Bayonne Whipple (died February 20, 1937) was the stage name of Fanny Elmina Rose, an actress and vaudeville performer and the second wife of Canadian actor Walter Huston.
Early life
Fanny Elmina Rose (called Mina) was born in New York, the daughter of Rodney S. Rose and Mary Louisa (Ward) Rose. Her father was a Methodist Episcopal clergyman.[1]
Career
Bayonne Whipple was a vaudeville performer. From 1902 to 1908, she was the heroine Ruth Blak in a stage melodrama titled The Ninety and Nine in New York.[2][3] In 1909, she met and began working with Walter Huston, a younger actor. At the time, she was headlining a touring act named Harmony Discord.[4] They formed an act named Whipple and Huston that toured for 15 years.[5] "We sang, danced, did comedy skits," Huston recalled, "and managements soon found out that we could do the time on stage of three acts, so they hired us, so they wouldn't have to pay the salaries of the two acts we replaced."[6] Whipple handled the business side of their work, Huston wrote their material, and Whipple was credited as co-writer of some songs and skits during this period.[7][8] Their act was successful, but ended as Huston's career in theatre and film grew, and Whipple's did not.[9]
Personal life
Bayonne Whipple married Walter Huston as his second wife in December 1914 in Arkansas; they divorced, after years of separation, in 1931.[10] Walter soon remarried.[11] She died at home on Balboa Island, California in 1937, from heart disease.[12] Reports of her age varied; she may have been as young as 60 or as old as 72 at the time of her death. Her gravesite is in Candor, New York.
References
- ^ "Rev. Rodney S. Rose" Official Minutes (Methodist Episcopal Church, Wyoming Conference 1901): 101.
- ^ "The Theatre and Amusements" The Index (December 26, 1908): 13.
- ^ "Many Seasons in One Part" Pittsburgh Daily Post (August 22, 1907): 4. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Bayonne Whipple in Clever Sketch at Bell Theater" San Francisco Call (September 25, 1911): 10. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "The New Screen Lincoln; Walter Huston's Walter Huston's Fifteen Years of Vaudeville Led to Stage and Motion Picture Success" New York Times (October 5, 1930): X3.
- ^ Charles Foster, Once Upon a Time in Paradise: Canadians in the Golden Age of Hollywood (Dundurn 2003): 148. ISBN 9781550029970
- ^ Library of Congress, Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical Compositions, Part 3 (1916): 1432.
- ^ Library of Congress, Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 1 17(5)(1920): 17059.
- ^ Lawrence Grobel, The Hustons: The Life and Times of a Hollywood Dynasty (Skyhorse Publishing 2014): 90. ISBN 9781629142890
- ^ "Walter Huston is Sued for Divorce" Daily Boston Globe (October 14, 1931): 16.
- ^ "Heart Attack Fatal to Actor Walter Huston" Los Angeles Times (April 8, 1950).
- ^ "Former Wife of Walter Huston Dead" Ottawa Journal (February 22, 1937): 3. via Newspapers.com
External links
- A 1911 photograph of Bayonne Whipple, in the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries.
- Bayonne Whipple's gravesite on Find a Grave.
This page was last edited on 2 November 2023, at 13:01