Richie Ling

Richie Ling (October 18, 1867 – March 5, 1937) was an English singer and actor, whose career was mainly in the United States. He was originally an operatic tenor, became a stage actor, and later made some silent films. He was the original Gold Star member of Actors' Equity Association, having been the first performer to heed the callout for the 1919 Actors' Strike. Among many Broadway productions, his portrayal of Fabius Maximus for Robert E. Sherwood's historical satire ''The Road to Rome'' was his longest running role at 396 performances. He was on the stage for more than fifty years, and had just finished a Broadway show two weeks before his death.

Early years

Richard Wilson Ling was born on October 18, 1867,Richard Wilson Ling in the England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, retrieved from Ancestry.com in Hammersmith, London,1891 England Census for Richard W Ling, retrieved from Ancestry.com to Richard Thomas Ling and his wife Jane Bellamy. He was baptised at St Alphege London Wall on December 22, 1867. By 1891 he was living with his widowed mother, and sisters Agnes and Jennie, in Peckham, London.

UK career

Opera

His first known public performance was in September 1888, when he sang in the comic opera ''The Bey of Tunis'' by M. Audibert at Portland Hall in Southsea. Credited as "Richie Ling", he sang the lead role of Luigi, Prince of Sicily. The local reviewer said he "sang well", his final number "being received with rounds of applause and repeated." Two months later, he performed with the Carl Rosa Opera Company in a light opera, ''Paul Jones'',A fictional treatment of John Paul Jones before the American Revolutionary War. by Robert Planquette and H. B. Farnie, performed at the Theatre Royal in Bolton. Ling would continue with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, playing the role of Rufino in ''Paul Jones'', at venues throughout England and Scotland during 1889, up through June 1890.

Stage

Ling is next heard of with the Anomalies Amateur Dramatic Club's production of ''Jim the Penman'', in West Norwood, during May 1891. That same month he performed in an original one-act musical comedy called ''Sweepstakes''. Both were short-lived productions; by June, Ling was reduced to a chorus part in a musical play.

US operatic career

Vagabond tenor

''The New York Times'' reported in late August 1891 that Richie Ling was sailing on RMS ''Aurania'', having been signed by Rudolph Aronson for an engagement at the Casino Theatre. Ling would perform Count Stanislaus in ''Der Vogelhändler''. For this engagement, the operetta's libretto was translated into English, and the work itself renamed ''The Tyrolean''. Marie Tempest was also signed by Aronson for ''The Tyrolean'', for which the English soprano would perform as Adam, the eponymous male lead. ''The Sun'' reported that Tempest did well in the trouser role while Ling was nervous on opening night. After two months, he was replaced in the company.

Following five months of occasional recitals, Ling joined the King's Opera Comique Company in Philadelphia, where he was cast for the role of Arthur in '' Falka'', and Symon Symonovici in '' The Beggar Student''. He is next heard of with an operetta company called The Albanians performing the Louis Varney work called ''The Musketeers''. During late April 1893 he joined the O'Neill Grand and Comic Opera Company for a tour of the southeastern United States, which collapsed in June 1893 under the weight of temperament. The company had two prima donnas; when they quarrelled, the other members took sides. Ling and music director Max Hirschfeld sided with soprano Agnes Delaporte. He then joined the Reed Opera Company in St. Louis, where he "considerably strengthened" the troupe. After a summer season in St. Louis, Ling returned to New York to be pronounced "somewhat weak" as Philémon in ''Philémon et Baucis'', criticism that was repeated as he played the role on tour with the Duff Opera Company.

Ling rejoined diva Agnes Delaporte in April 1894, who now headed her own company. The company's first performance at Elmira, New York drew a scathing review from the local critic, though Ling was judged the best member of the company. For the summer of 1894, Ling returned to St. Louis, this time with the Hagan Opera Company, at a venue called Terrace Park.

