Book Description

Excerpt from Who's Who on the Stage 1908: The Dramatic Reference Book and Biographical Dictionary of the Theatre Adams, Miss Maude (Kiskadden): Actress, was born in Salt Lake City November 11, 1872. Her father was James Kiskadden, a business man. Her mother, a well-known actress, Mrs. Annie Adams, the daughter of a Utah pioneer who claimed to come from John Quincy Adams stock, is still playing. When Maude was born, Annie Adams was leading woman at the Salt Lake Theatre, which enjoyed the special patronage of Brigham Young. Phil Margetts, an Englishman, now the proprietor of a liquor store in Salt Lake City, but formerly a popular comedian, claims the distinction of first putting Miss Maude Adams on the stage, or, rather, of carrying her there. The future star was just nine months old when a play called "The Lost Child" was being produced at the Salt Lake Theatre. She had been taken to the theatre by a nurse. Margetts was cast for the father of the lost child. At the last moment he found he was expected to fondle a rag doll. While he was lamenting this, Mrs. Kiskadden went to the wings with Maude in her arms. Margetts snatched the baby from her and dashed on to the stage. When she was five years old, in 1877, Miss Maude Adams played her first speaking part, Little Schneider, at the old Bush Theatre, San Francisco, with J. K. Emmet in one of his "Fritz" plays. She also played Chrystal in "Chums," by David Belasco, who had just risen from call boy to stage manager at the Baldwin Theatre. In the cast were James O'Neill, Lewis Morrison and the late James A. Herne. When she was six years old she was sent to school, where she remained until she was sixteen. Immediately on leaving school Miss Adams played the part of a schoolmistress in Hoyt's "A Midnight Bell," produced at the Madison Square Theatre, New York, in 1888. She afterward played in "Men and Women" and created the part of the crippled girl in "The Lost Paradise," which first attracted attention to her. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.