I was NEVER in the Chorus!

There is a great deal of confusion on the internet, on eBay, at IBDB, and at various online stores, regarding actress Grace Kimball—or rather, actresses Grace Kimball—as there were actually three of them—a dramatic actress and two different chorus girls.

The original Grace Kimball, born in 1868, was a leading dramatic actress who had appeared with Charles Frohman's company in The Victoria Cross (1894), with E. H. Sothern in The Prisoner of Zenda (1895), and Heartsease with Henry Miller (1897). She had retired from the stage in 1898 after marrying Lawrence McGuire. But in 1902 she resumed her acting career, appearing in The Liars and Camille, among other plays.

Grace Kimball - Dramatic Actress

Grace Kimball, the chorus girl from The Wizard of Oz, was born in Chicago on March 23, 1882. Her real name was Grace Orpha Jones.

Grace Kimball as Gentleman of the Wizard's Court.

This Grace Kimball appeared in The Girl From Up There (1900) with Montgomery and Stone, followed by The Liberty Belles (1901), which also featured future Wizard of Oz cast members John Slavin and Lotta Faust. In 1901 she co-wrote the song "In a Cosey Corner" with John W. Bratton, which proved a hit.

Just prior to being cast in the 1902 Chicago production of The Wizard of Oz, Grace Kimball had been with Anna Held's The Little Duchess company, with fellow chorister Mabel Barrison. The two chorus girls were fired from the tour of The Little Duchess after taking up with two "Stage-Door Johnnies" and missing the train. Luckily, both Kimball and Barrison were soon hired for The Wizard of Oz in which Grace Kimball played Peter Boq the Munchkin, a Snow Girl, a member of the Phantom Patrol, a Gentleman of the Wizard's Court, and a Cavalier in Act III. Her friend, Mabel Barrison, created the part of Tryxie Tryfle.

On August 20, 1902, chorus girl Grace Kimball had an encounter with Grand Duke Boris Vladimorowitch (a cousin of the Czar), who had decided to sample The Wizard of Oz. The Grand Duke was so enraptured he invited three of the chorus girls—Grace Kimball, Georgia Barron, Clara Pitt—and the Witch of the North Aileen May—back to his hotel suite at the Auditorium Hotel. One of the four girls declared, "We can get an ordinary American Johnnie to pay for our little morsels of food three times in any day of the year, but how many times can we open oysters and things with a real duke? Tell me that."

Grace Kimball as a Snow Girl in The Wizard of Oz (1902).

The four girls and Duke Boris had a late supper at the Auditorium Dining Hall. The Grand Duke told the girls how charmed he was, bowed lowest before the blushing Miss Kimball, and asked if he might not drink her health from her slipper. She said yes, and the story appeared in papers across the country, where it was read by millions.

Unfortunately the various newspaper articles often confused chorus girl Grace Kimball with dramatic actress Grace Kimball. The latter was not amused to be linked to such a sordid romp with the Czar's cousin. She sent out a press release. Below is the publication in the Denver Post, August 31, 1902.

Request has been made for the publication of the following explanatory note, designed to set those right who may be puzzled in regard to two stage people who bear the same name. The request comes from the representative of an actress whose standing is unquestioned, and the statement is in these words:

"There are two Grace Kimballs in the theatrical realm, and one of them has been causing the other a vast amount of annoyance. One is a chorus girl, the other the well-known actress who was leading lady with Henry Miller, E. H. Sothern, and in Charles Frohman's Never Again company. The chorus girl in Chicago the other night is said to have filled her slipper with champagne, and Grand Duke Boris, a cousin of the czar, drank her health from the misfit goblet. It is perhaps unnecessary to call the attention of an indulgent public to the fact that this elegant international episode took place without the knowledge of the original Grace Kimball, who is naturally horrified to see her name in big type in the newspapers as apparently figuring in this rather peculiar incident. Miss Kimball the actress has been engaged as leading lady of the Fawcett stock company in Baltimore, and is not and never has been in the chorus."

Grace Kimball - Dramatic Actress.

The December 15, 1902, issue of the Rockford [Illinois] Republic was still covering the actress's consternation with the chorus girl.