Lillian Russell

After three years in America, moving from one short-lived opera company to another, Ling was hired by Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau in January 1895 as leading tenor for the Lillian Russell Opera Company. This brought stability to his career and professional exposure on a national scale. He began by singing Piquillo in a revival of ''La Périchole'' at the Chicago Opera House on February 21, 1895, making "a most agreeable impression". The ''Chicago Tribune'' went further, saying Ling was "a vast improvement in the personnel of the company". The company alternated ''La Périchole'' with '' The Grand Duchess'' on a tour of major Eastern and Midwestern cities. A typical assessment of Ling on the tour was that he "sang pretty well and acted even better".

During May 1895 the Lillian Russell Opera Company debuted a new work, ''The Tzigane''. This lacked a leading tenor role, so Ling went with the Castle Square Opera CompanyMax Hirschfeld, who Ling had worked with at the O'Neill Company, was now music director for Castle Square. for the summer, but was to return to Lillian Russell's Company. Ling joined a revised ''The Tzigane'' in time for its Boston opening in September 1895, taking the minor part of Naryschkin. Russell's tour alternated ''The Tzigane'' with ''La Périchole'', and later '' The Little Duke''; for the latter two works Ling was the leading male.

Russell and Ling sang in the first performance of ''The Goddess of Truth'', a new light opera by Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange, in Baltimore during February 1896. Later that month the opera premiered on Broadway at Abbey's Theatre. The reviewer for ''The New York Times'' was not impressed with the operetta nor Lillian Russell personally, but grudgingly acknowledged the work's popular appeal and admitted Ling "tolerably seconded" Russell's performance. ''The Goddess of Truth'' was added to the repertoire of Russell's
company, and Ling continued to tour as her leading man until Russell's voice broke down while singing ''La Périchole'' on April 30, 1896.

Ling briefly joined a summer season opera company at the American Theater in Manhattan, starting with ''The Bohemian Girl'', followed by ''The Mikado'', both of which he had sung before. He sailed for Europe in early June 1896, returning by September when he rejoined Russell's company for a tryout of ''An American Beauty'', by Gustave Kerker and Hugh Morton. He toured with Russell through December, but in January 1897 rejoined the Castle Square Opera Company in Boston.

Castle Square Opera Company

At Castle Square Ling sang in ''The Gondoliers'' for the first time. Another new work for him was the eponymous role in ''Lohengrin'', and a third was ''Cavalleria rusticana''. He also sang in a four-act English version of ''Mignon''. The pinnacle of his season came with '' Il trovatore'', where he sang Manrico, his first known grand opera role. For all of these "firsts" he was paired with soprano Clara Lane; the local reviewer said they both "sang excellently". Ling was sent out with the Castle Square Opera Company for a summer season based at the Academy of Music in Baltimore. Among other works, he performed Don José in ''Carmen''.

By July 1897, Ling was signed for Vernona Jarbeau's company in a new comic opera, ''The Paris Doll'', by Reginald De Koven and Harry B. Smith. The initial performances took place in September 1897, with a local reviewer in New Haven, Connecticut saying "Mr. Richie Ling as Tito was by far the best vocalist in the company. His voice is of pure tenor quality and remarkably robust". Ling toured with this company until November, when he reunited with Clara Lane in a Boston Lyric OperaThe new name for the Castle Square Opera Company. production of ''Carmen'' at Chicago's Great Northern Theatre. During one performance Ling lost part of his thumb in the Act III fight between Don José and Escamillo (J. K. Murray), but finished the opera after being bandaged. While in Chicago, the Boston Lyric played its repertoire of works, including ''The Pirates of Penzance'', for which Ling sang Frederic. Ling stayed with the company on tour, arriving back in Boston during late March 1898, where he performed through mid-April, but then quit over a $50 per week reduction in salary.

