More information on Maude Adams

Adams, Maude, actress, born (Kiskadden) in Salt Lake City, November 11, 1872. Her mother (stage name "Adams") was leading woman of stock company there. Appeared on stage in child's parts. Went to school. Joined E. H. Sothern Company, New York, at 16. Ingenue role in the "Midnight Bell"; afterward in Charles Frohman's Stock Company; later supported John Drew. Pronounced success in "Little Minister," 1897-98; also in "L'Aiglon," "Peter Pan," "What Every Woman Knows," "Chantecler," and in Shakespearean roles.

On a night in 1906 Maude Adams took on the magical character of Peter Pan on the New York Broadway stage. That role won for her a reputation as one of America's greatest actresses. It was written that of the Peter Pans in history Miss Adams was the "greatest of all."

On Nov. 11, I872, James Kiskadden, a Salt Lake banker, and his wife Annie Adams Kiskadden, a leading lady of a Salt Lake theater company, welcomed a little girl into their home at 8th south and 7th east and called her Maude. Maude made her stage debut in her mothers arms on the stage of the old Salt Lake Theater, which was located on the northwest corner of Ist South and State. In 1879, six-year-old Maude portrayed the name role in the comedy "Little Susie" in a Salt Lake Theater. She acted in may roles with her mother and before she was nine stared with a touring company in California. She returned to Salt Lake to attend school.

Maude enrolled in the Collegiate Institute of Salt Lake City where one student wrote of her: "There was a girl, who caught my attention the first time I ever saw her. I remember she had a 'tam' on her head and was carrying a guitar. There was something electric or vibrant about her. Not beautiful, she had an arresting face. Her voice was low and thrilling."

After graduating from the Collegiate Institute, when she was 16 she appeared with her mother on the New York stage and was billed as Maude Adams, going by her mothers maiden name. The breaks didn't come easily, but by the time she was 25, she was a renowned New York actress and owned a 300-acre estate at Ronkonkoma, together with a city house. She had performed in "Little Minister," "What Every Woman Knows," "Quality Street," "Joan of Arc," " As You Like It," and many more. Her fame spread world wide and it is reported that one fan sat through one of her performances 47 times.

One article wrote: "She was a strict moralist. Her life was a model of clean living. She portrayed 'clean' characters always, and vowed she would never permit her private life to alter one line of the character she projected across the footlights. She was shy and retiring. It was reported she did not like men. She sought refuge in convents and never married."

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