Live Theater Plays: Child Actors


Figure 1.-- Here is a 1864 CDV photograph of what appears to be a child stage actor of the Civil War Period. One might guess that the boy knew John Wilkes Booth. This 2 1/2" x 4" card mount image pictures a boy in a fancy outfit. We are not sure if it is a suit he wore or a theatrical costume. It seems a bit fancier than the outfits we see boys wearing a the time, but it doesn't really look like a costume.

We have created a section for child actors. The children archived there are primarily 20th century movie actors. We have also included TV actors in the same list because children often have worked in both film and TV productions. Some began there careers on the stage. Brandon de Wilde here is a good example, but there are many others. We see no real purpose, however, in having a separate list here. We also have some limited information on 19th century stage actors. Most of the individuals we have found have been children playing the part of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Because of the costumes, these are the easiest to identify. Of course these children presumably played other parts as well. We will alsocompile a separate list of child actors who played in other productions, before and after Mrs. Burnett wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1885.

Movies and Television

We have created a section for child actors. The children archived there are primarily 20th century movie actors. We have also included TV actors in the same list because children often have worked in both film and TV productions. Some began there careers on the stage. Brandon de Wilde here is a good example, but there are many others. We see no real purpose, however, in having a separate list here of modern child actors who appeared in live theatrical plays.

Fauntleroy Plays

Many boys in the late 19th and early 20th centuries played Cedric (Little Lord Fauntleroy) on the stage in the many theatrical productions. HBC does not have a complete list of the boys involved, but we have acquired information on several of them. The first boy appears to have beem Tommy Russel. We have acquired some images of unidentified actors. Our list at this time is mostly American and British boy actors. The play, however, was staged throughout Europe so there are many actors we know nothing about. Certainly the most famous actors to play Fauntleroy were Buster Keaton and Mary Pickford. We are hoping that a HBC reader knowledge about late 19th and early 20th century stage actors can provide us some background information on these young actors.

Other Productions

We will alsocompile a separate list of child actors who played in other productions, before and after Mrs. Burnett wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1885. We have not found very many other child actors, but we will archive the ones we find here.

Wallie Eddinger (1890)

Wallie Eddinger was a child actor, but we have few details about his stahe career. The portait here was taken about 1890. He is clearl;y costimed, presumably for a play in which he had a part. Wallie is costumed as a waif, but I do not know what the play was.

Unidentified child (1864)

Here is a 1864 CDV photograph of what appears to be a child stage actor of the Civil War Period. One might guess that the boy knew John Wilkes Booth. This 2 1/2" x 4" card mount image pictures a boy in a fancy outfit. We are not sure if it is a suit he wore or a theatrical costume. It seems a bit fancier than the outfits we see boys wearing a the time, but it doesn't really look like a costume. He is making a dramatic gesture or perhaps the act of plungeing a dagger into his breast. A cursory investigation has not turned up any identification of this young thespian. We assume that the boy was am aactor not only because of the pose, but because the portrait is copyright 1864 by Dudley Waller and published by Fredricks & Co., Madison Ave, New York. The wonderful, albumen CDV photo is surely a Civil War era child actor.






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Created: 10:43 PM 12/20/2006
Last updated: 10:43 PM 12/20/2006