Nathaniel Carl "Nat" Goodwin (July 25, 1857 – January 31, 1919) was an American
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a 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 term is (), li ...
and
vaudevillian
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 ...
born in
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 ...
.
Life and career
While clerk in a large shop Goodwin studied for the stage and made his first appearance in 1874 at the
Howard Athenaeum
The Howard Athenæum (1845–1953), also known as Old Howard Theatre, in Boston, Massachusetts, was one of the most famous theaters in Boston history. Founded in 1845, it remained an institution of culture and learning for most of its years, fina ...
in Boston in
Stuart Robson Stuart Robson may refer to:
* Stuart Robson (actor)
* Stuart Robson (speedway rider)
See also
* Stewart Robson
Stewart Ian Robson (born 6 November 1964) is an English former football player and TV and radio football pundit. He played for A ...
's company as the newsboy in
Joseph Bradford's ''Law in New York''. The next year he appeared at
Tony Pastor
Antonio Pastor (May 28, 1837 – August 26, 1908) was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes referr ...
's Opera House in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
where he began his career as a vaudevillian.
Nat C. Goodwin: ''North American Theatre Online''
/ref>
In 1876, he appeared at the New York Lyceum in ''Off the Stage'' where he imitated a number of popular actors of the period.
In 1878, he co-founded the Boston Elks Lodge
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City.
History
The Elks began in 1868 as a so ...
, and his association with the lodge, and that of his manager in the 1880s, George W. Floyd ''(né'' George Wood Floyd; 1853–1923), would change baseball history, giving us arguably the first role of an agent in baseball history. Floyd, in particular, would serve as a go-between, starting in 1887, between the management of the Boston National League club, the Beaneaters, and its newly signed star, Mike "King" Kelly. In 1889, Goodwin became a member of the governing committee of the newly created Actors' Amateur Athletic Association of America.
When Kelly and his Chicago teammates won the pennant in 1885, Goodwin and Floyd treated the Chicago team to a performance of "The Skating Rink" at Hooley’s Theatre in Chicago. "After the overture the orchestra struck up 'See, the Conquering Hero Comes,' and Mr. Floyd conducted the eleven Chicago players to their boxes," Chicago captain-manager Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 ...
in the lead." After the first act, Goodwin presented Anson with a "solid silver facsimile of a League ball."
A hit in the Victorian burlesque
Victorian burlesque, sometimes known as travesty or extravaganza, is a genre of theatrical entertainment that was popular in Victorian England and in the New York theatre of the mid-19th century. It is a form of parody in which a well-known oper ...
''Black-eyed Susan'' led to Goodwin's taking part in Edward E. Rice and J. Cheever Goodwin's ''Evangeline'' company in 1874. It was not until 1889, however, that Nat Goodwin's talent as a comedian of the legitimate type began to be recognized. From that time he appeared in a number of plays designed to display his drily humorous method, such as Brander Matthews' and George H. Jessop's ''A Gold Mine'', Henry Guy Carleton's '' A Gilded Fool'' and ''Ambition'', Henry V. Esmond's ''When We Were Twenty-one'', and others. He also found success in more serious works such as Augustus Thomas
Augustus Thomas (January 8, 1857 – August 12, 1934) was an American playwright.
Biography
Born in St. Louis, Missouri and son of a doctor, Thomas worked a number of jobs including as a page in the 41st Congress, studying law, and gaining some ...
's ''In Mizzoura'' and Clyde Fitch
Clyde Fitch (May 2, 1865 – September 4, 1909) was an American dramatist, the most popular writer for the Broadway stage of his time (c. 1890–1909).
Biography
Born in Elmira, New York, and educated at Holderness School and Amherst College (c ...
's ''Nathan Hale''.
A chance trip to Goldfield, Nevada
Goldfield is an unincorporated small desert city and the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada.
It is the locus of the Goldfield CDP which had a resident population of 268 at the 2010 census, down from 440 in 2000. Goldfield is located ...
to witness a prize fight led to Goodwin's involvement in promoting mining stocks in association with George Graham Rice George Graham Rice (June 18, 1870 – October 24, 1943) (aka Jacob Herzig) was a convicted stock swindler. He was known as the "Jackal of Wall Street."
George Graham Rice was born Jacob Simon Herzig in Manhattan to Simon and Anna Herzig. His fath ...
. Goodwin quit his partnership with Rice shortly before the latter was arrested for mail fraud.
