Una Abell-Brinker (August 16, 1874 – November 12, 1952) was an American actress, billed as "First Lady of the Newark Theatre."
Early life
Una Abell was born in
Wayne, Michigan
Wayne is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 17,593 at the 2010 census. Wayne has a long history of automotive and transportation related manufacturing. Ford Motor Company currently has two plants in Wayn ...
, the daughter of Oliver Clinton Abell and Mary E. Chase Abell. Her father served in the Michigan State Senate in 1867; her mother worked as a fraternity matron at the University of Michigan. As a girl she recited to entertain a reunion of Civil War veterans in
Akron, Ohio
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...
.
Career
Abell began her professional stage career by 1892, as an ingenue in the
Hortense Rhéa
Hortense Rhéa (born Hortense Barbe-Loret; 4 September 1844 – 5 May 1899) was a Belgian-born French actress whose popularity extended to the Russian Empire and later the United States of America.
Early life
Hortense Barbe-Loret was born in Bru ...
Helena Modjeska
Helena Modrzejewska (; born Jadwiga Benda; 12 October 1840 – 8 April 1909), known professionally as Helena Modjeska, was a Polish actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles. She was successful first on the Polish stage. After e ...
,
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...
, and
Maurice Barrymore
Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe (21 September 1849 – 25 March 1905), known professionally by his stage name Maurice Barrymore, was an Indian-born British stage actor. He is the patriarch of the Barrymore acting family, father of John, Li ...
, before launching her own repertory company at the New Century Theater in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area."Deaths" '"Billboard'' (November 22, 1952): 52.
She took a few years away from the stage, and returned to
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 ...
in 1909, in Edward Weitzel's ''The Fifth Act''. In 1910 she presented
Ullie Akerstrom
Ulrika "Ullie" Akerstrom (born Ulrica Regina Akerstrom;
's ''The Eleventh Hour'' in Newark, where a reviewer noted, "The part deprives Mrs. Brinker of displaying some of her beautiful gowns, but gives her every opportunity for acting, which she does in a most artistic manner." She was billed as "the First Lady of Newark Theatre."Una Abell Brinker papers, 1895-1952 New York Public Library.
Abell-Brinker adapted and translated ''The Typhoon'', a sketch by
Melchior Lengyel
Melchior Lengyel (born Menyhért Lebovics; hu, Lengyel Menyhért; 12 January 1880 – 23 October 1974) was a Hungarian writer, dramatist, and film screenwriter.
Biography
Lengyel was born Menyhért Lebovics in Balmazújváros, Hungary. He sta ...
, in 1912, but another playwright, Emil Nyitray, claimed that her version was his own, and she was arrested to prevent its performance. She was also founder of the Junior League of
Pleasantville, New York
Pleasantville is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located 30 miles north of Manhattan. The village population was 7,019 at the 2010 census. Pleasantville is home to the secondary camp ...
."Deaths" ''New York Times'' (November 19, 1944): 49.
Personal life
Una Abell married H. Coulter Brinker, a fellow actor, in 1899; she was widowed in 1900, when Brinker died in an accidental fall from a hotel window. Her mother died a few months later. Her second husband was theatrical producer Jacob H. Kahn. She had two daughters, Joan Goldberg and Holly Becker. She was widowed again in 1944. Una Abell Brinker died in 1952, aged 78 years."Una Abell Brinker" ''New York Times'' (November 13, 1952): 31. Her papers are archived at the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...