"In the opinion of Grace Kimball there should be some law to prevent chorus girls from stealing the names of players who have become well known. Everyone remembers how annoyed Francis Wilson was when a chorus girl commenced to call herself "Frances Wilson." Then there was a girl named Maggie O'Brien who changed her name to Zaza Belasco. Also a chorus girl has recently been discovered here who calls herself Marie Cahill, after the prima donna of that name. Now Miss Kimball who won her reputation with E. H. Sothern and Henry Miller, is much annoyed because of a girl of the chorus who bears the same name, possibly with every justification, but nevertheless under annoying circumstances. This Grace Kimball is the young woman from whose silken slipper the Grand Duke Boris is said to have drunk champagne last August."

Shortly after the Duke Boris incident, the chorus girl Grace Kimball was given the part of Tryxie Tryfle in The Wizard of Oz after Mabel Barrison left the show. Grace Kimball again played Tryxie when The Wizard of Oz opened on Broadway in January 1903.

After her time in The Wizard of Oz, Grace Kimball appeared in Reginald De Koven's Red Feather (1903) where she met her future husband Walter Stanley Hawkins, who was also performing in the show. They were married in New York during the Broadway run of Red Feather. Kimball next appeared in Weber & Fields Higgledy-Piggledy for two seasons.

May 12, 1901, Boston Post.

I mentioned up top that there were in fact three Grace Kimballs. The third was another chorus girl who also got her name in the papers.

The article accompanying the photo at left explains Grace R. Kimball is a pretty actress from Lynn, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of a police officer and had sung with the First Baptist Church of Lynn before joining Anna Held's company of The French Maid (1897), and was later in The Sunshine of Paradise Alley company.

She is to marry an unspecified Washington millionaire and will take up residency "in one of the most attractive mansions of the capital city."

This Grace Kimball apparently didn't marry the fellow, but let him send her to Paris to study, as seen in the clipping below.

May 15, 1901, Portsmouth [New Hampshire] Herald.

And that is the story of the three Grace Kimballs. One of whom was never in the chorus!

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved.

How It All Began - Part III

The following in an excerpt from my forthcoming book. Please note, this early draft does not reflect corrections, changes, and more recent discoveries. There may be substantial differences between the following text and that to be included in the final work.  —David Maxine

CLICK HERE TO READ PART II

The five-o’clock mail on March 15, 1901, brought the lyrics for the “Opening Chorus.” Tietjens began composing. He had nearly finished the piece when Ike Morgan knocked on his door at 10:00 PM to say that “according to the rules and regulations of the house,” Tietjens must cease his piano playing for the night.

Tietjens fussed over the “Opening” for several days. He eagerly played it for Herman L. Reiwitch, City Editor of the Chicago Record-Herald, who “wasn’t particularly enthusiastic . . . He thought it too heavy i.e. a little above the heads of the unwashed, I believe,” “too theoretical, not enough abandon,” “and advised me to write another one, in which the typewriter had a chance for a solo.”

After another revision, Tietjens played the “Opening Chorus” for Baum and the Denslows. Baum seemed pleased enough, but the Denslows found it heavy. Deflated, Tietjens wrote, “I suppose I must come down a peg or two more.”

Tietjens took a break to go to the theatre: “I heard [the comic opera] Foxy Quiller tonight, and feel rather disheartened about my prospects. The music . . . is by [Reginald] DeKoven, and although not in the least original, strikes the popular ear.  It is light, brilliant, and catchy . . . I do not think it is in me to write such music.”

Scene from Foxy Quiller by Reginald DeKoven & Harry B. Smith (1900).

 

Sheet Music for Victor Herbert's Wizard of the Nile.

The following week Tietjens made time to go see Victor Herbert’s comic opera The Wizard of the Nile. “It is a beautiful thing and reminds me at times of Aida. I think it is Herbert’s greatest work, and is way above the ordinary comic opera, such as . . . Foxy Quiller.”

Reinvigorated, Tietjens continued work on The Octopus. He labored over Gripem Harde’s solo and looked forward to writing the “dress ball with ballet” in Act Two. “This will require grand music, and I hope that I will be able to meet all the demands for it.”

