Florence Ashbrooke
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Florence Ashbrooke
| image = FlorenceAshbrooke1904.png
| alt = A white woman with wavy hair, wearing a dress with a wide, low, lace-trimmed neckline
| caption = Florence Ashbrooke, from a 1904 newspaper
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1860s
| birth_place = sources vary, possibly India or England
| death_date = February 20, 1934
| death_place = Los Angeles, California. U.S.
| other_names = Eleanor Skyrock, Eleanor Shyrock, Eleanor Lugannagh
| occupation = Actress
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) = Tote Du Crow
| relatives =
}}
Florence Ashbrooke (about 1861 – February 20, 1934) was an actress on the London and New York stages, and in silent films.
Early life and education
Ashbrooke was born to British parents in India or the East Indies,In the 1930 United States federal census (via Ancestry), Florence Ashbrooke listed her birthplace as "East Indies" and both her parents' birthplaces as England. She also described herself as a naturalized American citizen, an actress, age 60, and widowed, living as a roomer in Los Angeles. In the 1925 New York state census (via Ancestry), Florence Ashbrooke described herself as 55, 35 years in the United States, and born in "Umbalo", which may mean Ambala, India (the city was called "Umballa" by Kipling, among other Anglophone versions of the name). or in England,When she married George T. Ducrow in 1889, she gave the name Eleanor Lugannagh, and said that she was married once before and a widow; also that she was born April 13, 1864, in England. Pennsylvania U. S. Marriages, Allegheny County, 1889, via Ancestry. and educated in Dublin.{{Cite journal |date=July 1917 |title=What They Were Before They Became What They Are |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayjournal02lave/page/n143/mode/2up?q=%22Florence+Ashbrooke%22 |journal=The Photo-Play Journal |pages=24 |via=Internet Archive}}
Career
Ashbrooke began her acting career in England.{{Cite journal |date=1888-11-03 |title=FLorence Ashbrooke |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_national-police-gazette_1888-11-03_53_581/page/14/mode/2up?q=%22Florence+Ashbrooke%22 |journal=The National Police Gazette |volume=53 |issue=581 |pages=14 |via=Internet Archive}} She was a dancer with the Gaiety Company in London as a young woman. She acted on the New York stage and toured in plays in North America, with credits in The Twelve Temptations (1889),{{Cite journal |date=December 21, 1889 |title=Star Theatre: The Twelve Temptations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4E-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Florence%20Ashbrooke&pg=RA10-PA19 |journal=The Amusement Bulletin |volume=1 |issue=12 |pages=19}} The Ice King (1890),{{Cite news |date=1890-06-15 |title=Dramatic Notes |pages=14 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-dramatic-notes/134784994/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} McKenna's Flirtation (1892),{{Cite news |date=1892-01-31 |title=For Play Goers |pages=6 |work=The Brooklyn Citizen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-citizen-for-play-goers/134785108/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1890-09-11 |title=Stage News |pages=2 |work=Fall River Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fall-river-globe-stage-news/134791827/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} Dolly Varden (1893),{{Cite news |date=1893-03-21 |title=Patti Rosa; The Attraction at the Opera House for Thursday Evening |pages=3 |work=Chippewa Herald-Telegram |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chippewa-herald-telegram-patti-rosa-the/134784907/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} Blue Grass (1894), When London Sleeps (1896), An Irish Gentleman (1897),{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Thomas Allston |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XTamwC54BNoC&dq=Florence%20Ashbrooke&pg=PA512 |title=A History of the New York Stage from the First Performance in 1732 to 1901 |date=1903 |publisher=Dodd, Mead |pages=183, 511, 512 |language=en}} A Young Wife (1900),{{Cite news |date=1900-05-13 |title='A Young Wife' Coming Soon |pages=7 |work=Portland Sunday Telegram |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/portland-sunday-telegram-a-young-wife/134784449/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1900-05-23 |title=Amusements |pages=6 |work=The Halifax Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-halifax-herald-amusements/134784639/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} Why Women Sin (1903),{{Cite news |date=1903-09-25 |title=An Interesting Budget of General Theatrical News |pages=4 |work=Courier-Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/courier-post-an-interesting-budget-of-ge/134778617/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} Her Mad Marriage (1904),{{Cite news |date=September 25, 1904 |title=Amusements of the Week |language=en |pages=31 |work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.content-tagging.us-east-1-01.prd.dvsp.nyt.net/timesmachine/1904/09/25/101347293.html?pageNumber=31 |access-date=2023-11-07 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and At the Old Cross Roads (1908).