Later opera companies

Richie Ling returned to Chicago, joining the Schiller Opera Company to sing in ''The Beggar Student'' opposite Dorothy Morton. During June 1898, after many weeks with this company, he declined the role of Rufino in ''Paul Jones'', which he had last sung in England eight years before. This revival had been prompted by the recent naval victory of Admiral Dewey over the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay. The libretto requires the Spanish naval officer to tear down an American flagA revision from the original, which had Jones fighting under a Union Jack before the American Revolution. and spit on it. As an Englishman, Ling felt he couldn't get away with doing this on an American stage, so a substitute tenor was hired. Ling never regained his traction with this company, so he went to England for a visit. There he saw the original production of '' A Runaway Girl'', and early August found him in New York as a member of Augustin Daly's company, rehearsing for the American debut of this work. However, the production debuted without Ling, who disappeared from the American stage for more than a year.

When he did reappear, it was in an August 1899 benefit production of ''As You Like It'', where he played Amiens. He next sang opposite Alice Nielsen in ''The Singing Girl'' by Victor Herbert and Stanislaus Stange. This debuted at Her Majesty's Theatre, Montreal, on October 2, 1899. Its Broadway premiere came at the Casino Theatre on October 23, 1899, with ''The New York Times'' critic saying "Richie Ling looked well and acted satisfactorily but he did not always sing in tune". After its Broadway run ended in January 1900, Ling went on tour with ''The Singing Girl'', but fell seriously ill in Pittsburgh during February 1900. He spent five weeks in hospital there, then was transported to New York where he was still too sick to work in May 1900. ''The Singing Girl'' company stayed on after their season to give a benefit performance for Ling in Providence, Rhode Island on May 16, 1900.

It was five months later, in October 1900, that Ling resumed singing, rejoining the Alice Nielsen Opera Company on its tour with ''The Singing Girl''. He now also had a role in the company's alternate work, '' The Fortuneteller''. The tour finished up playing this latter opera in Washington, D.C., during early March 1901. Alice Nielsen took her company to London next, but Ling decided to remain in America. He instead joined the Garden Theatre Opera Company for its summer season in Cleveland, where he sang for the opening in ''El Capitan''. Ling sang opposite soprano Eleanor Kent for the season, as in '' The Daughter of the Regiment'' where he was Tony to her Marie. He finished with the title role in '' Fra Diavolo'', taking August 1901 off to rest.

Musical comedy and comic opera

For the next few years Ling would move back and forth between comic opera and musical comedy, with an occasional non-singing role. He joined the opera company of Lulu Glaser for ''Dolly Varden'', by Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange, based on a character in Charles Dickens' ''Barnaby Rudge''. This was a bit of a risk, for Glaser's first production, ''Sweet Annie Page'', had failed the previous season. The work opened on September 23, 1901, at the Princess Theater in Toronto. It toured throughout the Fall, but Ling left the cast in late December 1901, when he "refused to take the usual Christmas week cut in salary". He went into a three-act comedy ''The Diplomat'' by Martha Morton in March 1902, then in June performed in the opening of a musical comedy, '' The Defender''. This had its Broadway run in Summer 1902, followed by a tour which Ling accompanied until the production collapsed financially during December.

''The Jewel of Asia'', a musical comedy by George W. Lederer starring James T. Powers, was already on Broadway when Ling joined it in late February 1903, replacing Clifton Crawford. Ling continued with the show when it left Broadway in April to go on tour. He then joined the cast of the American production of ''A Princess of Kensington'' during August, and stayed through its short Broadway run.

November 1903 saw him supporting Fritzi Scheff in the opening performance of ''Babette'' at Washington, D.C., with both the composer Victor Herbert and President Roosevelt in the audience. The production had its Broadway premiere a week later. Ling stayed with the ''Babette'' tour through May 1904.

