James T. Powers (actor)

{{For|the baseball player James T. Powers|Jim Powers (baseball)}}

{{Short description|American actor and singer}}

{{infobox person

| name = James T. Powers

| image = James T Powers, stage actor (SAYRE 8283).jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Powers {{circa}}1911

| birth_name = James T. McGovern

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1862|04|26}}Who Was Who on the American Stage, 1912-1976 / Compiled from annual editions by John Parker, volume 3 (I-P), 1976, p. 1947.

| birth_place = New York City

| death_date = {{death date and age|1943|02|10|1862|04|26}}

| death_place =

| resting_place =

| othername =

| occupation = Actor, singer

| yearsactive = 1880–1935

| spouse = Rachel Booth

| children =

}}

James T. Powers (born James T. McGovern; April 26, 1862 – February 10, 1943)Gerald Martin Bordman. The Oxford Companion to the American Theatre, 2nd edition, 1992, p. 556. was an American stage actor, vocalist, and lyricist.

Biography

Powers began on the stage in Boston in 1880 and also spent time in circuses and later, in vaudevilles. In the 1890s, he acted in many American versions of the so-called Gaiety musicals, originating in the London's West End, then coming into vogue in the United States.[https://books.google.com/books?id=OVdShkzkX74C&dq=English%20Gaiety%20musicals&pg=PA153 American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle], by Gerald Martin Bordman and Richard Norton.

His entire career was spent in live theatre. He, however, has one IMDb credit for a short film from 1905 Digesting a Joke (James T. Powers).{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4371600/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1|title=James T. Powers|work=IMDb|accessdate=10 September 2014}}

File:Rachel Booth, from the Actresses series (N246), Type 2, issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sporting Extra Cigarettes MET DP860056.jpg

On May 19, 1892, he married in Rochester, New York the actress Rachel Booth (1862-1955). They toured together in several productions. The Powers made their home in the Ansonia residential hotel in New York City.[http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/powers/bioghist.html Guide to the James T. and Rachel Booth Powers Collection], The New York Historical Society

His autobiography, Twinkle Little Star was published in New York in 1939.James T. Powers. Twinkle Little Star: Sparkling Memories of Seventy Years. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1939.

James T. Powers died in New York City on February 11, 1943.

References

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