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Louise Paullin (1848 – 18 April 1910), sometimes seen as Louisa Paullin'','' was an American stage actress.


Birth and early life

Louise Elizabeth Paullin was born at
Biddeford, Maine Biddeford ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddef ...
, in 1848 and was the eldest daughter of James Rue Paullin and his wife Susan Frances Vickery. Her parents were both actors and Louise made her stage debut at an early age when they were living at
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. The family relocated to
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
in 1855 and, in the following year, Louise and her brother Edgar sang and danced in several variety companies either managed by or including her father (said to have twenty years of theatrical experience) and were “very amusing to the audiences”. In March 1857, as a member of John S. Potter’s company, she appeared at Columbia in “her favourite character Little Pickle” in the two-act
burletta In theater and music history, a burletta (Italian, meaning "little joke", sometimes burla or burlettina) is a brief comic opera. In eighteenth-century Italy, a burletta was the comic intermezzo between the acts of an ''opera seria''. The extended w ...
'' The Spoiled Child'', and was “said to be one of the most interesting and promising children on the stage”. Immediately afterwards, when the Paullins toured to entertain mining settlements in the
Stockton Stockton may refer to: Places Australia * Stockton, New South Wales * Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region New Zealand *Stockton, New Zealand United Kingdom * Stockton, Cheshire *Stockton, Norfolk * Stockton, Chi ...
neighbourhood, it was reported that Louise was “the star character... and a better and more faithful delineator of childhood passion is seldom found”, while the “unaffected sweetness of her beautiful countenance” was “worth a dollar a minute to look at”. She was one of the few personalities whom the veteran actor Walter Leman could later recall from time spent in California during this period. In October 1858 some of
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
’s most prominent citizens (including E. W. Burr,
Thomas O. Larkin Thomas Oliver Larkin (September 16, 1802 – October 27, 1858), known later in life in Spanish as Don Tomás Larquin, was an American diplomat and businessman. After some success and several business failures on the east coast, his elder half- ...
and
Samuel Purdy Samuel Purdy (1819 – February 17, 1882) was an American politician. As a Democrat, he served as the third lieutenant governor of California from 1852 to 1856. He also was the first mayor of Stockton, California, where he was in office from 1850 ...
) sponsored a benefit performance for “the talented” Louise in the role of “Little Eva” in a
Tom show Tom show is a general term for any play or musical based (often only loosely) on the 1852 novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The novel attempts to depict the harsh reality of slavery. Due to the weak copyright laws at the time, ...
at Maguire’s Opera House, then the city’s principal theatre. She was described as having “often excited her audience to tears” in this role when, in the following year, she made national headlines by running away with a man in his twenties formerly employed by her father and dismissed for displaying inappropriate intimacy towards Louise. The 11-year-old girl was recognised while travelling on a steamer from San Francisco, bound for
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
, and was taken off the vessel at
Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
and restored to her parents. In the following month it was announced that her father had removed her from the stage. This came at a particularly inopportune moment for the family: James Paullin had been entirely incapacitated (and was left permanently lame) after breaking a leg some months earlier and Louisa’s earnings of about four dollars a day at the Union Theatre were largely supporting the family.


Juvenile career

Louise was again performing by August 1860 when she played the slave boy “Paul” in an early production of
Dion Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...
’s ''
The Octoroon ''The Octoroon'' is a play by Dion Boucicault that opened in 1859 at The Winter Garden Theatre, New York City. Extremely popular, the play was kept running continuously for years by seven road companies. Among antebellum melodramas, it was con ...
'', at the Metropolitan Theatre in
Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
, and shortly afterwards she headed the bill as “the well-known and talented comedienne, vocalist and danseuse” in performances by Pickering & King’s Dramatic Troupe at Nevada City. Over the next three years she toured California with various minstrel groups, including those managed by Charley Backus, Billy Burch, and Bray & Carl, and at intervals reprised her character of “Little Eva” in which, in 1863, she was accompanied by her father in the part of “Shelby”. In 1862 she was travelling with the Backus troupe when the horses drawing the light stage wagon in which she was a passenger broke loose on a downhill run and, in attempting to leap from the vehicle, Louise caught her leg in a wheel and was dragged along for some distance. She survived with no more than serious bruising. She ceased appearing as a professional entertainer on marriage in 1865 but in the 1870s, under her married name, was one of
Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
’s “most popular choir and concert singers”.