Ling returned to musical comedy in the Fall of 1904, starting with a sketchy production. ''The West Point Cadet'' was a comeback effort by Della Fox, for which she played twins, male and female. It eschewed a tryout and had a brief Broadway run, abruptly closing after only four performances. The producers for '' The Baroness Fiddlesticks'' signed Ling shortly after ''The West Point Cadet'' debacle. This "musical satire on society" opened with tryouts in Binghamton and Rochester, New York, and premiered on Broadway at the Casino Theatre on November 21, 1904, for a limited engagement of five weeks. Ling finished out the year with a revival of ''Fatinitza'', singing opposite Fritzi Scheff. He continued doing comic operas with Scheff, including ''Boccaccio'' in March 1905,

US stage career

Transition to speaking roles

For over a year Richie Ling disappeared from the American music theater, returning in June 1906 with a new comic opera, ''The Alcayde'', in which he sang the title role. This operetta was by Frederick Barry and George Stephens Jr., produced by James K. Hackett. It opened in Atlantic City then played Chicago for the summer season, where one local critic said Ling sang well, but the opera suffered from a weak libretto. Ling next appeared in the opening of another new comic opera, ''The Girl and the Governor'' by Julian Edwards and S. M. Brenner, produced by the actor-manager Jefferson De Angelis. The debut performance in Washington, D.C., had one reviewer report "Richie Ling... made one of the distinct vocal hits of the performance in several songs, sung in a rich tenor voice of pleasing quality." Ling toured with this production through its Broadway run in February 1907, and post-Broadway through April 1907. From late April through November 1907, Ling was on the West Coast with an opera company called "The Californians".

From December 1907 on Ling no longer appears in operas, though he did sometimes sing in musicals. Later accounts suggest a severe cold ended his operatic career, though the date given for this is in 1909. He joined John Cort's company supporting Maude Fealy in the American adaptation of ''The Stronger Sex'', starting in Montana. The local reviewer in Butte said he was "probably the strongest of the supporting members", while the critic in Billings said he was " nking next to Miss Fealy in cleverness, and far above the leading man...". Ling stayed with this tour through January 1908, finishing in the Midwest. He is next seen with William Farnum's company in Cleveland, appearing in ''The Mallet's Masterpiece'' during September 1908, then on Broadway in November with a principal role in ''Blue Grass'' by Paul Armstrong.

Ling was cast for '' The White Sister'', supporting star Viola Allen, from its first performance in February 1909. He continued with the production through its Broadway run, and the start of its national tour, all the way to the end of April 1910.

The following season he picked up with the American adaptation of ''Decorating Clementine'' in Fall 1910, followed by another adaptation from the French, ''The Zebra'', which had a brief Broadway run starting February 1911. ''Will o' th' Wisp'', by Alfred G. Robyn and Walter Percival, was Ling's first non-singing role in a musical comedy, playing St. Louis and Chicago during late spring and summer of 1911. Much of Ling's time in 1911 and 1912 was taken up playing featured parts in minor productions, but he had a major supporting role in ''A Butterfly on the Wheel'', an English legal drama of divorce. The production had already played Broadway when Ling joined it in September 1912; he continued with it until late January 1913. Starting in May 1913, Ling was a principal in ''The Gentleman from No. 19'', adapted by Mark E. Swan from a French farce.

''The Temperamental Journey'' and first films

With '' The Temperamental Journey'', produced by David Belasco, Ling was part of a Broadway hit. After a tryout in Rochester, New York during late August 1913, the production went to Broadway in September, where it premiered at the Belasco Theatre. It was adapted by Leo Ditrichstein, who also starred in it, from a 1912 French work. Ling supported Ditrichstein, with Josephine Victor and Isabel Irving completing the quartette of leads. The Broadway production ran for 123 performances, through December 20, 1913, before going on tour.

During February 1914, Ling joined the cast of ''What Would You Do?'', which starred Bessie Barriscale. It was a rare villain's role for Ling, who drew critical praise in a failing effort. So too with ''What's Wrong?'', a question the local reviewer answered in detail at the Washington, D.C. tryout during May 1914. Ling finished out 1914 and the Winter of 1915 playing on the road in a second company for the hit ''A Pair of Sixes''.

