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) was a popular stage actress in the United States in the later part of the nineteenth century.[1][2][3][4]
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[edit] Early life
Georgia Cayvan was born at Bath, Maine.[1][3] She attended and graduated from the Boston School of Oratory.[1][2] She initially earned a living as a professional fortune teller.[1][2] She had insight into how to play out stage drama and brought her characters to fruition with her humor and expressive eyes.[4]
[edit] Career
Cayvan in 1879 accepted her first job on stage as Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore with the Boston Ideal Opera Company.[1][2][4] She was a member of the Union Square Company.[1] She appeared in Hazel Kirke at the Madison Square Theatre in New York City in 1881.[1] She played the part of Dolly Dutton.[1][3] 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).[3] She then appeared in "Oedipus Tyrannus" at the Boston Theater.[2]
Cayvan also acted at Booth's Theater in New York City.[2] She performed at the Fourteenth Street Theater in "The White Slave" and Laura in "The Romany Rye."[2] She also played Marcelle in "A Parisian Romance" in the Union Square Company.[2] Cayvan was successful in the leading part of David Belasco’s "La Belle Russe."[1] She was also a short time with Dion Boucicault.[1]
In 1893 Cayvan became the first person to wear a glass dress.[5][6][7][8] The dress was too brittle to be practical however.[5][8] It was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in The Chicago's World's Fair of 1893.[5][8][9] An article in the New York Times of July 28, 1893, predicted that glass dresses would become a fashion "fad." [10] It points out that the first dress was made for Cayvan for her performance in "American Abroad."[10] It was made by the Libbey Glass Company.[10][11] Author Amelia Ransome Neville in her book gave an account of seeing Cayvan wear the fiberglass dress made by Edward Drummond Libbey.[11] She points out that Cayvan wore it in The Charity Ball.[11]
In 1886 Cayvan contracted with Daniel Frohman, becoming the star of the Lyceum Theater in New York.[1] Cayvan toured with her own company (which included Lionel Barrymore) starting in 1896.[1][2] She was involved in a difficult divorce case in 1896 as being the other woman.[12] She was, however, totally exonerated after defending herself. Cayvan received much support from several women's groups.[1][2]
[edit] Later life and death
After an operation in 1892 her health began to fail.[1][2] 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.[1][2][3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "The Willa Cather Archive". http://cather.unl.edu/writings/cat.j00014.php. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Brooklyn Standard Union — 20 November 1906". http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NYBROOKLYN/2002-08/1029034394. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ^ a b c d e "Georgia Cayvan — The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Oxford University Press, Inc., 2004". http://www.answers.com/topic/georgia-cayvan. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ^ a b c "PictureHistory — Georgia Cayvan". http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/21198. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ^ a b c "Georgia Cayvan's Glass Dress". http://www.glassfacts.info/glass/index.asp?fid=150. Retrieved 2008-08-10.[dead link]
- ^ "Chicago World's Fair of 1893 — THE BOOK OF THE FAIR: Chapter Twenty-Four: The Midway Plaisance". http://columbus.iit.edu/bookfair/ch24.html#881. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ^ Cook, J. Gordon , Handbook of Textile Fibres, Man-Made Fibres, p. 641, Woodhead Publishing (1984), ISBN 1-8557348-5-0
- ^ a b c Kane, Joseph Nathan, Famous First Facts, THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY, 1933, 1935, 195O; "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". http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/OIExhibit/ACityBuiltofGlass.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ^ a b c "The New York Times — Glass Dresses a "Fad."". 1893-07-29. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B07E3D9143EEF33A2575AC2A9619C94629ED7CF. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ^ a b c "The Fantastic City (1932: Cambridge, Massachusetts), Chapter VIII". http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hbtfc8.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-10.[dead link]
- ^ Barbas, Samantha, The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons, University of California Press (2005), p. 46, ISBN 0-5202421-3-0
