Brinker, Una Abell, 1874-1952

Una Abell Brinker was born in Wayne, Michigan in 1874. She made her debut in Newark, New Jersey at age 24 in Blue Jeans, a melodrama. She soon became an idol of the theater going public, performing in over 1000 roles and earning the distinction, First Lady of the Newark Theatre. Her first husband, H. Coulter Brinker, was her leading man in many productions of the Columbia Theater Stock Company. She later married theatrical producer Jacob H. Kahn. Miss Brinker conducted her own stock companies at the Neu Century, Orpheum and Newark Theatres in Newark, as well as the Lee Avenue Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. She played with Sarah Bernhardt, Modjeska and Rhea in repertoire, in addition to Maurice, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore in such plays as Camille, The Prisoner of Zenda, Romany Rye and Under the City Lamps . She made her farewell to the stage at age 50 in The Ruined Lady . She died in New York on November 12, 1952.

From the guide to the Una Abell Brinker papers, 1895-1952, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)

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