McClendon, Rose, 1884-1936

Rose McClendon was one of the most important and well-known black actresses of the 1920s and 1930s. Although she did not become a professional actor until she was in her thirties, she consistently won critical acclaim for her acting and influenced the careers of many aspiring black actors of the period.

McClendon made her professional debut in "Justice" (1919) and four years later appeared in "Roseanne" (1924) with Charles Gilpin (and later Paul Robeson). In 1926 she gained prominence for her acting in "Deep River," where she earned rave reviews, and in Paul Green's Pultizer Prize-winning folk tragedy, "In Abraham's Bosom" that starred Jules Bledsoe in the title role. In 1927 she received the Morning Telegraph Acting Award (along with Ethel Barrymore and Lynn Fontanne) for her portrayal of Serena in Dubose and Dorothy Heyward's "Porgy." Other plays McClendon appeared in include "House of Connelly," "Canary," "Brain Sweat," "Roll Sweet Chariot," and "Panic." Her last starring role was as Cora in Langston Hughes' "Mulatto" (1935) which ran for 375 performances on Broadway, the second-longest run by a black playwright at that time. McClendon was also a director for the Negro (Harlem) Experimental Theatre located at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library and, in addition, worked in a supervisory capacity with the Federal Theatre Project.

Rose (Rosalie) V. McClendon was born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1884 and with her parents, Sandy and Lena Jenkins Scott, migrated to New York City around 1890. At the age of twenty she married Dr. Henry Pruden McClendon, a licensed chiropractor, who claimed he supplemented his income by working as a Pullman porter. McClendon's interest in the theatre first found expression in the church where she directed and acted in cantatas at Saint Mark's African Methodist Episcopal Church in Manhattan. In 1916 she won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall under the tutelage of Franklin Sargent, and subsequently began her stage career.

McClendon made her professional debut in Justice (1919-1920), a play starring writer, director, and actor Butler Davenport. Four years later she appeared in Roseanne (1924) with Charles Gilpin (and later Paul Robeson). In 1926 she gained prominence for her acting in Deep River, where she earned rave reviews, and in Paul Green's Pulitzer prize-winning folk tragedy, In Abraham's Bosom that starred Jules Bledsoe in the title role. Her reputation grew with her portrayal of Serena in Dubose and Dorothy Heyward's Porgy (1927) for which she received the Morning Telegraph Acting Award the following year (along with Ethel Barrymore and Lynn Fontanne). After a long run of one year in New York City, McClendon went on tour with Porgy to Chicago (nine weeks), London (approximately six weeks), Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the northwest, and Canadian cities. Other plays she appeared in include Green's House of Connelly (1931), Black Souls, an all black production of Never No More and The Cat and the Canary (1932), Brain Sweat (which had a black cast) and Roll Sweet Chariot (1934), and Panic (1935). Her last starring role was as Cora in Langston Hughes' Mulatto (1935) which ran for 375 performances on Broadway, the second-longest run by a black playwright at that time. Hughes created the role of Cora specifically for her, unfortunately, McClendon left the cast in December when she became ill.

Her love of the theatre inspired McClendon's stewardship of other African American's involvement in the theatre. From 1923 to 1925 McClendon was active in the Ethiopian Art Theatre. Also by the mid-1920s, she was a director for the Negro (Harlem) Experimental Theatre located at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library and, in addition, worked in a supervisory capacity with the Federal Theatre Project (Negro Unit), ca. 1935-1936. Furthermore, she served as a board member for the Theatre Union, which governed the Civic Repertory Theatre on West 14th Street.

While working with the Federal Theatre Project, McClendon developed her vision of a black theatre company. Together with Dick Campbell she founded the Negro People's Theatre in 1935. Members of the advisory board included: Cheryl Crawford, Clifford Odets, Paul Green, Albert Bein, Countee Cullen, Herbert Kline, and Lena Bernstein. Officers of the small thirty-five member company were: Morris McKenney (chairman and director of the executive board), Campbell (vice chairman), Lena Bernstein (play reader), and Alston Burleigh (musical director). The company produced one play, Odets' Waiting for Lefty, prior to McClendon's untimely death of pneumonia in 1936. Two years later, Campbell, his wife, actress Muriel Rahn, and George Norford established the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem in her honor.