Mabel Hite (May 30, 1883 – October 22, 1912) was a

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 ...

comedian and musical comedy actress.

Life and career

Hite was born in

Ashland, Kentucky Ashland is a home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The largest city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon a southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West Virginia. The population was 21,6 ...

May 30, 1883, the daughter of Lewis and Elsie Hite. Her family relocated to Pocatello, Idaho in the late 1880s and then Kansas City, Missouri in the mid-1890s, where her father found employment at the Owl Drug Store. A native of Michigan, he later became the first vice-president of the newly formed Kansas City local of the National Association of Drug Clerks. Elsie Hite, originally from Illinois, would accompany her daughter throughout her early career which began at about age eleven in amateur theater as 'The Lord Chancellor' in Gilbert and Sullivan's

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

'' Iolanthe''.Married in a Hurry - Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah); Sunday, March 03, 1901; pg. 5; col. 3 Browne, Walter, De Roy, E. Koch - Who's Who on the Stage, 1908; pg. 238
accessed September 3, 2012 Mabel Hite 01

By the late 1890s Hite was a performer with the Fairmont Stock Company of Kansas City and in 1898 toured as 'Adele Ray' in James M. Martin's ragtime farce-comedy, ''The Late Mr. Early''. The following year she appeared with the Dunne and Ryley Company as the orphan 'Pony Luce' in

Charles Hale Hoyt Charles Hale Hoyt (July 26, 1859 – November 20, 1900) was an American dramatist and playwright. He was married twice, to stage actresses Flora Walsh and Caroline Miskel Hoyt, both of whom died young. The shock of the death of his second wi ...

's ''A Milk White Flag''. In the late summer of 1900 Hite was a soloist with Boston's ''The Howard's Own Show Company'' before embarking on a two-season tour as 'Estelle Coocoo' in the Morton-Kerker musical comedy '' The Telephone Girl''. In 1902 she played the 'waif' in road productions of the Charles Dazey melodrama ''The Burglar and the Waif'' and the following year toured in the musical ''The Chaperons'', as Phrosia. Hite made her Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on May 2, 1904, as 'Nerissa' in the musical comedy ''A Venetian Romance'', and the following year at Chicago's Garrick Theatre she played 'Captain Prissy Ping' in L. Frank Baum's ''

The Woggle-Bug The Mr. Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug, Thoroughly Educated is a character in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. He first appears in the book ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' in 1904. He goes by the name H. M. Woggle-Bug, T.E. (''Highly Magnified and Thor ...

''. In 1905 it was rumored that she was to marry the athlete Arthur Duffey, and as she was a divorcee he would meet Pope Pius X in order to attain special dispensation to wed. The rumor proved false. Later that year she toured with the Frank L. Perley Opera Company opposite

Viola Gillette Viola Gillette (1871 - 1956), born Viola Pratt, was an American contralto from Salt Lake City. Biography Gillette began her career as a church singer in Salt Lake City. She made her stage debut in Washington, D.C. in 1898. She subsequently mo ...

in ''The Girl and the Bandit''. For the following season Hite joined forces with vaudevillian Walter Jones to form an act that met with success at vaudeville venues in and around New York City. On March 30, 1907, Hite starred as 'Tillie Day' in B. C. Whitney's production of ''

A Knight for a Day ''A Knight for a Day'' is a 1946 Disney short film starring Goofy, which is loosely based on the novel ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Directed by Jack Hannah, this 7-minute animated comedy short was scripted by Bill Peet. While ...

'' at Chicago's Whitney Opera House and the next spring she came back to Broadway to play 'Martha Scraggs' at the Circle Theatre (Broadway at 60th St.) in ''The Merry-Go-Round''. Hite returned to vaudeville with her husband, professional baseball player

Mike Donlin Michael Joseph Donlin (May 30, 1878 – September 24, 1933) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and actor. As a professional baseball player, his MLB career spanned from 1899 to 1914 in which he played mainly in the National L ...

, in a series of comedic baseball skits. She last appeared in vaudeville in the spring of 1912 in a skit entitled ''Mabel Hite and Her Clowns''. Her last Broadway appearance came the year before at

Wallack's Theatre Three New York City playhouses named Wallack's Theatre played an important part in the history of American theater, as the successive homes of the stock company managed by actors James W. Wallack and his son, Lester Wallack. During its 35-ye ...

playing 'Norah' in the musical farce ''A Certain Party''. Hite died after a long struggle with

intestinal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

on October 22, 1912, at her mother's residence in New York City. She was survived by Donlin, her husband for six years. Hite had married once before, to Edward Ellis Hamlin, the son of a wealthy

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...

executive, after a whirlwind courtship in 1901. Their union ended in 1905 after two years of divorce proceedings.Mabel Hite Divorced - Decatur Daily Review (Decatur, Illinois); Thursday, April 06, 1905; pg. 6

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hite, Mabel 1883 births 1912 deaths 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Idaho Actresses from Kansas City, Missouri Vaudeville performers People from Ashland, Kentucky Musicians from Ashland, Kentucky Actresses from Kentucky Kentucky women musicians Deaths from colorectal cancer Deaths from cancer in New York (state)