Adelaide Augusta Keim (February 15, 1879 – June 25, 1946) was an American actress on Broadway and in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

. She was known for playing the male title character in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' in several American cities in 1905.

Early life

Keim was born in New York City, the daughter of Henry (Harry) Grant Keim and Mary Agnes Morrissey Keim. Her father, a milliner by trade, was her manager and manager of the

Harlem Opera House Harlem Opera House was a US opera house located at 211 West 125th Street, in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by architect John B. McElfatrick, it was built in 1889 by Oscar Hammerstein; it was his first theater ...

. Her younger brother Chauncey Keim became a theatrical producer. Keim attended St. Joseph's Academy in New York.

Career

Keim began her stage career being managed by

Daniel Frohman Daniel Frohman (August 22, 1851 – December 26, 1940) was an American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer. Biography Frohman was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in Sandusky, Ohio. His parents were Henry (1826&nda ...

in 1898 and appeared at his Lyceum Theatre. She appeared at such theatres as the

Garden Theatre The Garden Theatre was a major theatre on Madison Avenue and 27th Street in New York City, New York. The theatre opened on September 27, 1890, and closed in 1925. Part of the second Madison Square Garden complex, the theatre presented Broadway ...

Fifth Avenue Theatre Fifth Avenue Theatre was a Broadway theatre in New York City in the United States located at 31 West 28th Street and Broadway (1185 Broadway). It was demolished in 1939. Built in 1868, it was managed by Augustin Daly in the mid-1870s. In 1877, ...

, and the Bijou Theatre. Keim's

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

credits included roles in ''

Trelawny of the 'Wells' ''Trelawny of the "Wells"'' is an 1898 comic play by Arthur Wing Pinero. It tells the story of a theatre star who attempts to give up the stage for love, but is unable to fit into conventional society. Synopsis ''Trelawny of the "Wells"'' te ...

'' (1898), ''At the White Horse Tavern'' and ''Twelve Months Later'' (1900), ''Terence'' (1904), ''The Prince of India'' (1906), and ''The Right to Happiness'' (1912). She was also active in touring stock companies and on the vaudeville stage. "I love the stage and would rather act than do anything else in the world," she told a Buffalo newspaper in 1911. In 1905 Keim played the title role in ''Hamlet'' in Baltimore, New York, and Chicago. "Miss Keim gave a thoughtful, impressive rendering of the Prince," said George C. Jenks in 1905, "but somehow you never could forget that it was a woman in man's clothes and not the young man you were supposed to be looking at." In 1918 she starred in

Kate Douglas Wiggin Kate Douglas Wiggin (September 28, 1856August 24, 1923) was an American educator, author and composer. She wrote children's stories, most notably the classic children's novel ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,'' and composed collections of children's ...

's ''Mother Carey's Chickens'' in Maine.

Personal life

Keim was involved with her Proctor's Theater costar Ned Howard Fowler in 1903 until her parents intervened, and both actors moved to other stock companies. She married another fellow actor, Allan Louis Murnane, in 1910. They lived in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

, and had two children together, Adelaide (born 1914) and Allan (born 1921). She died in 1946, in her sixties.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keim, Adelaide 1879 births 1946 deaths American actresses People from New Rochelle, New York