John Lester Wallack
- For the American cricketer, see John Lester
John Lester Wallack (born John Johnstone Wallack) (January 1, 1820 New York, NY – September 6, 1888 Stamford, CT), was an American actor and son of James William Wallack.[1]
Biography
He was born in New York but at an early age he was taken to his parents' home in London where he was reared and educated. He had chosen a military career but became discouraged and went to Dublin where he went upon the stage. He remained for two seasons and then went to Edinburgh. Then in 1846, he appeared in London at the Haymarket Theatre under Benjamin Webster's management. There he was seen by an American manager's agent who had come over to London to engage actors for the Broadway Theatre, New York. By him he was engaged and brought back to America in 1847.[1]
In the theatrical world he was known primarily as Lester Wallack. but when he made his first stage appearance in New York in 1847 it was under the name of John Lester when he appeared as Sir Charles Coldstream, in Boucicault's adaptation of Used Up. His father's brother, Henry Wallack, the father of James William Wallack, Jr., was also in the Broadway Theatre's company. His second appearance was as Viscount de Ligny in Captain of the Guard by James Planché.[1]
Subsequently, he performed at the Bowery Theatre, Burton's Theatre, Niblo's Garden and Brougham's Lyceum. His first appearance at the Bowery Theatre was in 1849 as Don Caesar de Bazan by Adolphe d'Ennery and Philippe Dumanoir.[1]
He was manager, using the name Wallack, of the second Wallack's Theatre from 1861 (demolished in 1901), and in 1882 he opened the third at 30th Street and Broadway (demolished in 1915). Among the productions staged at the latter was Margaret Mather's ill-fated production of Cymbeline in 1897. Another Wallack's Theatre at 254 West 42nd Street in New York was named for him in 1924. Wallack joined The Lambs in 1875, which frequently met at Wallack's Theater. He served as its Shepherd (president): 11878-1879, 1880-1882. 1884-1888,[2] and was one of the founders of The Actors' Fund of America.
His greatest successes were as Charles Surface, as Benedick, and especially as Elliot Grey in his own play Rosedale, and similar light comedy and romantic parts, for which his fascinating manners and handsome person well fitted him. He married a sister (d. 1909) of Sir John Millais. He wrote his own Memories of Fifty Years.
References
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Notes
Bibliography
- Burnham, Charles (1915-02). “The Passing of Wallack’s”. The Theatre, Vol. 21 No. 168, p. 72
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wallack, James William". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press, p. 279. Also online at Internet Archive. (The second half of this article about his father, James William, is devoted to John Lester.)
- Gilman, Daniel Coit et al., eds. (1905). "Wallack, John Lester". The New International Encyclopedia, Vol. 20 (1st ed.). Dodd, Mead and Company; New York; p. 265. Online at Internet Archive.
- Matthews, Brander and Hutton, Laurence, eds. (1900). Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States, Vol. 5: Edwin Booth and His Contemporaries, New Illustrated Edition. L.C. Page & Co., Boston, pp. 283–300. Also online at Internet Archive.
- Florence, W. J. (1888-10). “Lester Wallack”. The North American Review, Vol. 147 No. 383, pp. 453–459. Online at JSTOR.
- Moses, Montrose J. (1906). Famous Actor-Families in America. Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, New York, pp. 195–224. Online at Internet Archive.
- Wallack, Lester and Hutton, Laurence (1889). Memories of Fifty Years. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York
- Winter, William (1889). Brief Chronicles, Part I. Publications of the Dunlap Society, No. 7, New York, pp. 313–23
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