*** Little Lord Fauntleroy actors: theatrical productions










Little Lord Fauntleroy Actors: Theatrical Productions (Late 1880s-1910s)

Little Lord Fauntleroy actors
Figure 1.--Ray Maskel was a popular child actor who often played Little Lord Fauntleroy before the turn of the century.

Mrs. Burnett's book Little Lord Fauntleroy was not only an enormously popular book, but when the author created a play based on the book was widely successful in American and European theaters for many years. Quite a number of children played Cedric and the other children in the story. The child actors playing Little Lord Fauntleroy were mostly boys, but some girls also played the part. Some of the more well know boys were Tommy Russell and Ray Maskell. The most well-know boy to play Little Lord Fauntleroy was Buster Keyton who at 10-years of age played the part. 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' was also played by several girls. Apparently girls were very commonly selected for the part.

Individuals

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.

Choice of Girls

It is interesting to note the extent to which girls played Little Lord Fauntleroy in theatrical productions. Mary Pickford even played him in an early film. HBC is not positive why this is. The fact that Cedric was expected to have long flowing locks was cerainly one factor--girls already had the long hair--even ringlet curls which was a real plus for Pickford. The fact that Maurice Pollock was the first boy to play Cedric in London, a 1898 production suggests that girls played the part much more than boys. Another factor is that when girls were used, the director wasn't restricted to child actors. A slightly-built young woman actor (like Mary Pickford) could be used. The author of the biography on child star Maurice Pollock, Peter Farrer, thinks there were plenty of 7 or 8 year old boys with long hair, but very few that had both long hair and could act. An HBC contributor maintains, "I don't see where long hair is an obstacle since one could wear a wig." Quite a number of boys had long hair in the late 19th century. They were a definite miniority, but still a substantuial number. Social class was a factor here. Affluent families were more likely to delay cutting a boy's air than working class families. Some upper class boys unquestionably had both the looks and experience in amatur theatricals to sucessfully play Cedic, but at the time professional acting was not a career that well-to-do parents would want their children pursuing. Thus girls with their long hair were more likely to be chosen for the part. Also older girls could play the part, while boys 13 or 14 would just not look right in the part.

Available Images

The earliest images because of the limitations of photography are staged portraits and not from actual productions. Som of these images, however, do show the stahe sets as well as the costuming.

Country Patterns

Mrs. Burnett's first theatrical productions of Little Lord Fauntleroy were produced in the United States. Both boys and girls were chosen for the parts. Productions soon appeared in England, both authorized and non-authorized versions. Girls were generally chosen for the British productions. The play also was produced in Paris and Berlin and eventually throughout Europe. HBC has no information at this time on the children playing Cedric in these productions.


Figure 2.--Maurice Pollock is pictured here playing Cedric in 1898, the first English boy to do so. He was 14 years old at the time. I'm not sure if he is wearing a wig or his own hair.

Comparison with Actual Suits

The Fauntleroy suits worn in stage productions differed in several ways from those worn by actual boys. As might be expected, the stage costumes would also have been made to look more 'theatrical'. In part this was to make the boy's costume more dramatic, but also to look good from a distance. Hence the often exaggerated lace collars and large brightly colored sashes. Some of the major differences noted by HBC include the following. These preliminary conclusions are based upon HBC's study of contemporary photographs. HBC has in fact reviewed several hundred. However, as a HBC contributor has pointed out, HBC has seen very few pictures of the Little Lord Fauntleroy stage costumes compared with the numerous photos of domestic Fauntleroy style suits. As a result, the above contributions are still preliminary.

Age

The child actor used to played Cedric was usually older than the boys who normally wore Fauntleroy suits. The stage production required a boy to be at least 8-9 years of age and boys 10-12 were probably nore common. It is true that some older boys wore Fauntleroy suits, a few boy as old as 11-13 years. But by far the greater number were younger boys.

Collars

The stage boys commonly had actual lace collars while the real boys tended to more commonly wear less expensive ruffled collars. Lace was quite ecpensive. Some boys did wear real lace collars with their Fauntleroy suits. The lace collars, however, were generally relatively small. Much more common were very large ruffled collars. Many of the boys playing Cedric on the stage had quite large lace collars.

Sashes

The stage boys very commonly had large, colorful waist sashes. These were much less common on the suits worn by actual boys. This fpllows the text and more importantly the illustrations in the book. Such sashes, however, were relatively wear on the actual Fauntleroy suits worn by boys.

Stockings

The stockings worn by stagecLittle Lord Fauntleroy were usualy trm fitting silk stockings. Actual boys more commonly wore less trim fitting woolen stockings--some were actually quite bulky.

Shoes

The shoes were also different. Boys in the 1880s-90s often wore high-top boot like shoes. The movie boys more commonly wore more refined strap shoes or dancing pumps.






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Created: May 30, 2000
Last updated: 6:51 PM 11/17/2004