Sunday, April 12, 2015

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FANNY DAVENPORT
(April 10, 1850 - Sept. 26, 1898)

She was an actress and a theatre manager, the eldest of nine children of actor E. L. Davenport, an American actor who had gone to London in 1847 with Anna Cora Mowatt. His success in London kept him there and he married actress Fanny Vining.  Returning to America in 1854, the family settled in Boston.

Her interest in the theatre was apparent when she described her first appearance on stage at the age of eight waving a flag while her father's acting company sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Howard Athenaeum on July 4, 1858.  Until the age of fourteen she performed with her parents in Boston and New York, notably as the young King Charles II of Spain in Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady in 1862.
                                                   After a brief period working at the Louisville Theatre playing soubrette roles, she was employed by Mrs. John Drew in Philadelphia at the Arch Street Theatre. While performing there she was seen and hired by Augustin Daly, manager of the Fifth Avenue Theatre. Her big break came when she starred as Lady Gay Spanker in Boucicault's London Assurance in 1868. The critic for the New York Sun, regarding its revival in 1877 wrote: "As for Miss Davenport, she is apparently one of the few actresses intended by nature, no less than by art, to play the role of Lady Gay. She is always at her best when she is effusive and rompish. As a hoydenish, impetuous, illogical beauty of  this or any other period, she has no equal in the adjacent ranks of her profession."

     Other notable roles in her career included: Lady Teazle in The School For Scandal, Nancy Sykes in Oliver Twist, Rosalind in As You Like It.  Her versatility and dramatic power inspired Daly to write Pique for her in which she created the role of Mabel Renfrew.

    Her success enabled her to take her own company on tour for a few years in a varied repertoire.
She was, according to critics and biographers, a successful actress and manager, who presented new plays to America as well as elaborate productions of old plays. A shrewd businesswoman, she was not afraid to try unusual and demanding roles.  In 1879 the New York Dramatic Mirror in reviewing a revival of Pique described her success. "Of all the actresses now before the public there is scarcely one presenting such manifold claims to popular attention. A woman of radiant presence, inheriting her father's great histrionic gifts, and fulfilling the promise given by all of the Davenport family, with restless industry, ambition, and the most boundless versatility, she unites all the qualifications of a great star."

Resource: Susan S. Cole, Notable Women in the American Theatre. ed. 1989

She also understood the value of self promotion (probably Sarah Bernhardt was the queen of product endorsement) but here we see Fanny's image promoting cigars.

Fanny D. proves that while you are the daughter of a famous and beloved actor, you need not be in his shadow, but achieve your own success, simply because you have what it takes.

At a time when actresses were rarely "stars" she began her own company and toured throughout the country reaching an audience that would not have seen her on the New York stage.  Without a smart phone, a hashtag or an instagram account, she found followers.

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