Later career

Returning to the stage in 1880, she appeared as “Donna Antonina” in the
Emelie Melville Emelie Melville (c. 1852 – 8 July 1932), also known as Emelie Melville Derby, was an American actress, a star of comic opera, who had a considerable career in Australia. History She was born in Philadelphia and first appeared on stage at the a ...
Opera Company’s production of
Richard Genée Franz Friedrich Richard Genée (7 February 1823 – 15 June 1895) was a Prussian-born Austrian libretto, librettist, playwright, and composer. Life Genée was born in Gdańsk, Danzig. He died in Baden bei Wien. Works He is most famous for the li ...
’s ''The Royal Middy'' at San Francisco’s Bush Street Theatre and then, for the same company and at the same venue, as “Ruth” in ''
The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 3 ...
'' and (alongside Sylvia Gerrish) as “Lieutenant Dragonette” in ''The Weathercock''. In September the same year she made her first
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
performance as “Miss Isabella” in William A. Mestayer’s three-act musical play ''The Tourists in a Pullman Palace Car'' at New York’s
Fifth Avenue Theatre The Fifth Avenue Theatre was a Broadway theatre in Manhattan, New York City, United States, at 31 West 28th Street and Broadway (1185 Broadway). It was demolished in 1939. Built in 1868, it was managed by Augustin Daly in the mid-1870s. In ...
. Under contract with the John A. McCaull Comic Opera Company she next appeared on Broadway in the younger
Johann Strauss Johann Baptist Strauss II (; ; 25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well as a violinist. He compose ...
’s operetta '' The Queen's Lace Handkerchief'' at the Casino Theatre. This was staged as the Casino’s inaugural presentation in October 1882, and the cast, with Paullin in the role of the King and Lily Post as the Queen, were supported by a chorus of sixty and an orchestra of forty. She toured
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and other cities with this production, returning in late December for its further one hundred and thirty performances at the Casino. With
Lillian Russell Lillian Russell (born Helen Louise Leonard; December 4, 1860 or 1861 – June 6, 1922) was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, praised for her beaut ...
,
Madeleine Lucette Ryley Madeleine Lucette Ryley (26 December 1858 – 7 February 1934) was an English actress and playwright known for her plays in London and then America in the late 1800s. She began writing plays under the pseudonym Noel Grant until she gained fame a ...
and
Digby Bell Digby Bell (born Digby Valentine Bell; November 8, 1849 – June 20, 1917) was a popular vaudeville entertainer and Broadway theatre, Broadway performer at the beginning of the 20th century. Early life Bell was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on N ...
she appeared in the McCaull production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ''
The Sorcerer ''The Sorcerer'' is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaboration. The plot of ''The Sorcerer'' is based on a Christmas stor ...
'' at the Casino in 1883. In 1884 she was seen in the adaptation ''
Fantine Fantine (French pronunciation: ) is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. She is a young ''Grisette (person), grisette'' in Paris who is impregnated by a rich student. After he abandons her, she is forced to look ...
'' at the Boston Museum and toured theatres in
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
,
New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
and Pennsylvania in the Boston-based “Grand Fairy Musical Ballet Spectacle” ''Zanita''. Returning to California in 1885, she joined William T. Carleton’s Opera Company and took the title role in Genée’s '' Nanon'' in which she gave, said the '' Daily Alta''’s critic, “a delightful performance… her singing having very much improved since we used to hear her in the Emelie Melville troupe and she is more beautiful than ever”. With the same company she played “Yum-Yum” in ''
The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...
'' at the Baldwin Theatre in San Francisco and afterwards on local tour. On leaving the company she was replaced by
Fanny Rice Fanny Rice (1859-1936), or Fannie Rice, was an American singer, comedienne and actress of stage and screen. She was born to Edward C. Rice and Ianthe Rice (''nee'' Blanchard). She had two siblings an older brother Henry, who died as a child, a ...
. In 1889 she starred in ''Ardriell'', a
comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...
staged at the Broadway
Union Square Theatre Union Square Theatre was the name of two different theatres near Union Square, Manhattan, New York City. The first was a Broadway theatre that opened in 1870, was converted into a cinema in 1921 and closed in 1936.(8 October 1921)Two landmarks ...
. Critic
Alan Dale Alan Hugh Dale (born 6 May 1947) is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale enjoyed theatre and rugby. After retiring from the sport, he took on a number of occupations, before deciding to become a professional actor at age 27. Dale subsequent ...
commented that "Miss Paullin can certainly make herself heard, and that is about all that can be favorably said about her performance, which was characterized by an intense lack of refinement, and a pretty well defined mispronunciation of the English language." The correspondent for London’s ''The Era'' was less hostile in his review: although dismissing the production as a triviality, he found its principal redeeming feature was that “Miss Paullin sang well in the title role”. In 1897 she appeared as “Juliette” in ''
The Geisha ''The Geisha, a story of a tea house'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts. The score was composed by Sidney Jones to a libretto by Owen Hall, with lyrics by Harry Greenbank. Additional songs were written by Lionel Monckton and Jame ...
'' at Chicago’s Columbia Theatre. Paullin tried her hand at adapting a musical comedy from the German in 1888, when she wrote ''Our Baby's Nurse'', which was produced that year in Philadelphia. She was a popular face on
cigarette cards Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible cards with their packages of cigarettes ...
in the 1880s. She also lent her image to endorse "Burdock Blood Bitters", a digestive aid, Lion Coffee, skin care products, and
Vin Mariani Vin Mariani ( French: ''Mariani wine'') was a coca wine and patent medicine created in the 1860s by Angelo Mariani, a French chemist from the island of Corsica. Mariani became intrigued with coca and its medical and economic potential after read ...
.


