Blanche Galton Whiffen, known on stage as Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, (1845–1936) was an American

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She was educated in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

; made her stage début at the

Royalty Theatre The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho. Established by the actress Frances Maria Kelly in 1840, it opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938.

, London, in 1865; came to America in 1868; and toured the United States under John Templeton's management. In 1879 she played Buttercup in the first American production of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

's ''

Pinafore A pinafore (colloquially a pinny in British English) is a sleeveless garment worn as an apron. Pinafores may be worn as a decorative garment or as a protective apron. A related term is '' pinafore dress'' (known as a ''jumper'' in Americ ...

''. She joined

Daniel Frohman Daniel Frohman (August 22, 1851 – December 26, 1940) was an American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer. Biography Frohman was born to a Jewish family in Sandusky, Ohio. His parents were Henry (1826–1899) and Ba ...

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

company at his old Lyceum Theatre, where she appeared in more than 25 plays between 1887 and 1899 including ''The Wife'' (1887), ''The Charity Ball'' (1889), and ''

Trelawny of the 'Wells' Trelawny or Trelawney may refer to: Places * Trelawny (electoral division), an electoral division of Cornwall * Trelawny, Black Hill, Ballarat, a heritage house in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia * Trelawny, Jamaica, a parish of Cornwall County, Ja ...

'' (1898).Brown, ''A History of the New York Stage'', pp. 424-440. Later she was part of

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Frohman produced over 700 shows, and among his biggest hits was '' Peter Pan'', both ...

's company at the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

. She became Broadway's resident old lady character player after the death of Mrs. G. H. Gilbert in 1904. Mrs Whiffen in later years appeared in ''Zira'' (1905); ''The Great Divide'' (1905–07); ''The Builder of Bridges'' (1909); ''The Brass Bottle'' (1910); ''Electricity'' (1910); ''Cousin Kate'' (1912); ''Tante'' (1913); ''A Scrap of Paper'' (1914); ''Rosemary'' (1915). She was still active at 70 and a great favorite.

References

Bibliography

*Brown, Thomas Allston, ''A History of the New York Stage from the First Performance in 1732 to 1901, vol. III'', New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903. *Chapman, John and Garrison P. Sherwood, ed., ''The Best Plays of 1894-1899'', New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1955.

External links

Mrs. Whiffen

Blanche Galton, 1868
(''AlexanderStreet; North American Theatre Online'') * * * * 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses Actresses from London British emigrants to the United States 1845 births 1936 deaths 19th-century English actresses 19th-century English people {{US-theat-actor-1840s-stub