Lottie Briscoe

Lottie Briscoe
Still photo of Barlow from The Belovéd Adventurer (1914)
Born	(1883-04-19)April 19, 1883 St. Louis, Missouri
Died	March 21, 1950(1950-03-21) (aged 66) New York, New York
Other names	Little Lottie Briscoe
Occupation	Stage and Silent Film Actress

Lottie Briscoe (April 19, 1883 – March 21, 1950) was an American stage and silent screen actress. She began in theatre at the age of four and as an adult was among the first to find success after making the transition from the legitimate stage to cinema. Briscoe appeared in over 94 motion pictures; she is perhaps best remembered for her time at Lubin Studios with co-star Arthur V. Johnson.

Lottie Briscoe was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Briscoe. Her father may have been involved in theatre work and her mother was known to the theatre community as a likable stage mother. A sister, Olive Helen Briscoe, had long a career in vaudeville as a singer and comedian. At the time of her death The New York Times reported that Briscoe was 79 years old, which is unlikely, for it is well documented that she was active as a child actor as late as 1895. A possible explanation may lie with confusion involving Briscoe’s frail husband, Harry Mountford, who at the time was 79 and had not long to live.

Briscoe first appeared on stage at the age of four, and by nine she was touring as Editha in Gus Thomas’ adaptation of Frances Burnett’s children’s story Editha’s Burglar. Three years later, in June 1895, she was engaged at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York, to play Julian Esmond in the Russ Whytal melodrama For Fair Virginia, but was replaced after just two nights when the mayor’s office determined that the weather was too hot for a child under sixteen to be working in. Briscoe eventually did return to For Fair Virginia to play Julian Esmond over a subsequent road tour that lasted well into the spring of 1897. By October 1897 Briscoe was back at the Fifth Avenue Theatre with Richard Mansfield's company as Essie in the American debut of Shaw's The Devil’s Disciple. In 1899 she toured with Walter E. Perkins playing Gertie in a farce-comedy entitled My Friend from India by Henry A. Du Souchet.

During the 1900–1901 season Briscoe assumed the role of the sickly boy Claude in a national tour of Two Little Vagrants, Charles Klein's adaptation of the Pierre Decourcelle melodrama Les Deux Gosses. The following season she began a long tour playing Asa opposite Paul Gilmore in Lost River; advertised as a pastoral melodrama by Joseph Arthur. In 1905 Briscoe toured in the Harry McRae Webster military drama Lieutenant Dick, U. S. A. playing Machita to Webster’s Sergeant Jones. At some point around this time Briscoe and Webster were married.