- Amelia Bingham
Amelia Swilley Bingham (
March 20 ,1869 "-"September 1 ,1927 ) was an American actress fromHicksville, Ohio ."Amelia Bingham, Actress Is Dead", New York Times, September 2, 1927, pg. 17.] Her Broadway career extended from (1896 "-" 1926). [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=14194 Amelia Bingham, Internet Broadway Database] , Retrieved on 1-3-08.]Bingham attended
Ohio Wesleyan University before marryingLloyd Bingham . Her father was aMethodist minister who managed a hotel. Her future husband persuaded her father to permit Bingham to go on stage approximately a year before the couple married.Theatrical career
Her first role in a stage production came on the
Pacific Coast . HerNew York City debut came at the People's Theatre, 199Bowery , [ [http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1386 Cinema Treasures | Peoples Theatre ] at cinematreasures.org People's Theatre, Cinema Treasures] , Retrieved on 1-3-08.] in 1893. Her role was a leading part in amelodrama entitled "The Struggle For Life".Her first successes in the 1890s included "The Power of Gold", "The Shaughran", "Colleen Bawn", "The Village Postmaster", and "Captain Impudence". By 1897 she was managed by
Charles Frohman and was theleading lady in "The White Heather". With Frohman she was featured in "The Pink Domino", "The Proper Caper", "On and Off", At the White Horse Tavern", "The Cuckoo", and "His Excellency The Governor".Bingham's popularity as a performer peaked around 1897. She tallied more than 9,000 of 30,000 votes cast in a newspaper competition for the title of "American State Queen". Earlier stars like
Lillian Russell ,Maud Allan ,Ada Rehan , and Fannie Davenport received a mere hundred votes each.She started the Amelia Bingham Company which produced "The Climbers" starring
Bijou Fernandez . ["Bijou Fernandez, Stage Actress", November 8, 1961, pg. 35.] In accomplishing this feat in 1901, she became America's first female manager. A visit toLondon, England in 1900 acquainted her with actresses who were their own producers. "The Climbers" byClyde Fitch premiered at theBijou Theatre on January 15, 1901, and had an extended run. Other plays which were staged with her oversight were "Lady Margaret", "The Modern Magdalen", and "The Frisky Mrs. Johnson". Bingham performed and produced "Olympe" (1904), a Broadway play in which she later toured withGilbert Miller . ["Gilbert Miller-International Trader", New York Times, November 19, 1950, pg. X4.] Bingham acted the lead in "Big Moments from Great Plays" (1909) and starred withWilliam H. Crane andDouglas Fairbanks Sr. in "The NewHenrietta", prior toWorld War I . However illness began to hinder her from working around 1914. In 1918 she appeared in "The Man Who Stayed Home".Her final stage appearance came at the
Century Theatre in "The Pearl of Great Price". She depicted "Shame" in the 1926 production. Bingham detested having to play the type of woman she portrayed in this production. She commented, "for years I have played decent women on the stage." Financial circumstances forced her into accepting the part. The previous year she participated in a revival of "Trelawny of the Wells" (1925), written byArthur Wing Pinero .Death
Bingham died of
heart disease complicated bypneumonia in 1927. She was 58 and her illness lasted eight months. She died in her home at 103 Riverside Drive in New York City, a house formerly owned byJoseph Jefferson . Following breakfast she gazed out on to theHudson River a final time prior to succumbing. She loved the river and preferred seeing it to "looking at theSeine River or any of theEurope an rivers." Her husband, Lloyd Bingham, predeceased her. He died inKristiania ,Norway on a mission of peace forHenry Ford toScandinavia in 1915.Bingham resided in the Riverside Drive mansion for a decade after her husband's demise. Passers-by noticed statues and black curtains inside. Its interior also housed gilt-framed mirrors with intricate decorative patterns, clocks, coats of armor, helmets, lances, swords,
candelabra , and crucifixes. Many of the items were collected by Lloyd Bingham and some were sold when it was discovered that Bingham's estate amounted to less than $5,000. In 1925 two thieves stole $1,500 in jewelry from the home. Bingham's quick thinking prevented them from noticing a bag which contained $20,000 in jewels.She was buried at
Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx after a funeral which took place at theLittle Church Around the Corner .References
External links
* [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=142064&word= Amelia Bingham]
New York Public Library Digital Galleryphotos
* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=14194 Amelia Bingham] credits at Internet Broadway Database
* [http://www.hicksvillehistoricalsociety.org/Amelia%20Bingham.htm Amelia Bingham] at Hicksville Historical Society.org
* [http://flickr.com/photos/belle_epoque_1900s/1414772884/in/set-72157602088884326/ Amelia Bingham] color photo at Flickr.com
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