Ulrika "Ullie" Akerstrom (born Ulrica Regina Akerstrom;"Ullie Akerstrom: A Brief Sketch of a Successful Actress"
''Hartford Courant''. January 25, 1886. p. 2. Retrieved December 8, 2023. March 17,"United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24F-N9Q5 : Wed Nov 01 09:54:44 UTC 2023), Entry for Ulrica Akerstrom, 1896. 1858"New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24ZZ-JJP : Thu Nov 30 04:33:23 UTC 2023), Entry for Abner Benedict and Ulrica Akerstrom, 9 May 1898. – August 10, 1941) was an American actress, dancer, playwright, and

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 ...

performer.

Early life and career

Born 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 ...

and raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, Akerstrom was the daughter of Elizabeth W. Watkins and Swedish immigrant Charles G. Akerstrom. When she was 2, the family moved to Chicago, shortly after which her father died. Chicago would remain Akerstrom's primary residence as late as 1896."Rides a wheel, Too; Annie Oakley, Little Sure Shot"
''The Inter Ocean''. June 7, 1886. p. 14. Retrieved December 8, 2023. While still in her teens, prompted by a bank failure that had wiped out almost all of the family's savings, Akerstrom made her debut as an

elocutionist Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...

on October 5, 1876, at Chicago's Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, located at the corner of Park Avenue and Robey Street. She made her first stage appearance 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 as a vaudeville performer.A. D. Storms, '' Players' Blue Book'' (Sutherland and Storms 1901): 250-251. She acted in shows including ''Fanchon the Cricket'', ''The Pearl of Savoy'', ''The Hidden Hand'',"Ullie Akerstrom is Visiting Here"
''Hartford Courant'' (September 15, 1915): 6. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

''Annette, the Dancing Girl'' (1889, her New York debut), ''Renah, the Gipsey's Daughter'', ''A Little Busybody'' (1891), ''A Strange Marriage, Under the City Lights'' (1898), ''A Beautiful Slave, a Waif of London'' (1898), and ''A Bachelor's Housekeeper'' (1898). Akerstrom wrote several plays and sketches during her performing years, including ''Viola, the Street Singer'' (1886), ''Renah, the Gipsey's Daughter'' (1886), ''Annette the Dancing Girl'' (1889), ''Miss Rosa'', ''A Pauper's Fortune'' (1893), ''Queen of the Arena'' (1893), ''A Woman's Vengeance'' (1895), ''The Story of a Crime'' (1895), ''That Smith Gal'', ''Little Busybody'', ''The Egyptian Dancer'', and ''The Doctor's Warm Reception'' (1901). Akerstrom also published a book of popular verse, ''"Toot Yer Horn", and Other Poems'' (1888). A revival of Akerstrom's ''Miss Rosa'', staged in the United Kingdom circa 1895, featured famed Wild West performer

Annie Oakley Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Oakley developed hunting skills as a child to provide for her impoverished family in western ...

in the title role, making her professional acting debut. Akerstrom retired from the stage in 1903 and lived in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, writing sketches, plays, and lyrics. She also produced shows. Works by Akerstrom from this period included ''A Doctor by Courtesy; or, A Jolly Mixup'' (1906), ''The Widow'' (1910), ''St. Elmo'' (1910), ''The Plot'' (1910), ''An Election Episode'' (1910), ''Adventures; or, The Woman Hater'' (1910), ''Vashti; or, Until Death Do Us Part'' (1910), ''The Reckoning'' (1911), ''Mental Suggestion; or, Made in Germany'' (1911), ''Mrs. Murphy's Second Husband'' (1911), ''Natasha'' (1911), ''The Eleventh Hour; or, Two Sisters'' (1911), ''A Story of the Hills'' (1911), ''The Wager'' (1912), ''The Sultan's Daughter'' (1912), ''The Sultan's Favorite'' (1912), ''Sunshine'' (1912), ''Our New Girl'' (1912), ''The Red Mask'' (1913), ''Caught with the Goods'' (1915), ''Over the Hills to the Poor House'' (1921), ''The Haunted Fliver; or, What's the Answer'' (1935) and ''Call of the King'' (1938). She moved to

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 ...

by 1935, but remained active in local theatrical productions, as a performer, writer and producer."Class Will Present Interesting Play"
''Tampa Times'' (December 6, 1938): 7. via

Personal life

Akerstrom married her manager, Abner Benedict (known professionally as Gus Bernard), in 1898; he died in 1915. She married again, to George Howard Melius, in 1919."New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2C2-Q1JF : Thu Nov 30 11:44:43 UTC 2023), Entry for George H Melius and Ullie Benedict, 19 Aug 1919.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akerstrom, Ullie 1858 births 1941 deaths 19th-century American actresses Actresses from Chicago American people of Swedish descent American stage actresses American women dramatists and playwrights American vaudeville performers Elocutionists 20th-century American actresses 19th-century American dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American women writers Actresses from New York City Writers from New York City