Ada Dow Currier
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ada Dow Currier
| image = AdaDowCurrier1926.png
| alt = A middle-aged white woman with light hair parted center and dressed back from her face, wearing a fur wrap
| caption = Ada Dow Currier, from a 1926 publication
| birth_name = Ada Dow
| birth_date = October 1852
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| death_date = May 19, 1926 aged 73
| death_place = New York City
| other_names =
| occupation = Actress, dramatic coach, theatrical director and producer
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) = Frank Currier
| relatives =
}}
Ada M. Dow Currier (October 1852- May 19, 1926Ada Dow's year of birth is given variously in sources, from 1847 to 1858.) 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.{{Cite journal |date=August 1926 |title=A Star Who Turned to Making Stars |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNJQLopsEawC&dq=Ada%20Dow%20Currier&pg=RA7-PA17 |journal=Equity |volume=11 |pages=17, 42}}
Career
Dow was a stage actress, and worked with her brother-in-law Robert J. Miles in directing and producing shows.{{Cite news |date=1889-02-14 |title=Ada Dow Hurt; Struck by a Falling Scantling in the Chicago Opera House |pages=8 |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-enquirer-ada-dow-hurt-st/129666085/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}} Between 1898 and 1905,{{Cite news |date=1915-09-05 |title=A Chat with a Noted Trainer of Stage Stars |pages=50 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-a-chat-with-a-noted-t/129664343/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}} she and Janet Waldorf{{Cite news |date=1899-03-17 |title=Young American Star; How Janet Waldorf's Start Was Made |pages=7 |work=The Hawaiian Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hawaiian-star-young-american-star-h/129655977/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}} led repertory companies on three tours through Asia, Australia and New Zealand, performing Shakespeare plays.{{Cite news |date=1926-05-20 |title=Ada Dow, Actress |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/20/archives/ada-dow-actress.html |access-date=2023-08-08}} She was working in San Francisco when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck, destroying many of her belongings.{{Cite news |date=1910-05-08 |title=Wrestler in 'As You LIke It' Floors Mme. Ada D. Currier |pages=34 |work=Oakland Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/oakland-tribune-wrestler-in-as-you-like/129656696/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Dow was best known for coaching young actors. Among her acting students were Maude Adams,{{Cite news |date=1899-05-12 |title=A Woman's Work; Mrs. Ada Dow Currier's Efforts for the Stage; The Discovery of Marlowe |pages=6 |work=The Hawaiian Gazette |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hawaiian-gazette-a-womans-work-mrs/129664066/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}} Marie Cahill, Ruth Blair, Agatha Bârcescu,{{Cite news |date=1915-06-26 |title=Julia Marlowe; Reminiscences of the Actress by Ada Dow Currier |pages=39 |work=Boston Evening Transcript |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/boston-evening-transcript-julia-marlowe/129595517/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}} Olivia Kelsey,{{Cite web |last=Terry |first=Peter |date=2018-06-14 |title=A Baha'i Play Called "Two Shall Appear" |url=https://bahaiteachings.org/bahai-play-called-two-shall-appear/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=Bahai Teachings |language=en-US}} Isabel Garland Lord,{{Cite book |last=Lord |first=Isabel Garland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqDVMWWTyC4C&dq=ada+dow&pg=PA162 |title=A Summer to Be: A Memoir by the Daughter of Hamlin Garland |date=2010-04-01 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-3243-3 |pages=162 |language=en}} and, most notably, Julia Marlowe.{{Cite book |last=Hornblow |first=Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qIgXAAAAYAAJ&dq=ada+dow&pg=PA284 |title=A History of the Theatre in America from Its Beginnings to the Present Time |date=1919 |publisher=J.B. Lippincott |pages=284 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Browne |first1=Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BpAAAAAYAAJ&dq=ada+dow&pg=PA303 |title=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 |last2=Koch |first2=E. De Roy |date=1908 |publisher=B.W. Dodge |pages=303–304 |language=en}} "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."{{Cite journal |last=Sloss |first=Robert |date=January 1905 |title=Julia Marlowe: Her Early Experiences and Successes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbMRAAAAYAAJ&dq=ada+dow&pg=PA46 |journal=Pearson's Magazine |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=46}}
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."{{Cite news |last=Franc |first=Alissa |date=1915-08-11 |title='The War, with Grim Humor, Has Thrown Into Women's Laps All They Could Have Asked Fate to Give Them' |pages=5 |work=New-York Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-the-war-with-grim-hum/129656144/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Personal life
Ada Dow married actor Frank Currier. They lived separately from 1896, and attempted to divorce,{{Cite web |title=Currier v. Currier (1904)|url=https://casetext.com/case/currier-v-currier-16 |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=Casetext}}{{Cite news |date=1909-04-15 |title=Lawyer, Daring Forger, Caught by Decoy Note |pages=9 |work=The Wichita Eagle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-wichita-eagle-lawyer-daring-forger/129666801/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}} but they were still married when she died in 1926, in her late sixties, at her home in New York City.
References
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Category:Actresses from Philadelphia
Category:American theatre directors
Category:American theatre managers and producers