Lillie Langtry (1853-1929), nicknamed the "Jersey Lily" after her birthplace of Jersey, England, was an actress and renowned beauty who earned a fortune from her theatrical career. Born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton on October 13, 1853, Lillie Langtry did not begin her stage career until she was almost 30 years old. In 1874 she had married Edward Langtry, a wealthy young Irish widower, but when his fortune slipped away she was persuaded to try acting. After success in London as Kate Hardcastle in SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER, Langtry went to New York and made her debut in AN UNEQUAL MATCH at Wallack's Theatre on Nov. 6, 1882. She toured the United States almost continuously for the next five years and earned a fortune. She became an American citizen, and divorced Edward Langtry. Stage appearances were less frequent after the 1880s, but Lillie Langtry continued to perform in plays and vaudeville as late as 1915. In 1899 Langtry married Hugo de Bathe, who became a baronet upon the death of his father in 1907, making her Lady de Bathe. She spent much of her retirement in Monaco, where she died on Feb. 12, 1929, at the age of 75.
George Wotherspoon, who met Lillie Langtry in 1882, apparently wrote this biographical piece about her in the late 1940s. Marginal notes, and a few additional comments, have been written in the manuscript by H. T. Porter, who wrote a biographical pamphlet about Lillie Langtry for the Société Jersiaise in 1973.
From the guide to the Lillie Langtry biographical materials, undated, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)
George Wotherspoon was a theatrical and motion picture publicist, theatrical manager, stage critic, and journalist. George Wotherspoon began his theatrical career in 1889, when he managed the Australian and European tour of LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. He was a published critic as early as 1887, and in the summer 1895 he began a daily column for the New York Evening Telegram. In 1899 he began a five-year stint with the New York Evening Journal as reporter and drama editor. Wotherspoon's involvement in motion pictures began as early as 1899, when he promoted a film depicting the Tom Sharkey-Jim Jeffries boxing match. In 1911, he promoted an experimental "Kinemacolor" film of the coronation of King George V. For several years, beginning in 1904, Wotherspoon was a press agent for the Dreamland and Luna Park attractions at Coney Island. From 1917 to 1920, he worked as reporter, columnist, drama critic, and writer of feature stories for the New York Evening Telegram. Throughout this period he also acted as press agent for motion pictures such as CLEOPATRA (1917) starring Theda Bara, D. W. Griffith's ORPHANS OF THE STORM (1921), and Cecil B. DeMille's KING OF KINGS (1927). Wotherspoon continued to act as manager and advance man for stage shows through the 1920s, and, in the waning days of vaudeville, managed units of players who would perform in motion picture theaters prior to the showing of the film.
From the guide to the George Wotherspoon papers, 1887-1990, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)
