Edith Ellis (playwright)
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Edith Ellis (1876 - 1960) was an actress and playwright in the early 20th century.
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[edit] Early life
Ellis was born in Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan. The daughter of Edward C Ellis, playwright and actor, and Ruth McCarty Ellis, an actress, she was 'born on the stage'. Her first part was at age 6, and by 10 she was a star. Two plays were written for her before her 12th birthday.
Several times she was head of her own stock companies, travelling or stationary, and wrote, produced, directed, and acted in many plays. Her first writing attempt was out of necessity, when she and her brother, Edward, were stranded on the road by the unexpected disbanding of their theatrical company. The play was successful enough to pay their way home.
[edit] Career
Edith married Frank A Baker, and they leased the Park Theatre and the Criterion Theatre in Brooklyn, where she directed plays for many years. They later moved to the Berkely Lyceum in New York where she directed her own play, The Point of View. She also wrote scenarios for silent films for Samuel Goldwin. Their daughter, Ellis Baker, became an actress.
Later, Edith married C. Becher Furness, a Canadian. [1]
[edit] Plays by Edith Ellis[2]
- A Batch of Blunders, 1897
- Mrs. B. O'Shaughnessy (Wash Lady), 1900
- Because I Love You, 1903
- The Point of View, 1904
- Mary and John, 1905
- The Wrong Man, 1905
- Contrary Mary, 1905
- Ben of Broken Bow, 1905
- The Swallow, 1906
- Mary Jane's Pa, 1906
- My Man (with F. Halsey), 1910
- He Fell In Love With His Wife, 1910
- Seven Sisters, 1912
- Partners, 1912
- The Love Wager, 1912
- Verspers, 1912
- Fields of Flax, 1912
- The Man Higher Up, 1912
- The Amethyst Ring, 1913
- Cupid's Ladder, 1915
- Make Believe, 1915
- Man with the Black Gloves, 1915,
- The Devil's Garden, 1915
- Making Dick Over, 1916
- Mrs. Clancey's Car Ride, with Edward Ells, 1918
- Whose Little Bride Are You, 1919
- Bravo, Claudia, 1919
- Mrs. Jimmie Thompson (with Norman S. Rose), 1920
- The White Villa, 1921
- Betty's Last Bet, 1921
- The Judsons Entertain, 1922
- The Illustrious Tartarin, 1922
- White Collars, 1924
- The Moon and Sixpence, 1924
- The Last Capter (with Edward Ellis), 1930
- The Lady of La Paz, 1926
[edit] Later interests
In 1936, Edith began transcribing works about life after death. These transcriptions supposedly came from a New England farm boy who was killed by a British soldier in 1781. These works include:
- Incarnation: A Plea from the Masters, 1936
- Open the Door!, 1935
- We Knew These Men, 1943
- Love in the Afterlife, 1956
