Paul Gilmore (1873 – 1962) was a popular stage actor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who also appeared in no fewer than 10 silent films. Additionally, he owned and managed for many years the
Cherry Lane Theatre
The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, N ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
– giving work to such future stars as
Robert Walker Sr.,
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned over five decades, she was nominated ...
and
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...
. In his declining years, he and his daughter, Virginia, operated the Gilmore Summer Stock Theatre in
Duluth
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
.
Early career
Paul Howard Gilmore was born July 14, 1873, in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
.
[Blue Book of Players, by A.D. Storm, 1901, pg. 218] His parents intended him to pursue a law career, but as a teenager Gilmore developed an interest in acting when he performed in amateur plays at Milwaukee's Grand Opera House, which was owned by his successful publisher father.
["How Chance Made Paul Gilmore An Actor," San Antonio Sunday Light, San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 21, 1906 page 4] Theatrical producer Jacob Litt saw Gilmore perform and, in 1891, offered him a role in his traveling show, ''The Ensign.'' On a lark, Gilmore accepted, intending to stay with the company for a few weeks and then return home to study law. He never did, instead continuing to perform with Litt's players in a number of successful productions that included ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...
'' and ''In Old Kentucky.''
Gilmore quickly rose to leading man status. His clean-cut features, expressive brown eyes and shock of dark, wavy hair netted him many romantic roles, and his penchant for fine attire earned him a reputation as “the youngest, best-dressed leading man on the American stage.".
["In New York," by George Ross, The Lowell Sun, Lowell, Mass., Oct. 24, 1936, pg. 14] By 1896 he had left Litt's Players and gained stature with
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 ...
in plays such as ''The Wife,'' ''Americans Abroad'' and ''Sweet Lavender.''
[The Telegram, Eau Claire, Wisc., Nov. 1, 1896, pg. 2]
Film pioneer
In addition to his stage work, Gilmore participated in the early development of
motion pictures
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
in the United States. Starting in 1897, he performed short "character studies" on film for the American Mutuoscope Company (later to become the
Biograph Company)
and performed for
Thomas Alva Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invention ...
's company on a number of short (less than 60-second) works that included ''A Pillow Fight,'' ''The Vanishing Lady,'' ''The Miser,'' ''Herman the Great'' and ''Caught In the Act.''.
[Undated playbill, Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City] He also claimed to have appeared in one Edison feature, ''The Artist's Model,'' in 1918,
but is not listed as one of the principal actors.
On June 17, 1897, Gilmore married Regina Cooper, the daughter of millionaire wagon maker A.A. Cooper of
Dubuque
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
, Two years later, on Sept. 9, 1899, Gilmore's wife delivered twins – a boy and a girl. Regina Cooper Gilmore died of heart failure two days after giving birth. Gilmore allowed A. A. Cooper to assume custody of the children, give them the Cooper surname and raise them, while he continued to tour.
Gilmore's son, Paul Gilmore Cooper, died in 1918 after leaping off a train on which he had hitched a ride. When Gilmore's daughter, Regina, reached maturity, she joined her father in New York, adopted the stage name of Virginia, and assisted him in his theatrical work for the rest of his life.
Near-fatal accident
Three months after the death of his wife, Gilmore was nearly killed in a production of ''The Musketeers'' in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
. On Dec. 16, 1899, Gilmore and two other actors were critically wounded when they were shot with live rounds that had accidentally been loaded into a stage pistol. Gilmore received six wounds, the most serious in his legs. Gilmore was at first not expected to live; when he did, doctors gave him little chance of being able to return to the stage. A bullet was removed from his knee in March 1900, after which he began to recover. By October of that year, he was again on the road, appearing in ''Under the Red Robe.''
Actor Lewis Monroe died of lockjaw a month after the accident as the result of a bullet wound to the hand.
Middle career
Gilmore reached full star status in late 1900 with his performance in ''The Dawn of Freedom'' at the
Fourteenth Street Theatre
The Fourteenth Street Theatre was a New York City theatre located at 107 West 14th Street just west of Sixth Avenue.Berg, J.C. (9 January 2011)The Fourteenth Street Theater, ''nycvintageimages.com''
History
It was designed by Alexander Sael ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
He performed relentlessly all over the country in scores of plays, often in roles that portrayed him as a swashbuckling lover. Audiences flocked to see him in productions such as ''Captain Debonnaire,'' ''The Mummy and the Hummingbird'' and ''The Boys of Company B.''
