Blanche Galton Whiffen, known on stage as Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, (1845–1936) was an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She was educated in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

; made her stage début at the

Royalty Theatre The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho. Established by the actress Frances Maria Kelly in 1840, it opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938.

, London, in 1865; came to America in 1868; and toured the United States under John Templeton's management. In 1879 she played Buttercup in the first American production of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

's ''

Pinafore A pinafore (colloquially a pinny in British English) is a sleeveless garment worn as an apron. Pinafores may be worn as a decorative garment and as a protective apron. A related term is ''pinafore dress'' (known as a ''jumper'' in Ameri ...

''. She joined

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 ...

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

company at his old Lyceum Theatre, where she appeared in more than 25 plays between 1887 and 1899 including ''The Wife'' (1887), ''The Charity Ball'' (1889), and ''

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).Brown, ''A History of the New York Stage'', pp. 424-440. Later she was part of

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

's company at the

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. She became Broadway's resident old lady character player after the death of Mrs. G. H. Gilbert in 1904. Mrs Whiffen in later years appeared in ''Zira'' (1905); ''The Great Divide'' (1905–07); ''The Builder of Bridges'' (1909); ''The Brass Bottle'' (1910); ''Electricity'' (1910); ''Cousin Kate'' (1912); ''Tante'' (1913); ''A Scrap of Paper'' (1914); ''Rosemary'' (1915). She was still active at 70 and a great favorite.

Footnotes

Bibliography

*Brown, Thomas Allston, ''A History of the New York Stage from the First Performance in 1732 to 1901, vol. III'', New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903. *Chapman, John and Garrison P. Sherwood, ed., ''The Best Plays of 1894-1899'', New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1955.

External links

Mrs. Whiffen

Blanche Galton, 1868
(''AlexanderStreet; North American Theatre Online'') * * * * 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses Actresses from London British emigrants to the United States 1845 births 1936 deaths 19th-century English women 19th-century English people {{US-theat-actor-1840s-stub