Olive Logan (April 22, 1839 – April 27, 1909) was an American actress and author, daughter of Irish-American actor and playwright Cornelius Ambrosius Logan and Eliza Akeley.

Career

She was born in Elmira, New York, and attended Wesleyan Female College (1850–51) and the Catholic Academy of the Sacred Heart in Cincinnati, Ohio, where her theatrical family had settled. Her acting career was short, beginning with her debut at the

Arch Street Theatre The Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the 19th century, was one of the three main Philadelphia theaters for plays; the other two were the Walnut Street Theatre and the Chestnut Street Theatre. The Arch Street Theatre opene ...

in Philadelphia in 1854 as 'Mrs. Bobtail' in ''Bobtail and Wagtail'' and ending in 1857 when she married journalist Henry A. Delisle and went to Europe. While in Europe she became a journalist herself; her first book, ''Photographs of Paris Life'' (1861), was a collection of pieces on Paris life written for American periodicals. An 1865 novel, ''Chateau Frissac: or, Home Scenes in France'', "was written with the view of showing the evils resulting from the well-known French ''mariage de convenance''" Her 1866 story collection ''Olive Logan's New Christmas Story: John Morris's Money'' was reviewed as "not notably worse than most of the fiction of the day". Olive was influenced by Artemus Ward to take up public speaking where she spoke on social and political topics. She returned briefly to the stage from 1864 until 1867. In 1864 she appeared 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 ...

in New York City in her own play of ''Eveleen''. She corresponded for many periodicals and wrote, besides plays (including a metrical rendering of Coppée's ''La Pasant''), a dramatization of

Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for '' The Woman in White'' (1859), a mystery novel and early "sensation novel", and for '' The Moonstone'' (1868), which has b ...

's ''Armadale'', and several books on theatrical matters, such as ''Before the Footlights and Behind the Scenes'' (1870). She also published the novels ''Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!'' (1872) and ''They Met By Chance'' (1873). Logan was divorced from Delisle in 1869. Some of Logan's lectures were on

woman suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

; she spoke at the 1869 convention of the

American Equal Rights Association The American Equal Rights Association (AERA) was formed in 1866 in the United States. According to its constitution, its purpose was "to secure Equal Rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color ...

and was a contributor to '' The Revolution''. She was a member of the

Woman's National Press Association Woman's National Press Association (W.N.P.A.) was an American professional association for women journalists. The constitution declared that the object of the association was to advance and encourage women in literary work, and to secure the benefi ...

Family and personal life

Olive was the fifth of the eight children of Irish-American actor and playwright Cornelius Ambrosius Logan. Her older siblings were stage actress Eliza Logan (1827–1872), prominent Cincinnati lawyer Thomas A. Logan (1829–1906), physician/writer/diplomat

Cornelius Ambrose Logan Cornelius Ambrose Logan (August 24, 1832 – January 30, 1899) was an American physician, writer, and diplomat, best known for his two terms as United States Ambassador to Chile (1873-6 and 1882-5) during difficult times. Logan spent his early ...

(1832–1899), and actress and writer Celia Logan (1837–1904). Her younger sisters Alice (1844–1917), Grace, and Kate (1847–1872) also appeared on the stage; notably Alice and Grace performed in the American debut of

Lydia Thompson Lydia Thompson (born Eliza Thompson; 19 February 1838 – 17 November 1908), was an English dancer, comedian, actor and theatrical producer. From 1852, as a teenager, she danced and performed in pantomimes, in the UK and then in Europe and soo ...

, considered the first burlesque performance in America, at Wood's Museum in New York in September 1868; the theater was owned by George Wood, Eliza's husband. Olive was married three times; first in 1857 to journalist Henry De Lisle; they were divorced in 1869. They had at least one son, John Douglass De Lisle, who was the US consul in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England when he died of a cold in 1890. Her second marriage was to journalist and writer

Wirt Sikes William Wirt Sikes (November 23, 1836 – August 18, 1883) was an American journalist and writer, perhaps best known today for his writings on Welsh folklore and customs. Early life William Wirt Sikes was born in Watertown, New York, the son of W ...

on December 19, 1871. Sikes was appointed US Consul in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in 1876, and they lived there until his death in 1883. Logan married her secretary, James O'Neill in London in 1892. They moved back to New York, but by 1906 he was an alcoholic, employed only as a watchman at Ellis Island, and, mostly deaf and destitute, Logan moved to England. Logan was aided in her time of need by her friend suffragist Tennessee Claflin. She died in an insane asylum in

Banstead Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, south-west of Croydon, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on three of the four main ...

on April 27, 1909.

Mark Twain's opinion

Mark Twain evidently had a low opinion of Olive Logan; referring to her career as a lecturer, he said of her in his autobiography, "Olive Logan's notoriety grew out—only the initiated knew what. Apparently it was a manufactured notoriety, not an earned one. She did write and publish little things in newspapers and obscure periodicals, but there was no talent in them, and nothing resembling it. In a century they would not have made her known. Her name was really built up out of newspaper paragraphs set afloat by her husband, who was a small-salaried minor journalist."Etext version of 1924 edition of Twain's autobiography; quote from text written about 1898

Notes

References

*"Logan, Olive." ''American Authors 1600–1900.'' New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1938. *Logan, Olive, ''The Mimic World, and Public Exhibitions: Their history, their morals, and effects.'' Philadelphia, PA and Cincinnati, OH: New-World Publishing Company, 1871.
googlebooks
Retrieved November 15, 2009 *Logan, Olive. ''Before the Footlights & Behind the Scenes: a book about the Show Business in all its branches: from Puppet Shows to Grand Opera; from Mountebanks to Menageries; from Learned Pigs to Lecturers; from Burlesque Blondes to Actors and Actresses.'' Philadelphia: Parmelee Bancroft, 1870
googlebooks
Retrieved April 15, 2008

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Logan, Olive 1839 births 1909 deaths Writers from Elmira, New York 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses 19th-century American women writers American suffragists