Ida Hawley (April 26, 1876 – December 9, 1908) was a musical comedy actress and soprano singer from Canada who worked in the U.S.

Early life

Ida Hawley was born at

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its population ...

in 1876 and later raised in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, where she received her higher education at the

Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School (sporadically known as Loretto Abbey CSS, LACSS, Loretto Abbey, LAT, Loretto Abbey Toronto or Abbey) is an all-girls Catholic secondary school in Hogg's Hollow neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Es ...

''Who's Who on the Stage'', ed. Walter Browne, E. De Roy Koch, 1908 Little is known about her life, other than that when she was not working in the U.S. she maintained a residence at the Hotel Flanders in Toronto and that she left behind a legacy of work from a career that extended barely past a decade.

Career

Her professional career began in 1897 as a stock actress with

Augustin Daly John Augustin Daly (July 20, 1838June 7, 1899) was one of the most influential men in American theatre during his lifetime. Drama critic, theatre manager, playwright, and adapter, he became the first recognized stage director in America. He exer ...

's company, performing

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

’s '' The Tempest'' in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and later

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. After a season of repertoire work Hawley left Daly to play Yvonne in

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

' ''Paul Jones'' at the Schiller Theatre in Chicago, followed by a part in ''A Runaway Girl'' at the

Chestnut Street Theatre The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the first theater in the United States built by entrepreneurs solely as a venue for paying audiences.The Chestnut Street Theatre Project The New Theatre (First Chestnut Street Theatre) ...

in Philadelphia. The next season she worked on the musical comedy ''Three Little Lambs'' (by R.A. Barnett and composer E.W. Corliss) which premiered at New York's

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, ...

on Christmas Day, 1899. The following year she appeared in the musical extravaganza ''A Million Dollars'' by

Louis Harrison Louis Harrison (1859, Philadelphia – October 23, 1936, New York City) was an actor, playwright, comedian, lyricist, librettist, and theatre director. As both a performer and playwright, he was mainly active within the genres of musical theatre a ...

and

George V. Hobart George Vere Hobart (1867 – 1926) was a Canadian-American humorist who authored more than 50 musical comedy librettos and plays as well as novels and songs. At the time of his death, Hobart was "one of America's most popular humorists and playwr ...

, that opened to unfavourable reviews on September 27, 1900. Hawley had better luck as Ruth in the successful run of ''The Burgomaster'', a musical comedy written by Gustav Luders and composed by Frank Pixley. The critics praised her performance as Princess Soo-Soo in ''A Chinese Honeymoon'' by

George Dance (dramatist) Sir George Dance (14 October 1857 – 22 October 1932) was an English lyricist and librettist in the 1890s and an important theatrical manager at the beginning of the 20th century. Dance wrote several hit musicals, including ''The Gay Parisi ...

and composer

Howard Talbot Richard Lansdale Munkittrick, better known as Howard Talbot (9 March 1865 – 12 September 1928), was an American-born, English-raised conductor and composer of Irish descent. He was best known for writing the music to several hit Edwardian musi ...

. A few months later she assumed the role of Edith in another Luders and Pixley musical comedy, ''The Prince of Pilsen'', during its long run at the

Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

. Later in 1903 Hawley began working as an understudy for opera singer

Fritzi Scheff Fritzi Scheff (born Friederike Scheff; August 30, 1879 – April 8, 1954) was an American actress and singer. Biography Born Friederike Scheff in Vienna to Dr. Gottfried Scheff and Anna Yeager, she studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frank ...

on her national tour with the comic operettas ''Babette'', by

Victor Herbert Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is be ...

and

Harry B. Smith Harry Bache Smith (December 28, 1860 – January 1, 1936) was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works ...

and ''Two Roses'', based on

Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...

’s ''She Stoops to Conquer''. In May 1904 Hawley stepped in to replace Scheff for the remainder of the season after a severe sore throat forced the actress to withdraw from the tour. In August 1905, Hawley played Polly Premier at the Broadway Theatre in ''The Pearl and the Pumpkin'', written by Paul West and composer John W. Bratton. In 1906 she toured in an off-Broadway production of '' The Blue Moon'' by

and Paul Rubens and the following year she played the lead role in

Gustav Kerker Gustave Adolph Kerker (February 28, 1857 – June 29, 1923) was a German-born composer and conductor who spent most of his life in the US. He became a musical director for Broadway theatre productions and wrote the music for a series of operettas ...

and

George Broadhurst George Howells Broadhurst (June 3, 1866 – January 31, 1952) was an Anglo-American theatre owner/manager, director, producer and playwright. His plays were most popular from the late 1890s into the 1920s. Biography Broadhurst was born in Wal ...

's ''The Lady from Lane's'', a musical comedy that ran for 47 performances at the Casino Theatre.

Death

Ida Hawley died on December 9, 1908, aged 32, at Alston's Sanitarium on West 61st Street in Manhattan from complications following an operation for appendicitis. Her remains were sent back to Toronto where her father still resided.''Los Angeles Times'', December 10, 1908
''The New York Times'', December 10, 1908.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawley, Ida 1876 births 1908 deaths Actresses from Ontario Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States Canadian stage actresses People from Belleville, Ontario Singers from Ontario