Georgia Cayvan
| Georgia Cayvan | |
|---|---|
 Georgia Cayvan, circa 1888 | |
| Born |
Georgie Eva Cayvan August 22, 1857 Bath, Maine, |
| Died |
November 19, 1906 (aged 49) Flushing, New York |
| Occupation | Actress, Comedian |
Georgie Eva Cayvan (August 22, 1857 – November 19, 1906)[1] was a popular stage actress in the United States in the later part of the nineteenth century.[2][3][4][5]
Early life
Georgia Cayvan was born at Bath, Maine.[2][4] She attended and graduated from the Boston School of Oratory.[2][3] She initially earned a living as a professional fortune teller.[2][3] She had insight into how to play out stage drama and brought her characters to fruition with her humor and expressive eyes.[5]
Career
Cayvan in 1879 accepted her first job on stage as Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore with the Boston Ideal Opera Company.[2][3][5] She was a member of the Union Square Company.[2] She appeared in Hazel Kirke at the Madison Square Theatre in New York City in 1881.[2] She played the part of Dolly Dutton.[2][4] In 1881 she played the heroine part in a road company in such comedies and dramas as The Professor (1881); The White Slave (1882); Siberia (1883); May Blossom (1884); The Wife (1887); The Charity Ball (1889); and Squire Kate (1892).[4] She then appeared in "Oedipus Tyrannus" at the Boston Theater.[3]
Cayvan also acted at Booth's Theatre in New York City.[3] She performed at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in "The White Slave" and Laura in "The Romany Rye."[3] She also played Marcelle in "A Parisian Romance" in the Union Square Company.[3] Cayvan was successful in the leading part of David Belasco’s "La Belle Russe."[2] She was also a short time with Dion Boucicault.[2]
In 1893 Cayvan became the first person to wear a glass dress.[6][7][8][9] The dress was too brittle to be practical however.[6][9] It was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in The Chicago's World's Fair of 1893.[6][9][10] An article in the New York Times of July 28, 1893, predicted that glass dresses would become a fashion "fad." [11] It points out that the first dress was made for Cayvan for her performance in "American Abroad."[11] It was made by the Libbey Glass Company.[11][12] Author Amelia Ransome Neville in her book gave an account of seeing Cayvan wear the fiberglass dress made by Edward Drummond Libbey.[12] She points out that Cayvan wore it in The Charity Ball.[12]
In 1886 Cayvan contracted with Daniel Frohman, becoming the star of the Lyceum Theater in New York.[2] Cayvan toured with her own company (which included Lionel Barrymore) starting in 1896.[2][3] She was involved in a difficult divorce case in 1896 as being the other woman.[13] She was, however, totally exonerated after defending herself. Cayvan received much support from several women's groups.[2][3]
Later life and death
After an operation in 1892 her health began to fail.[2][3] In 1900 her poor health forced her to retire to the Sandford Sanitarium in Flushing, New York. There she died in 1906, aged 49, after an illness.[2][3][4] She is buried at Newton Cemetery, Newton Massachusetts.
References
- ↑ Famous Actors and Actresses on the American Stage p. 167 v.1(A-J) by William C. Young, c. 1975
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 "The Willa Cather Archive". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 "Brooklyn Standard Union — 20 November 1906". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Georgia Cayvan — The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Oxford University Press, Inc., 2004". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "PictureHistory — Georgia Cayvan". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Georgia Cayvan's Glass Dress". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ "Chicago World's Fair of 1893 — THE BOOK OF THE FAIR: Chapter Twenty-Four: The Midway Plaisance". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ Cook, J. Gordon , Handbook of Textile Fibres, Man-Made Fibres, p. 641, Woodhead Publishing (1984), ISBN 1-85573-485-0
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Kane, Joseph Nathan, Famous First Facts, THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY, 1933, 1935, 1950; "Glass Dress", The first GLASS DRESS of spun glass was made in 1893 for Georgia Cayven who ordered twelve yards of glass cloth at $25 a yard from the E. D. Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, Ohio, who produced it at their exhibit at the World Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 111. The cloth was made into a dress for her, but was not practical for wearing purposes.
- ↑ "A City Built of Glass". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "The New York Times — Glass Dresses a "Fad."". 1893-07-29. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "The Fantastic City (1932: Cambridge, Massachusetts), Chapter VIII". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ↑ Barbas, Samantha, The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons, University of California Press (2005), p. 46, ISBN 0-520-24213-0
External links
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