"The young American actress whose reported engagement gave one to expect that she would be the first to follow the dictum of a theatrical authority that actresses should marry dramatic critics. However Miss Fealey denied her engagement to an American dramatic critic directly after it was announced. Miss Fealey is well-known to English playgoers. She was leading lady with Sir Henry Irving during his last season in London
Magazine The Bystander, 1907.
In 1907 actress Maude Fealy (not 'Fealey') married Denver drama critic Hugo Sherwin, but, after meeting with her mother's bitter disapproval, refused to live with him, even when threatened with court orders. In 1909 they divorced while she starred in a play titled 'Divorce.' She quit the play and secretly married James Durkin, an actor. They performed together in a number of plays, including 'The Right Princess' (1913), an amusing look at 'mental healing' i.e. psychiatry. His career began slipping in the mid-1910s and she began touring vaudeville. Fealy, tired of Durkin, divorced him, and in 1920 married James Cort, the son of her manager. They lived together for a year before she took to the roads. Cort divorced Fealy for abandonment in 1923.
This post was triggered by Sepia Saturday's emancipation theme. Since I'm going on a short holiday I will respond to the other postings in a few days time.
next episode: Escher
Interesting to see that the credit for this photograph goes to Bassano, well known London celebrity portraitist. An intriguing story and another excellent take on the sepia Saturday theme, thank you.
ReplyDeleteShe shouldn't have married any of them.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the vacation. I'm looking forward to hearing where you went.
ReplyDeleteThese days it's a common PR stunt to deny engagements. Pretty woman.
ReplyDeleteShe is quite lovely and gives proof to the stereotype of actresses. I had a friend who would marry and divorce with some regularity. All us friends (tired of the many wedding gifts we were buying) finally told her just to live with the next one. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, just simply love the entire attire!!! I wish it were more the style to wear dresses nowadays...
ReplyDeleteThe early celebrities had a more difficult life than today's jet setters. The time spent in traveling by ship and rail alone meant long separations, which inevitably led to temptations too. A beautiful woman for any era.
ReplyDeleteIsn't she beautiful! It was quite some thing to divorce in those days. It can't have been easy.
ReplyDeleteInteresting take on emancipation! Divorced three times in a time when divorce was not readily accepted. There did seem to be a double-standard with celebs being given a pass.
ReplyDeleteShe is beautiful and the entire portrait is beautiful. Things don't change much really, they just go around and around and around to another experiment.
ReplyDeleteQMM
Perhaps if she had just stayed single....have a wonderful vacation!
ReplyDeleteA great image and a great background story. Postcards really were the Celebrity Magazines of their day weren't they
ReplyDeleteBeautiful woman, gorgeous dress, fascinating backstory. Like many who choose a life "on the boards," she seems to have a short attention span made all the worse by frequently being on tour. Thanks for sharing her with us.
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