His first three silent films were made over the Summer of 1915 at the George Kleine Studios in New York. He was by no means a lead in any of these films, but played supporting and character parts. First up was '' The Woman Next Door'', started the last week of June 1915. Irene Fenwick was the star of this and the other movies Ling made this year. The second film to be made was ''The Green Cloak'', a murder mystery in which Ling played a butler with a secret knowledge of the eventual murder victim. The third picture, '' The Sentimental Lady'', was shot in early September at both the studio and on location at Saranac Lake, New York, by which time ''The Woman Next Door'' had been showing to audiences for several weeks. It is now considered to be a lost film, but copies of ''The Green Cloak'' and ''The Sentimental Lady'' survive.

''Chu Chin Chow'' and later films

''Chu Chin Chow'' had been playing in London for two seasons before an American production had its Broadway premiere on October 22, 1917. Reviewer Ralph Block said "the singing is mediocre" and "the ballets are undistinguished", but was full of praise for the sounds, settings, costumes, and characters that evoked a fantasy Baghdad from a thousand years ago. Initially, Ling had a featured role as Otbah for this production, but when ''Chu Chin Chow'' moved to the Century Theatre during January 1918, he took over the role of Ali Baba from Henry Dixey. This was a leading part that required singing, which Ling had not done professionally for many years, nevertheless, '' The Daily Standard Union'' said "Richie Ling makes an impressive Ali". Ling's fourth silent film, '' The Imposter'', starring Ann Murdock, was released this same month.

''Chu Chin Chow'' went on tour in August 1918, with Ling continuing as Ali Baba. During the tour Ling's fifth silent film, '' Come On In'' starring Shirley Mason, was released. The tour finished up in Toronto during early May 1919, after which a revival was announced for Broadway the following August 4, 1919.

Actors' Strike of 1919

During late July 1919, Richie Ling was in rehearsals for the revival of ''Chu Chin Chow'' at the Century Theatre. The producers, F. Ray Comstock and Morris Gest, had failed to issue any contracts to the performers after ten days of rehearsals. The presiding council for Actors' Equity Association (Equity) decided to select this production for a demonstration strike starting July 29, 1919. However, they failed to plan in advance; instead, they relied on personally visiting the theater on the day in question. Ling had been tipped off by Frank Gilmore and so didn't come to the rehearsal that day. Three other principals, including Marjorie Wood who was opposed to Equity affiliating with the American Federation of Labor, were persuaded by Morris Gest to ignore the callout, while the remaining cast never received word of the action until the next day. Ling stayed out on July 30, 1919, but was joined by only three other performers: Lucy Beaumont, Ida Mulle, and Clara Verdara. These four became Equity's first Gold Star members.Harding, p.70 The general strike, which began in early August, was successfully concluded in thirty days, but Ling was out of a job and didn't appear on Broadway again until April 1920. Ed Wynn, one of the few actor-managers who had sided with Equity, brought Ling into his "carnival", a large-scale vaudeville show mounted at the New Amsterdam Theatre starting April 5, 1920. ''The New York Herald'' said: "Richie Ling received a hand as much for his acting as for his historic position as the first striking actor in history". Ling served on Equity's Council for several years following the strike.

Broadway 1921-1926

Richie Ling appeared in a half-dozen Broadway shows during this time, starting with the short-lived ''Sonny'' in August 1921. Some had respectable length runs, such as ''The National Anthem'', a scolding drama by J. Hartley Manners decrying gin-swilling flappers and jazz (the anthem of the title), and '' Rose Briar'', a Booth Tarkington comedy, both opening in 1922. He was at best a supporting player in these productions, and more often played a featured character part, as in the 1923 revival of the melodrama ''Sweet Nell of Old Drury''. He did draw critical praise for his supporting role in the long-running '' The Swan'', and in the revival of Shaw's ''Candida.

''The Road to Rome''

Playing his last leading role, Ling would be occupied with this production from January 1927 through June 1928. The star was Jane Cowl, who played a much younger fictional Greco-Roman wife to Ling's Roman senator, Fabius Maximus. The second lead was Philip Merivale, who portrayed Hannibal. For dramatic purposes, Ling's character was intentionally depicted as farcical and indecisive by playwright Robert E. Sherwood, a far cry from the historical general who devised the Fabian strategy.Sherwood, p.xliii It was a thankless role, the insuffiency of the middle-aged husband meant to point up the vigor of the masterful Hannibal, nevertheless Ling did draw some praise from critics Burns Mantle and Rowland Field.

