Minna Gale

Minna Gale (September 26, 1869 – March 4, 1944), also credited as Minna K. Gale and Minna Gale Haynes, was an American actress.

Minna Gale as Desdemona in Othello (circa 1887)
Minna K. Gale, from an 1892 publication; from a photograph by Sarony.

Early life

Minna Kathalina Gale was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the daughter of C. K. Gale; after her father's death, she lived in Europe and studied music and theatre in Paris and Frankfort.[1] "She speaks two languages besides English sufficiently well to play in either of them," noted one reviewer in 1886.[2]

Career

Minna Gale was known for Shakespearean roles in her early career.[3][4] In 1885, at age fifteen, Gale was cast as Queen Gertrude, in Lawrence Barrett's production of Hamlet (Barrett, playing her son in the title role, was 47 years old). She stayed with Barrett's company for six seasons, sometimes as a rival to Helena Modjeska.[5] Later, she played Ophelia to Edwin Booth's last performance as Hamlet.[6] Her beauty was often mentioned in reviews.[7] "If there is a young lady in this land who wishes to look bewitching when mad, she must assiduously cultivate the Minna Gale pout," remarked one theatre writer in 1892.[8] She formed her own company after Barrett's death,[9] and briefly retired from the stage in 1893, after her marriage.[10]

In 1903 Gale-Haynes returned to acting as Rosalind in a production of As You Like It, given as a benefit for Vassar College on Shakepeare's birthday.[11][12] Broadway appearances by Gale included roles in The Triumph of Love (1904), The White Sister (1909, written by Francis Marion Crawford and starring Viola Allen),[13] A Celebrated Case (1915), The Pride of Race (1916),[14] A Tailor-Made Man (1917), The Outrageous Mrs. Palmer (1920), Tarzan of the Apes (1921), and The Rubicon (1922).

Gale appeared in several silent films, including The Prisoner of Zenda (1913), Clothes (1914), The Port of Missing Men (1914), The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch (1914), The Dancing Girl (1915), and A Fool There Was (1915, with Theda Bara).

Personal life

Minna K. Gale married insurance executive Archibald Cushman Haynes in 1892, as his second wife;[15][16] she was widowed when he died in 1912. She died at home in Riverside, Connecticut in 1944, aged 74 years, survived by a daughter, Dorothy Haynes Vollmer.[17]

References
  1. "Our Gallery of Players: Minna K. Gale" The Illustrated American (April 16, 1892): 420.
  2. Alfred Ayres, "Mr. Lawrence Barrett: A Study" The Theatre (October 11, 1886): 78-79.
  3. Charles Harlen Shattuck, Shakespeare on the American Stage: From Booth and Barrett to Sothern and Marlowe (Associated University Presses 1976): 45. ISBN 9780918016775
  4. Paige Martin Reynolds, Performing Shakespeare's Women: Playing Dead (Bloomsbury 2018): 27. ISBN 9781350002609
  5. "Pittsburg Prefers Minna Gale" New York Times (October 1, 1889): 4. via ProQuest
  6. "Minna Gale Tells How She Toured with Edwin Booth" Chicago Tribune (March 7, 1909): 17. via Newspapers.com
  7. "Minna Gale-Haynes" New York Times (January 27, 1893): 4. via ProQuest
  8. Samuel Curry, "The Minna Gale Pout" The Theatre Magazine (January 1892): 39.
  9. "Minna Gale-Haynes" New York Times (December 25, 1892): 13. via ProQuest
  10. "Chestnut St. Opera House" Philadelphia Inquirer (March 5, 1893): 10. via Newspapers.com
  11. "Notes of the Theatres" New York Times (March 27, 1903): 9. via ProQuest.
  12. "Topics of the Theatres" New York Times (April 24, 1903): 5. via ProQuest
  13. "Viola Allen in The White Sister" New York Times (September 28, 1909): 9. via ProQuest
  14. "Peculiar Theme in 'Pride of Race'" Hartford Courant (November 24, 1915): 6. via Newspapers.com
  15. "Minna Gale Married" San Francisco Morning Call (September 9, 1892): 2. via California Digital Newspaper Collection
  16. "Yesterday's Weddings: Haynes-Gale" New York Times (September 9, 1892): 4. via ProQuest
  17. "The Final Curtain" Billboard (March 18, 1944): 33.
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