Charlotte Blair Parker
| Charlotte Blair Parker | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Charlotte Blair c. 1858 Oswego, New York, USA |
| Died | January 5, 1937 (aged 78) Great Neck, New York |
| Other names | Lottie Blair Parker |
| Occupation | Actor, author, playwright |
| Spouse(s) | Harry Doel Parker |
Charlotte Blair Parker (1858 – January 5, 1937) was a noted playwright and aspiring actress in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She began her theatrical career as an actress, eventually playing opposite John Edward McCullough, Mary Anderson, and Dion Boucicault. Writing under the pen name Lottie Blair Parker, she wrote about a dozen produced plays but is remembered most for three popular stage plays produced between 1897 and 1906: Way Down East, Under Southern Skies and The Redemption of David Corson. Of the three, Way Down East, produced in 1898, was the most successful, proving to be one of the most popular American plays of its time, steadily performed for two decades
Born 1858, in Oswego, New York, Charlotte Blair Parker was the daughter of George and Emily Hitchcock Blair.
Charlotte "Lottie" Blair Parker's theatrical career started as an actress, studying for the stage under the noted Shakespearian actor, Wyzeman Marshall in Boston. She performed with the stock company of the Boston Theatre, and later toured with such major figures as the Czech tragic actress Mme. Janauschek and American actor-producer of poetic drama Lawrence Barrett. She married a theatrical manager, Harry D. Parker. She turned to playwriting when White Roses, a one-act play she submitted to a New York Herald contest in 1892, received honorable mention.
In 1897, at the age of 39, Parker penned her most popular full-length play, titled Way Down East. It was a sentimental melodrama about the travails of a seduced woman, Anna Moore, who is cast out by those who learn her story. After being seduced and losing the child of that liaison, Anna Moore ( Phoebe Davies) wanders despondently until she finds refuge as a servant in the New England farm of Squire Bartlett (played by Odell Williams). Ignorant of her past, the Bartletts embrace her as part of their household. But when Squire Bartlett learns her history he drives her from his home in the midst of a raging snowstorm. Anna loses her way and nearly dies before she is rescued by the Bartletts' son, David (played by Howard Kyle). He has come to love her and finally persuades his parents that she is worthy to be his wife. Way Down East premiered at the Manhattan Theatre in 1898 where it enjoyed 152 performances. It was later revised by Joseph R. Grismer, whose wife, Phoebe Davis, played the leading role of Anna Moore in the original production and in later revivals in 1903 and 1905. Davis would go on to play the role for more than 4,000 performances.
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