Gilmore married Mary A. Goodwin in 1901 and was divorced from her in January 1909. In November of that year, he married actress Ethel Elizabeth Cauley, while on tour in
Staunton,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
.
In addition to operating his own touring stage company and acting in productions throughout the United States, Gilmore began making feature films in 1915. By 1920, he had starred or had major roles in nine movies and accumulated more than $225,000 in cash and tangible assets, including of land on
Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria Island, is a barrier island on the coast of Manatee County, Florida, in the United States. It is bounded on the west by the Gulf of Mexico, on the south by Longboat Pass (which separates it from Longboat Key), on the east by Anna Ma ...
in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
It was here that he hoped to build a movie colony – Paul Gilmore’s Oriental Film City – that would rival
Hollywood. He and his fourth wife, Pickett Gilmore, were principal officers in the company.
Gilmore and Albert Plummer of Character Pictures began filming the
South Seas
Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, is used in several contexts. Most commonly it refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. In 1513, when Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa coined the term ''Mar del Sur'', ...
adventure, ''The Isle of Destiny'', in the spring of 1920, on Anna Maria Island. Gilmore pumped huge amounts of his own cash into the production, footing the bill for the importation by boat (there was no serviceable road or bridge to the island) of cars, horses and some 200 actors.
''The Isle of Destiny'', a six-reeler, performed well when it premiered in New York theaters, and Gilmore planned at least two other films for production on Anna Maria Island. But his speculations in real estate failed, and Gilmore lost all his assets and most of his cash. He returned to New York City, where he settled in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
over a tobacco warehouse that he would transform into the Paul Gilmore Cherry Lane Theatre.
Divorced from his fourth wife by the 1930s, he was joined in New York by his daughter, and together they ran the small venue and starred in many of its productions.
Final years
In 1948, the Gilmores moved to
Duluth
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, where they established the Gilmore Comedy Theatre in a 40- by Quonset hut they constructed along
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
. The theater opened on July 14, 1949, with a production of ''This Thing Called Love.'' Gilmore operated the theater until age and declining health forced him to sell it in 1955.
Gilmore and his daughter retired to Dubuque, Iowa, where they resided at 418 Raymond Place. Gilmore died while wintering in
Palm Springs, Florida
Palm Springs is a village in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, situated approximately north of Miami. The village's name was likely derived from the resort city of Palm Springs, California. Located in the east-central part of the county ...
, on Dec. 29, 1962, at the age of 89. He is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in
Key West
Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
.
Regina Cooper Gilmore died in Dubuque on Sept. 22, 1981. Upon her death, the Gilmore estate, which was valued in excess of $1 million, was divided among relatives and the church,
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
charities and
Saint Raphael's Cathedral.
[Encyclopedia Dubuque; www.encyclopediadubuque.org]
Filmography
Feature films
* ''The Isle of Destiny'' (1920) .... Jim Stafford
* ''The Mad Woman'' (1919)
* ''The Artist's Model'' (1918)
* ''The Shrine of Happiness'' (1916) .... Ted Clark
* ''The House of Mystery'' (1926)
* ''The Other Girl'' (1920) .... Rev. Clifton Bradford
* ''Rosemary'' (1915) .... Capt. William Westwood
* ''A Woman's Wiles'' (1915)
* ''
The Penitentes
''The Penitentes'' is a lost 1915 silent film drama directed by Jack Conway and starring Orrin Johnson and Seena Owen. It was produced by D. W. Griffith's Fine Arts Film Company and distributed through Triangle Film Corporation.
Cast
* Orrin ...
'' (1915) .... Colonel Juan Raca
* ''The Lost Secret'' (1915)
* ''The Conjurer's House'' (19??)
Edison/Biograph Shorts
* ''The Pillow Fight'' (1897)
* ''The Vanishing Lady'' (1897)
* ''The Miser'' (1897)
* ''Herman the Great'' (1897)
* ''Caught In the Act'' (1897)
* ''The Waiter'' (1898)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilmore, Paul H
American male silent film actors
19th-century American male actors
American male stage actors
20th-century American male actors
1873 births
1962 deaths
Male actors from Milwaukee