Lawsuit

In 1886, Paullin lost a purse containing over $1,500 at a Philadelphia theatre, after she fainted on stage during ''
The Bohemian Girl ''The Bohemian Girl'' is an English language Romantic opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Miguel de Cervantes' tale, ''La gitanilla''. The best-known aria from the piece is "I D ...
''. She sued the stage manager of the Carleton Opera Company, Charles Caspar Fais, saying that he stole the money from her. The case was tried in Philadelphia in 1888, and was in the New York headlines for a week, until "the real thief", the prop man at the theatre, confessed that he found the money and spent most of it.


Personal life

Louise Paullin married twice. Her first husband, Robert Edwin Ogilby (a son of
Sir David Ogilby Sir David Ogilby (?1755-1834) was an Irish-born officer in the East India Company's Madras Army who was knighted for his service in the Anglo-Mysore Wars. Birth and early life He was among the numerous children of Alexander Ogilby, "an eminent b ...
), had gone to California during the
Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...
and, in addition to pursuing mining interests, became a drawing instructor at the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
. The couple were living in the household of Louisa’s parents at San Francisco in 1880 with their two daughters Clara, aged 15, and Edith, aged 12. Edith became an actress, under the name Edith Paullin, and was several times married, lastly to Hart O. Berg. In 1883, Louisa was living at 183
Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street (Manhattan), 131st Street to Gra ...
, New York City, under her married name of Ogilby, and in September 1885, described as a widow, she married the theatrical agent Henry B. Warner in Manhattan. She died in New York on 18 April 1910, at which time her wealth was estimated at $250,000. Her husband, Warner, had died on August 28 in the previous yearNYMCA, Manhattan Death Records 1812-1948: Henry B. Warner, married, age 61, theatrical manager, 26 West 61st Street, 28 August 1909. and, like him, she was cremated at Rosehill,
Linden, New Jersey Linden is a City (New Jersey), city in southeastern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a boro ...
.


References


External links

* * * Henry Alexander
"Scene from "The Mikado," with Louise Paullin"
(1886), in the collection of the
De Young Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California, named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H. de Young. Located on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of the ci ...
, San Francisco, California. {{DEFAULTSORT:Paullin, Louise 1848 births 1910 deaths American stage actresses Actresses from California 19th-century American actresses