Una Abell-Brinker

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Una Abell Brinker as Kundry in Parsifal, from a 1904 publication.

Una Abell-Brinker (August 16, 1874 – November 12, 1952) was an American actress, billed as "First Lady of the Newark Theatre."

Early life[edit]

Una Abell was born in Wayne, Michigan, the daughter of Oliver Clinton Abell and Mary E. Chase Abell. Her father served in the Michigan State Senate in 1867;[1] her mother worked as a fraternity matron at the University of Michigan.[2] As a girl she recited to entertain a reunion of Civil War veterans in Akron, Ohio.[3]

Career[edit]

Abell began her professional stage career by 1892,[4] as an ingenue in the Hortense Rhéa company.[5] She appeared in shows with Helena Modjeska, Sarah Bernhardt, and Maurice Barrymore, before launching her own repertory company at the New Century Theater in Newark, New Jersey.[6]

She took a few years away from the stage,[5] and returned to vaudeville in 1909, in Edward Weitzel's The Fifth Act.[7] In 1910 she presented Ullie Akerstrom's The Eleventh Hour in Newark, where a reviewer noted, "The part deprives Mrs. Brinker of displaying some of her beautiful gowns, but gives her every opportunity for acting, which she does in a most artistic manner."[8] She was billed as "the First Lady of Newark Theatre."[9]

Abell-Brinker adapted and translated The Typhoon, a sketch by Melchior Lengyel, in 1912,[10] but another playwright, Emil Nyitray, claimed that her version was his own, and she was arrested to prevent its performance.[11] She was also founder of the Junior League of Pleasantville, New York.[12]

Personal life[edit]

Una Abell married H. Coulter Brinker, a fellow actor, in 1899; she was widowed in 1900, when Brinker died in an accidental fall from a hotel window.[13] Her mother died a few months later.[14] Her second husband was theatrical producer Jacob H. Kahn. She had two daughters, Joan Goldberg and Holly Becker. She was widowed again in 1944.[12] Una Abell Brinker died in 1952, aged 78 years.[15] Her papers are archived at the New York Public Library.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Oliver C. Abell, biographical note at Political Graveyard.
  2. ^ Arthur J. Tuttle, "Michigan Iota-Beta, University of Michigan" in The Record of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (March 1895): 60.
  3. ^ Enos Pierson, comp., Reunions of the 16th Regiment, O. V. I. (1887): 143, 146.
  4. ^ McVicker's Theatre, Gossip (February 29, 1892), program in the collection of the Chicago Public Library.
  5. ^ a b Johnson Briscoe, The Actors' Birthday Book (Moffatt, Yard 1907): 185.
  6. ^ "Deaths" '"Billboard (November 22, 1952): 52.
  7. ^ "Notes" Variety (1909): 12.
  8. ^ George S. Applegate, "Una Abell Brinker" New York Dramatic Mirror (March 19, 1910): 21.
  9. ^ a b Una Abell Brinker papers, 1895-1952, New York Public Library.
  10. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 1, Volume 9 (US Government Printing Office 1913): 887.
  11. ^ "Una Abell-Brinker Held" New York Times (June 20, 1912): 5. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  12. ^ a b "Deaths" New York Times (November 19, 1944): 49.
  13. ^ "Shocking End of Coulter Brinker" San Francisco Call (September 5, 1900): 7.
  14. ^ "Death Haunts the Company" Detroit Free Press (December 21, 1900): 9. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  15. ^ "Una Abell Brinker" New York Times (November 13, 1952): 31.

External links[edit]

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