Goodwin, Nathaniel C., Jr. (25 July 1857–31 January 1919), comedian and actor, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Nathaniel C. Goodwin, Sr., a professional gambler, and Caroline Hinkel. Goodwin attended a private school in Maine. Then at an early age he became a dry goods clerk in Boston, only to be fired for showing up late and doing imitations of the customers. After two years of lessons with a retired actor, which started when he was thirteen, he began to give readings of Shakespeare but found more success in programs of impersonations of entertainers. In his stage debut as a performer, in ...
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Goodwin, Nathaniel C., Jr. (1857-1919), comedian and actor
William Stephenson
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Hewlett, James S. (fl. 1821–1831), actor and singer
George A. Thompson
Hewlett, James S. (fl. 1821–1831), actor and singer, , is said to have been born on Long Island, New York, presumably toward the end of the eighteenth century. His parents are unknown, and nothing is known about his childhood. As a young man he worked as steward on passenger ships, and he is said to have been an avid playgoer. In 1820 New York City had a black population of about 11,000, out of a total of about 125,000. The one theater in town, the Park, admitted African Americans to only a section of one of the balconies. When ...
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Irwin, May (1862-1938), comedienne
Herbert G. Goldman
Irwin, May (27 June 1862–22 October 1938), comedienne, was born Georgia Campbell in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Robert E. Campbell, a businessman, and Jane Draper. Georgia and her older sister Ada sang in the local Episcopal church choir and frequently performed duets for the entertainment of family friends. They attended school at St. Cecilia Convent in Port Hope, Ontario, until 1875, when their father failed in business and their mother, seeking to support the family, put them on the stage. The sisters made their debut at the Theatre Comique in Rochester, New York, on 8 February 1875, billed by manager Daniel Shelby as “May and Flo, the Irwin Sisters.” They continued touring for two years, performing African-American dialect songs like “Don’t You Hear Dem Bells?” Jane Campbell all but ran her daughters’ careers for some years. “I never make a move without consulting her,” May said at age thirty-four, “and if she doesn’t like a song, that settles it” ( ...
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Kelly, Walter C. (1873-1939), comedian and actor
James A. Drake
Kelly, Walter C. (29 October 1873–07 January 1939), comedian and actor, was born in Mineville, New York, the son of John Kelly, an insurance broker, and Mary (maiden name unknown). Growing up in Mineville, Kelly became a machinist’s apprentice, and while still in his teens he left his hometown to work in the shipyards of Newport News, Virginia....
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Raymond, John T. (1836-1887), comic actor
Eric Samuelsen
Raymond, John T. (05 April 1836–10 April 1887), comic actor, was born in Buffalo, New York, to a family named O’Brian or O’Brien. Nothing more is known about his parents, his early education, or why and when he chose his stage name. Raymond began his acting career in 1853 at the Rochester Theatre in New York, playing the role of Lopez in a little-known play called ...
