily Wakeman was an actress as a young woman, usually playing comic or character roles, including Broadway appearances in Caleb West (1900), Lover's Lane (1901), Marta of the Lowlands (1903), A Case of Frenzied Finance (1905), The Firm of Cunningham (1905), The House of Mirth (1906),[3] The Three Daughters of Monsieur Dupont (1910), and The Runaway (1911).[4]

Emily Wakeman Hartley was the founder, fundraiser, and manager of the Stamford Theatre,[5] which opened in 1914.[6] It became a popular venue for touring performers and for new shows, before they debuted in New York.[7][8] She also lectured on creativity, saying "One of the great faults of the present generation is that too few make use of their gray matter; I mean that they do not seem to realize that they have something within themselves, and do not need to depend wholly upon outside matters for amusement. And a person who always has to be amused or entertained cannot be happy, for he hasn't the creative spirit."[9]

Emily Wakeman Hartley ran unsuccessfully for the Connecticut state senate in 1922.[10] She retired from managing the theatre in 1927.[11]

Personal life and legacy

In 1902, Emily Wakeman married Randolph Hartley, a librettist, publicist, and opera critic; his grandfather was poet and editor Rufus Wilmot Griswold.[12] They had a son, Randolph Wakeman Hartley (born in 1909, when Emily was 37 years old). They lived in Cos Cob, Connecticut. Emily Wakeman Hartley was widowed in 1931[13] and died in 1935, from a heart attack, aged 62 years.[10]

In 1987, an Emily Wakeman Hartley Theater Series began in Stamford, named in her memory.[14]

References
  1. "Mrs. Emily L. Wakeman" Humanitarian Review (February 1905): 69.
  2. Harry Prescott Hanaford, Dixie Hines, eds., Who's who in Music and Drama (H. P. Hanaford 1914): 311.
  3. Kevin Lane Dearinger, Clyde Fitch and the American Theatre: An Olive in the Cocktail (Rowman & Littlefield 2016): 547. ISBN 9781611479485
  4. "Matinee Girl" New York Dramatic Mirror (May 7, 1910): 4.
  5. "Making More Money" Boston Daily Globe (July 11, 1923): 17.
  6. A. P., "A Woman Who Financed and Built a Theatre" The Theatre (September 1914): 113-114, 131-132.
  7. Wynne Parry, "Playback Day 2: Act 1 Vaudeville and Beyond" Stamford Advocate (March 24, 2011).
  8. Nina S. Purdy, "She Induced her Town to Build a 'First Night' Theatre" American Magazine (May 1926): 74.
  9. "Something Within Themselves" The Guide to Nature (April 1921): 177-178.
  10. "Emily W. Hartley, Actress, Dies at 62" New York Times (February 22, 1935): 21.
  11. "Mrs. Emily W. Hartley to Retire" New York Times (October 22, 1927): 8.
  12. "Rufus Griswold Archive Arrives at the Poe Museum" The Poe Blog (July 6, 2016).
  13. "In Memory of Randolph Hartley" New York Times (April 20, 1931): 16.
  14. Alvin Klein, "Theatre: For Audiences, O'Neill, and Celebrations" New York Times (September 27, 1987).
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