Gertrude Bryan

Gertrude Bryan
National Magazine, Volume 37; March, 1913
Born	Gertrude Modora Bryan (1888-07-22)July 22, 1888 Chicago, Illinois, USA
Died	May 24, 1976(1976-05-24) (aged 87) Ossining, New York, USA
Occupation	actress
Spouse(s)	Harry Burgess Charles Maitland Fair John W. Garrett, 2nd Mr. Knapp
Children	Charles Maitland Fair, Jr.

Gertrude Bryan (July 22, 1888 – May 24, 1976) was a stage actress who appeared on Broadway in the early 20th century.

Gertrude Modora Bryan was born in Chicago the daughter of entertainers. Bryan's father, Frank, a comedian known as Senator Bryan in The Military Man, later toured in a vaudeville act called “Human Flags” by Frank D. Bryan’s Peace Congress of American Girls. Her mother, Nellie, was a singer in Gilbert & Sullivan operas. Bryan attended the Friends Seminary, a Quaker school, in Manhattan (New York).

Bryan appeared in Little Boy Blue at the Lyric Theatre (New York) in November 1911. This was a romantic operetta which had played Europe in the two previous theatrical seasons. The musical was produced by Colonel Savage. Its title in Europe had been Lord Piccolo. The American title had no connection to the popular nursery rhyme of the same name.

Bryan played the title role. The plot is about a Scottish Earl who is looking for an heir. The Earl employees a detective who persuades a barmaid to disguise herself as the missing boy, and accompany the Earl to Scotland. The operetta was performed in two acts. There were dual settings in Bal Tarabin, Paris, France and the Earl's castle in Scotland. Nearly a dozen applicants were auditioned before Bryan was chosen for the title role.

Bryan was just past 18 when she performed this role. On opening night of Little Boy Blue she was suffering from a strained ligament in her foot. A doctor came to her dressing room and bandaged her leg in a manner that caused her pain throughout the performance. Bryan was self-conscious that the excess amount of bandage used would be conspicuous to the audience.

The character of Little Boy Blue was her own creation. Her manager boasted that she found the correct pantomime at the right time without requiring stage direction. By late April the musical moved to the West End Theater, 263 West 86th Street. A reviewer for the Syracuse Herald was at the Wieting Theater in Syracuse for a November show. He observed Bryan as the barmaid. He wrote that she possesses a charming personality and although her voice is somewhat light she sings with dainty grace and shines most conspicuously as an actress.