| Images | |
 Laura Keene. [Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division] (c1855-1865) |
 The grave of Laura Keene at Greenwood Cemetery, New York City. Picture by Androom (15 Apr 2010) |
Keene, Laura |
| ACTOR, THEATRE MANAGER (ENGLAND) |
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BORN 20 Jul 1826, Winchester, Hampshire - DIED 4 Nov 1873, Montclair, New Jersey BIRTH NAME Moss, Mary Frances CAUSE OF DEATH tuberculosis GRAVE LOCATION New York City, New York: Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn (Section 182, Lot 21444) |
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Laura Keene was the daughter of Tomas Moss and Jane Moss, born King. Her aunt was the actress Elizabeth Yates.When she was eighteen she married Henry Wellington Taylor, who may have been the nephew and the godson of the Duke of Wellington. They had two children, Emma Elija (b.1846) and Clara Stella (b.1849). After Taylor left the army and had his own tavern. Around 1850 he was arrested and convicted for an unkown crime. He was probably sent to Australia on a prison ship. Mary Frances decided to go to the stage to earn a living and her aunt Elizabeth encouraged her. She took lessons with Emma Brougham. Her appearance under the name of Laura Keene at Emma Brougham's theatre in Richmond in 1851 attracted the attention of Charles Matthews, who gave her a part in "The Chain of Events" next to Madame Vestris at the Lyceum in London. She was good in melodrama and comedy and also a good businesswoman. In 1852 she went to the USA and on October 20th she appeared in New York at Wallack's Theatre. Her daughters now called her auntie because being a separated (but not divorced) woman was even less acceptable in America than in England at that time. She toured in the USA and together with a local man called John Lutz she took over the Charles Street Theatre in Baltimore and became the first woman to manage a theatre in the USA. During the time that John Lutz had to stay with his terminally ill wife she visited the USA with her daughters and acted there with Edwin Booth. Laura performed in Australia late in 1854 with Edwin Booth and may have met her husband there and asked him for a divorce in vain. Back in the USA, she took over the management of the Varieties Theatre in New York. After a while she started a new theatre which had her own name and was known as The Olympic in later years. At that theatre she produced the extremely successful "Our America Cousin" in 1858. Edward Sothern would play Lord Dundreary for the rest of his life and eventually bought the play from Laura, who owned the copyright for the USA and Canada. In 1860 "The Seven Sisters" was performed for 169 nights. Around that time she was finally able to live more openly with Lutz. It is unclear if they ever married after Taylor reportedly died in 1860. Her company was now well known in the USA and she was on the stage during a performance of "Our American Cousin" on 14 Apr 1865 at Ford's Theatre in Washington with president Lincoln in attendance, when the president was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth. She put his head in her lap when she gave him some water. Lincoln died the next day. His blood was on her dress and had stained her cuff. The cuff is now at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. In 1868 she visited her native England. On 18 April 1869 John Lutz died and he was buried with his first wife in Okak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown. Laura did some more acting and managing before she largely withdrew from the stage to conduct the art journal "Fine Arts". However, she was on the stage in 1873 when she was hit by a hemorrhage. She had time to take care of some affairs, but she died soon afterwards. She was buried at the cemetery of The Holy Angels in Montclair, New Jersey on 11 Nov 1873 as Frances Lutz. When her daughter Clara died in 1876, Laura's remains were transferred to the grave of her mother at Greenwood Cemetery in New York on April 20, 1876. This time the name that was put on the gravestone was Laura Keene. Related persons • cooperated with Boucicault, Dion • cooperated with Sothern, Edward Askew • knew Vestris, Lucia Elisabeth Events |
| 20/9/1852 | Laura Keene makes her first American appearance at Wallack's Theatre in New York. She played the part of Albino Mandeville in "The Will". She was immediately successful. |
| 18/11/1856 | Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City opens. The theatre had newly been constructed for her. |
| 5/11/1857 | "The Sea of Ice" is first performed at Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City. It had been adapted in England from "La Priére des Naufragés" by Adolphe d'Ennery and Ferdinand Dugué. In England it had been staged as "The Thirst for Gold, or the Lost Ship and the Wild Flower of Mexico" in 1853. The play ran in New York until 21 December which was a long run at the time and it saved Keene's company from ruim. Henri De Lascours was played by Charles Wheatleigh and Louise de Lascours by Laura Keene. Joseph Jefferson played Barbaras and Charlotte Thompson was Mlle. Diane de Theringe. |
| 15/10/1858 | Premiere of Tom Taylor's "Our American Cousin" at Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City. The title part was played by Joseph Jefferson, who played Asa Trenchard. Edward Askew Sothern played Lord Dundreary and Laura Keene was in the cast as well and played Florence Trenchard. Charles Couldock played Abel Murcott. The play ran for over 150 performances and Sothern expanded his role gradually. [Sothern, Edward Askew] |
| 29/3/1860 | Dion Boucicault's "The Colleen Bawn" is produced at Laura Keene's theatre in New York. Performers included Charles Wheatleigh, Dion Boucicault, Agnes Robertson and Laura Keene. The story was based on the murder of Ellen Scanlan in 1819. The play ran until the end of the season in May. [Boucicault, Dion] |
| 14/4/1865 | President Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington. It was during a performance of "Our American Cousin" by the company of Laura Keene. Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. He was fatally wounded and Keene cradled the President's head in her lap. Lincoln died the next day. |
| Images | |
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Laura Keene. [Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division] (c1855-1865) |
The grave of Laura Keene at Greenwood Cemetery, New York City. Picture by Androom (15 Apr 2010) |
Sources • Henneke, Ben Graf, Laura Keene, Actress, Innovator and Impresario, Council Oak Books, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1990 • The life of Laura Keene. Actress, artist, manager and scholar : Creahan, John : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive • Laura Keene - Wikipedia (EN) • Our American Cousin - Wikipedia (EN) • The Sea of Ice (play) - Wikipedia (EN) |
