Ethel Jackson

Ethel Hart Jackson (November 1, 1877 – November 23, 1957) was a United States actress and comic prima donna of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She appeared in Broadway theatrical productions, creating the title role in the original Broadway production of The Merry Widow.

In 1877, Ethel Jackson was born on November 1 in New York and lived for an extended time abroad. She received her education in Vienna, Austria and Paris, France. Her father was Hart Jackson, a dramatist. Her full name was Ethel Hart Jackson. Her mother was Mrs. Frances Wyatt Jackson. Frances was in the cast of The Ambassador which was staged at the St. James Theatre in London, England, in 1898. Jackson was the great-granddaughter of painter Henry Inman and Sir William Coddington, the first governor of Rhode Island.

She first played small roles at the Savoy Theatre before having her first hit there as Wanda in The Grand Duchess. Charles Frohman brought her to America to play the leading lady in Little Miss Nobody at the Garden Theatre in New York City, in August 1898. She was engaged to perform the part by A.H. Al Canby, who represented Frohman. The musical comedy was staged next at Nixon & Zimmerman's Broad Street (Philadelphia) Theatre in September. The plot deals with a young aristocrat who is trying to raise funds when he finds himself without money. He places an advertisement for boarders at the Scottish castle of his aunt who is away. His ad is answered by a man who runs a London music hall. He brings along three music hall girls and a variety artist. The five are forced to pass themselves off as members of the nobility.

Following her tenure in Little Miss Nobody, Jackson joined the Augustin Daly musical company. She was in the musical farce, The Hotel Topsy Turvy, which opened at the Herald Square Theatre on October 3, 1898. As Cecile, Jackson's fellow cast members included Marie Dressler, who demonstrates her versatility along with her noted talent for humor. Jackson succeeded Katherine Florence in the Madison Square Stock Company.

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