{{Cite news |date=1908-04-07 |title=Music and Drama |pages=10 |work=The Indianapolis Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-star-music-and-drama/134785290/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} The Omaha Bee described Ashbrooke in 1890, as "a much stronger woman than you usually see in farces" with a "handsome figure, a well modulated voice, and an art which shows a most excellent school."{{Cite news |date=1890-11-02 |title=Stage Notes |pages=1 |work=The Sacramento Union |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-union-stage-notes/134783739/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Ashbrooke appeared in dozens of silent films between 1911 and 1923, including an adaptation of Vanity Fair (1911), The First Woman Jury in America (1912), The Cross Roads (1912), The Forgotten Latchkey (1913), The Ragged Princess (1916), On Dangerous Ground (1917), The Scarlet Letter (1917),{{Cite book |last=Solomon |first=Aubrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zospQ7o5u0oC&dq=Florence+Ashbrooke&pg=PA250 |title=The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography |date=2014-01-10 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8610-6 |pages=238, 247, 250 |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=1917-02-13 |title=Crandall's--'The Scarlet Letter' |pages=9 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-post-crandalls-the-sca/134791656/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} The Lone Wolf (1917),{{Cite news |date=1918-08-18 |title='The Lone Wolf,' Vance's Film, at Broadway Tuesday |pages=18 |work=The Sunday Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sunday-record-the-lone-wolf-vance/134784561/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp (1917), Blue-Eyed Mary (1918), Swat the Spy (1918), The Woman on the Index (1919), An Amateur Widow (1919),{{Cite journal |date=May 24, 1919 |title='An Amateur Widow' |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor402movi/page/n133/mode/2up?q=Ashbrooke |journal=The Moving Picture World |volume=40 |issue=8 |pages=1227 |via=Internet Archive}} A Stage Romance (1922), and Big Brother (1923).{{Cite news |date=1923-10-30 |title=Big Brother Finished |pages=13 |work=News-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-journal-big-brother-finished/134783523/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was a member of the Motion Picture section of the Actors' Equity Association in 1921.{{Cite magazine |date=1921-01-29 |title=Actors' Equity Association News |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_billboard_1921-01-29_33_5/page/20/mode/2up?q=%22Florence+Ashbrooke%22 |magazine=Billboard |volume=33 |issue=5 |pages=21 |via=Internet Archive}}
Personal life
Ashbrooke described herself as a widow when she married actor and circus clown Tote Du Crow in 1889;{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1889 |title=Dramatic and Musical Notes |pages=106 |work=New York Clipper |url=https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=NYC18890427.2.43&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN---------- |access-date=November 7, 2023 |via=Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections}} they separated in 1904, and divorced in 1909.{{Cite news |date=August 21, 1909 |title=Clown Seeks Divorce |pages=20 |work=San Francisco Call |url=https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=NYC18890427.2.43&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN---------- |access-date=November 7, 2023 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}{{Cite news |date=1910-01-05 |title=Gets Divorce When Hubby Turns Clown; Actress Could Not Stand Mate Who Left the Legitimate for Circus |pages=9 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-gets-divorce/134811078/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |via=Newspapers.com}} She died in 1934, in Los Angeles, probably in her seventies.{{Cite news |date=1934-02-23 |title=Florence Ashbrooke (funeral notice) |pages=20 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-florence-ashbrooke/35801548/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDB name|0038700}}
- [https://digital.library.louisville.edu/concern/images/ulpa_1980_020_1256?locale=pt-BR Portrait of Florence Ashbrooke from about 1888], and [https://digital.library.louisville.edu/concern/images/ulpa_1980_020_1255?locale=pt-BR a full-length photo], both by Max Platz, in the collection of the University of Louisville Libraries
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Category:British stage actresses
Category:British silent film actresses