Information on Maude Adams
Adams, Maude (1872-1953). Actress. Born Maude Kiskadden on Nov. 11, 1872, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She joined Charles Frohman's company, where from 1892 to 1897 she regularly appeared opposite John Drew. Her first starring role was that of Babbie in James Barrie's "The Little Minister" in 1897. She was most noted for her performances in "Peter Pan", in which she starred more than 1,500 times beginning in 1905. She was the chairman of the drama department of Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. from 1937 to 1943. She also appeared in "Quality Street", "What Every Woman Knows", and "A Kiss for Cinderella."
From another source:
Maude Adams (1872-1953) was a very popular stage actress in the early twentieth century. She possessed an elfin quality that suited the plays of James M. Barrie, particularly Peter Pan, a play in which she played the title role and for which she is most noted.
Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden was born 1 November 1872 in Salt Lake City. Her mother, Annie Adams, was a leading lady in the stock company that played in the local Social Hall. Her father, James Kiskadden, worked for a bank and also in the Alta mines. At the age of nine months Maude made her first theatrical appearance. Despite her fathers' objections, she soon joined her mother on stage using the name Maude Adams. She and her mother traveled throughout the West with a theatrical barnstorming troupe, playing in rough mining towns as well as in larger cities like San Francisco. It was a difficult way for a young girl to grow up. In a short piece, "The One I Knew Least," Adams later wrote about how hard it was for her to form her own personality when she was given so many set roles. She did return to Salt Lake for a little while to live with her grandmother and attend the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute.
Adams debuted in New York at age ten in Esmeralda and then returned to California. At age sixteen she joined E.H. Sothern's theatre company in Boston and traveled with them to California and back to New York. She later switched to Charles H. Hoyt's stock company and then to Charles Frohman's in 1889. She began to play ingenue rather than children's roles while with Frohman's company. Following that, she spent five years as the leading lady in John Drew's company, where her work was praised for its charm, delicacy, and simplicity.
Adams's greatest triumphs came in performing the works of James M. Barrie. She acted as Lady Babbie in The Little Minister 300 times in New York and 65 times in Boston. She also played in Quality Street (1902) and in What Every Woman Knows (1908). She first played Peter Pan, the role with which she is most closely identified, in 1906.
Adams made her final appearance on the New York stage in A Kiss For Cinderella in 1916. After thirteen years in retirement, she appeared as Portia in Merchant of Venice in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1931 and as Maria in Twelfth Night in 1934 in Maine. From 1937 to 1943 she headed the drama department at Stephens College in Missouri. She died 17 July 1953 in Tannersville, New York.
From yet another source:
At a time when a definite individuality, often to the extent of eccentricity, seemed imperative for a stellar career, there danced into a central position on the American stage the elusive, girlish, almost elfish personality of Maude Adams. While the personal and non-professional life of our favorites was exploited, with little reserve, her manager, Charles Frohman, without any apparent effort at mystery, screened this side of her life. The composite effect has been that of a young woman, dignified almost to the point of distinction by a sane, personal reserve, and endearing herself to her public by a constantly expanding gallery of charming characterizations.
Early in her career Miss Adams won her right to consideration by a valuable apprenticeship along varied lines. She made her debut in her native Salt Lake City, when nine months old as a baby in arms, in "The Lost Child." As a child she also played Little Schneider in "Fritz" with J. K. Emmet. Her mother was an actress and she was acquainted with the stage from babyhood. She began to play young ladies about 1888, which is also the year of her first appearance in New York, in "The Paymaster." In quick succession she shifted from manager to manager, acting in "The Highest Bidder," "A Midnight Bell," and "All the Comforts of Home." In the last named engagement, in the fall of 1890, she found herself with Charles Frohman, and she has not since had any other manager. After inconspicuous roles in "Men and Women" and "The Lost Paradise," she became John Drew's leading woman, appearing first with him in Palmer's Theatre, October 3, 1892, as Suzanne in "The Masked Ball," and afterwards in "Butterflies," "The Bauble Shop," "That Imprudent Young Couple," "Christopher, Jun.," "Rosemary" and "Too Happy by Half."
It was her winsome and irresistible performance of Dorothy in "Rosemary" which won her stellar consideration, and great indeed was the favor extended her as Lady Babbie in J. M. Barrie's "The Little Minister," played first in Washington in the autumn of 1897. The subsequent record is one of a large percentage of successes and a steady growth in popular affection until Maude Adams is probably the most loved of the public favorites. The definitive list includes Juliet; Rostand's "L'Aiglon;" "Quality Street," her second Barrie play; "The Pretty Sister of Jose"; "'Op o' Me Thumb"; "Peter Pan," her third Barrie play; "The Jesters"; and "What Every Woman Knows," the faithful Barrie's fourth play for Miss Adams.
Still another source:
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.
Still another source:
ADAMS, Maude (1872-1953) began her acting career when she was five. She became a box-office favorite until her early retirement in 1918. In the twenties, she was lighting consultant for General Electric. In 1931, she returned to the stage for a few years. From 1937 to 1950, she taught theatre at Stephen's College, Missouri.
Still another source:
Maude Adams (Kiskadden) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1872. She was the child of actors and made her first stage debut at the age of nine months as a baby in arms! She played many parts successfully throughout her career, but Shakespeare was not her main focus. One of her distinguished roles was as Peter in J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. The play ran for an entire season in 1905-6 and was revived in 1907, 1911, and for the 1912-13 season.
She won favorable reviews when she played Juliet at the Empire Theatre, New York, in 1899. Her other parts in Shakespeare's plays were as Viola in Twelfth Night (1908), as Rosalind in the same play in 1910, and, after a brief retirement, as Portia in The Merchant of Venice in 1931 and as Maria in Twelfth Night in 1934.
1872-1953, American actress, b. Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father's name was Kiskadden, but she used her mother's maiden name. She began acting at an early age and became leading lady to John Drew under the management of the Frohmans, an assignment that lasted for five years. In 1897 she had her first starring role in Barrie's Little Minister. Other Barrie plays she starred in include Quality Street (1901), Peter Pan (1905), the play for which she was most loved, and What Every Woman Knows (1908). In her retirement after 1918, Adams made valuable contributions to the development of stage lighting; in 1937 she became professor of drama at Stephens College. See biography by Phyllis Robbins (1956).
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