Last years on Broadway

Following his success in ''The Road to Rome'', Ling had good parts in ''Olympia'', one of Ferenc Molnár's more bitter works, and in the long-running A. A. Milne mystery comedy, '' The Perfect Alibi''. Both had opened in 1928, with the Milne play running well into 1929. However, Ling did not appear again on Broadway until October 1931 with a flop called ''Divorce Me, Dear''. He appeared the following February in another Milne play, the moralizing ''They Don't Mean Any Harm''. A year later he was in '' For Services Rendered'', a short-lived Somerset Maugham drama of family life in the wake of The Great War. The historical "docudrama" ''Yellow Jack'' was Ling's first performance in 1934. This was followed by the long-running Moss Hart-Desmond Carter musical celebrating the work of Johann Strauss Sr. and Jr., '' The Great Waltz''. Ling played Herr Hartkopf, a music publisher who hates music. He told an interviewer in January 1935 that his last singing performance had been for ''Ed Wynn's Carnival'' in 1920. During October 1935, Ling opened in another Broadway musical, ''Jubilee''.

Personal life

A New York arriving passenger list from RMS ''Oceanic'' during December 1910 described him as being of British nationality, with brown hair, and blue eyes.New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew List, 1820-1957 for Richie Ling, retrieved from Ancestry.com Despite his many years in the United States, there is no record of him applying for citizenship. Ling was a member of the New York City Garrick Club during 1895. By 1898 he belonged to the Lambs Club, and later Players. He was well known enough among fencers in New York to agree to a bout with actress Louida Hilliard in 1904.

While touring with Lillian Russell in 1895, a newspaper article suggested Ling and she were a couple. They were observed to go bicycling together and always stayed at the same hotel. Both Russell and Ling denied the rumors. Ling's longtime best friend was another English actor in America, Guy Standing.

Ling married actress Charlotte Faust on November 9, 1902, when both were performing in '' The Defender''. In a 1904 interview, Faust revealed that Ling actually went by "Dick" offstage. A highly colored account suggests the couple became estranged when Ling spent seven months on the West Coast in 1907 while Faust was back in New York. She filed for divorce in October 1909 on grounds of desertion, but died in January 1910 before a final decree was issued.

He then married Rose Beatrice Winter, née Jones, a prima donna for Eddie Foy's company, on December 26, 1912, in Wilmington, Delaware. She was also English, who used her ex-husband's surname on stage. This marriage ended in divorce.

Death

Ling died on March 5, 1937, in his room at the Lamb's Club in Manhattan. He had just completed a Broadway run in ''And Now Goodbye'' on February 22, 1937, but was feeling low over the recent death of his old friend Guy Standing. According to unnamed club members, he had come down for breakfast, but felt ill and returned to bed. He was found there by a page boy sent to call him for lunch, dead of heart disease. He had no children; his survivors were a sister in South Australia and a niece in London. Obituaries at the time contained two common errors: overestimating his age as 70 or 71; and claiming he was the first to sing ''In the Good Old Summer Time'', during the original run of '' The Defender'' in 1902.This latter error was a result of confusing Ling's songs in the musical, with those of his first wife Charlotte Faust, who had replaced Blanche Ring as Millie Canvass in ''The Defender''.

Operatic credits

Performances by year of Ling's first involvement, excluding later productions of the same work.

Dramatic credits

Filmography

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Robert Emmet Sherwood. ''The Road to Rome''. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1927.
* Alfred Harding. ''The Revolt of the Actors''. William Morrow & Company, New York, 1929.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ling, Richie
1867 births
1937 deaths
20th-century English male actors
English operatic tenors
People from Hammersmith