Perhaps Goodwin's most famous role was as Fagin in a 1912 stage adaptation of Dickens' '' Oliver Twist'' in which he appeared with Marie Doro and Constance Collier
Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She wrote hit plays and films with Ivor Novello and she was the first person to be treated with insul ...
. He reprised this role for a film which still survives and is preserved in the Library of
Congress. He acted in a handful of films between 1912 and 1916.
Goodwin owned a cafe and cabaret, "Cafe Nat Goodwin", on the private Bristol Pier in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...
between 1913 and 1916. After he sold the business in 1916, its name was changed to the Sunset Inn.
Personal life
In 1877, he married Eliza Weathersby (d. 1887), an English actress with whom he played for two seasons in Benjamin E. Woolf's ''Hobbies''.
Goodwin remarried to an actress named Nella Baker Pease (married in 1890, divorced on Jan. 19, 1898). Until 1903 he was associated in his performances with his third wife, the actress Maxine Elliott
Maxine Elliott (February 5, 1868 – March 5, 1940) was an American actress and businesswoman.
Early life
Born Jessie Dermott on February 5, 1868, to Thomas Dermott, a sea captain and Adelaide Hill Dermott, she had a younger sister, actress G ...
(born 1868), whom he married in 1898; this marriage was dissolved in 1908.
From 1905 to 1910, he partnered with Edna Goodrich in a string of comedy hits — they were married from 1908 to 1911. His last wife was the actress Margaret Moreland (married in 1912, divorced in 1918). When he died he was said to have been engaged to the actress Georgia Gardner.
Death
He died in New York City, at the Claridge Hotel, from shock two weeks after having his right eye removed and was buried at Milton Cemetery
Milton Cemetery is a historic cemetery at 211 Centre Street in Milton, Massachusetts. Established in 1672, it is the town's only municipal burying ground. There are three distinct sections to its grounds: the original burying ground, a tract ...
in Milton, Massachusetts
Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...
. He was survived by both of his parents. At the time of his death, he was deeply in debt, with his estate listing assets of $6,895 and debts of $15,000.
Filmography
*'' Oliver Twist'' (1912)
*'' The Master Hand'' (1915)
*''Business is Business
''Business is business'' (french: :fr:Les affaires sont les affaires, Les affaires sont les affaires) is a French comedy in three acts, by the novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau, performed in April 1903 on the stage of Comédie-Française, in ...
'' (1915)
*'' The Marriage Bond'' (1916)
*'' A Wall Street Tragedy'' (1916)
Publications
* Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...
, ''The Wallet of Time
''The Wallet of Time'' is a publication by William Winter, published in two volumes in 1913.
Overview
The book focuses on American stage actors and actresses, most of whom had been born in Europe, of the nineteenth century and the first decade of ...
'', New York: Benjamin Blom, Inc. (1913);
* Strang ''(né'' Lewis Clinton Strang; 1869–1935), ''Famous Actors of the Day, in America,'' (Boston, 1900);
* McKay (Frederic Edward McKay) and Wingate (Charles E. L. Wingate), ''Famous American Actors of To-Day'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
Thomas Y. Crowell Co. was a publishing company founded by Thomas Y. Crowell. The company began as a bookbindery founded by Benjamin Bradley in 1834. Crowell operated the business after Bradley's death in 1862 and eventually purchased the compan ...
(1896);
* ''Nat Goodwin's Book'' (autobiography), by Nathaniel Carl Goodwin, (Boston, 1914), 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 ...
: R.G. Badger (publisher) (Richard Gorham Badger; 1877–1937);
Notes and references
Notes
General references
- Hartnoll, Phyllis (ed.), ''The Oxford Companion to the Theatre'' (4th ed.) (
Oxford Companions
''Oxford Companions'' is a book series published by Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates b ...
), Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
(1985), p. 342;
- Rosenberg, Howard W.
''Cap Anson 2: The Theatrical and Kingly Mike Kelly: U.S. Team Sport's First Media Sensation and Baseball's Original Casey at the Bat
'' Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...
: Tile Books (2004);
Inline citations
External links
*
*
*
Nat C. Goodwin
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Nathaniel Carl
American male comedians
Male actors from Boston
American male stage actors
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
20th-century American male actors
1857 births
1919 deaths
Vaudeville performers
American sports agents
20th-century American comedians
19th-century American businesspeople