Ada Dow Currier

Ada Dow Currier
A middle-aged white woman with light hair parted center and dressed back from her face, wearing a fur wrap
Ada Dow Currier, from a 1926 publication
Born
Ada Dow

1850s
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedMay 19, 1926
New York City
Occupation(s)Actress, dramatic coach, theatrical director and producer
SpouseFrank Currier

Ada M. Dow Currier (died May 19, 1926[1]) was an American stage actress, theatrical director, producer, and drama coach.

Early life and education

Ada Dow was born in Philadelphia and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Anthony William Georges Dow and Dorothy Dow. Both of her parents were born in England. She began acting in her youth, in the company of Joseph Jefferson.[2]

Career

Dow was a stage actress, and worked with her brother-in-law Robert J. Miles in directing and producing shows.[3] Between 1898 and 1905,[4] she and Janet Waldorf[5] led repertory companies on three tours through Asia, Australia and New Zealand, performing Shakespeare plays.[6] She was working in San Francisco when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck, destroying many of her belongings.[2][7]

Dow was best known for coaching young actors.[2][4] Among her acting students were Maude Adams,[8] Marie Cahill,[4] Ruth Blair, Agatha Bârcescu,[9] Olivia Kelsey,[10] Isabel Garland Lord,[11] and, most notably, Julia Marlowe.[12][13] "Miss Dow believed in the complete development of the body, the voice, and the deportment, as well as in the most exhaustive study of great plays," explained Marlowe. "I was never allowed to memorize a line of my part till I understood the play completely as a whole."[14]

Dow advocated for expanding women's roles in theatrical production, and for public funding for the arts. "I have no patience with people who go around preaching the doctrine that art thrives on starvation," she said in a 1915 interview. "It does not."[15]

Personal life

Ada Dow married actor Frank Currier. They lived separately from 1896, and attempted to divorce,[16][17] but they were still married when she died in 1926, in her late sixties, at her home in New York City.[6]

References

  1. ^ Ada Dow's year of birth is given variously in sources, from 1847 to 1858.
  2. ^ a b c "A Star Who Turned to Making Stars". Equity. 11: 17, 42. August 1926.
  3. ^ "Ada Dow Hurt; Struck by a Falling Scantling in the Chicago Opera House". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 1889-02-14. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c "A Chat with a Noted Trainer of Stage Stars". The New York Times. 1915-09-05. p. 50. Retrieved 2023-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Young American Star; How Janet Waldorf's Start Was Made". The Hawaiian Star. 1899-03-17. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b "Ada Dow, Actress". The New York Times. 1926-05-20. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  7. ^ "Wrestler in 'As You LIke It' Floors Mme. Ada D. Currier". Oakland Tribune. 1910-05-08. p. 34. Retrieved 2023-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "A Woman's Work; Mrs. Ada Dow Currier's Efforts for the Stage; The Discovery of Marlowe". The Hawaiian Gazette. 1899-05-12. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Julia Marlowe; Reminiscences of the Actress by Ada Dow Currier". Boston Evening Transcript. 1915-06-26. p. 39. Retrieved 2023-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Terry, Peter (2018-06-14). "A Baha'i Play Called "Two Shall Appear"". Bahai Teachings. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  11. ^ Lord, Isabel Garland (2010-04-01). A Summer to Be: A Memoir by the Daughter of Hamlin Garland. U of Nebraska Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-8032-3243-3.
  12. ^ Hornblow, Arthur (1919). A History of the Theatre in America from Its Beginnings to the Present Time. J.B. Lippincott. p. 284.
  13. ^ Browne, Walter; Koch, E. De Roy (1908). Who's who on the Stage, 1908: The Dramatic Reference Book and Biographical Dictionary of the Theatre : Containing Careers of Actors, Actresses, Managers and Playwrights of the American Stage. B.W. Dodge. pp. 303–304.
  14. ^ Sloss, Robert (January 1905). "Julia Marlowe: Her Early Experiences and Successes". Pearson's Magazine. 13 (1): 46.
  15. ^ Franc, Alissa (1915-08-11). "'The War, with Grim Humor, Has Thrown Into Women's Laps All They Could Have Asked Fate to Give Them'". New-York Tribune. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Currier v. Currier (1904)". Casetext. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  17. ^ "Lawyer, Daring Forger, Caught by Decoy Note". The Wichita Eagle. 1909-04-15. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.