Tietjens’s music met with mixed approval from Baum, who rejected the latest version of the “Opening Chorus,” but was so taken with Gripem Harde’s solo “I am a Great Promoter” that he sang it several times at one of their meetings.

Tietjens reworked the “Opening” of the comic opera yet again. “The Typewriter chorus has a waltz refrain, which I like very much, [and] the refrain of the messenger boys is a spirited march . . . the best thing I have written . . .  It has a lot of go and spirit to it . . . ”  But he worried the “sentimental” numbers would be much more difficult.

On April 1, Ike Morgan’s mother gave Tietjens thirty days’ notice to move out. “She claims the piano drives roomers away. Ike will also get out. . . . He think it’s his duty to stay with me. . . . I think I will like this change as we will have more liberty to do as we wish.”

The young composer’s optimism fell to ruin after his next visit to Baum, who was in a bad humor. “He tried to impress me with his importance,” Tietjens wrote, “and in doing so found it necessary to deprecate Denslow’s ability, and [told] me some of Den’s history and troubles. He marveled at my gall in attempting to write a comic opera without previous experience. He seems to be a sorehead and I fear we will have trouble before the thing is over. . . . I am beginning to feel dubious of the success of our scheme, and I have made up my mind to be extremely careful about the business part, as a feeling of distrust is beginning to rise in me. I have left all the manuscript at his house, but I will try to get it back under some pretext, as one can not be too careful.”

Tietjens avoided The Octopus for the next several days. On Easter, April 7, he learned that Denslow had just been sent to a sanitarium for “some nervous disorder. . .” Perhaps Baum and Denslow had argued the day Baum lashed out. In any case, Baum’s bad humor didn’t last long and he sent Tietjens additional lyrics to set, including those for “Love is Love.”   

Tietjens was composing at a solid pace. “I spent a very pleasant evening at Baum’s and he liked most of the stuff I brought him. In fact he declared the opening soprano song [“Love is Love”] to be the gem of the opera, and I felt much encouraged.” Baum enthusiastically told Tietjens that as soon as the first act was finished, he would begin looking for a producer.

Ike Morgan and Tietjens moved to their new lodgings on April 24. Tietjens also wrote to his mother, who was now going on to Europe without him. “I told her of my operatic venture, enjoining silence on her part.”

On May 1, Tietjens played through the first act and read the libretto for Herman Reiwitch, editor of the Record-Herald, and some of his friends. One listener found the libretto “bum.” Reiwitch thought the score lacked contrast and that the “American Heiress” march wasn’t good enough to be the big number of the opera. Tietjens agreed; but he added in his diary, “I do not think I will be able to get anything better . . .”

In early May, Baum wrote the libretto for Act II. Tietjens thought the song lyrics “would do,” but felt “The dialogue is not as good as that of the first act . . .” Baum promised he would start writing to managers about The Octopus. He planned a trip to New York on May 18, hoping he would be able to interest a producer in their comic opera. Paul offered to accompany him.

A few days later Baum presented Tietjens with the lyrics to “The Traveler and the Pie,” and announced that he had written to several prominent producers, including “The Bostonians,” one of the premiere comic opera companies; Francis Wilson, actor and comic opera star; and the New York theatres that were presenting the hit shows Florodora, Princess Chic, and San Toy, and the Shuberts at the Herald Square Theatre in New York. Sam Shubert had written back on May 8, agreeing to meet with Baum when he was in New York.

If Tietjens had any doubts about Baum’s commitment to The Octopus they were now dispelled. Baum had gone straight to the top. Most importantly, Baum had met with Cornelius Gardiner. Baum and Gardiner had both worked as reporters for the Chicago Evening Post, but Gardiner was now the right hand man of Kirke La Shelle, an important producer and manager of many actors, including Frank Daniels, who had created the title part in Herbert’s Wizard of the Nile. La Shelle also produced the play Arizona at Hamlin’s Grand Opera House right there in Chicago in 1899. Gardiner would come for dinner at Baum’s on Sunday to hear their comic opera.

CLICK HERE TO READ PART IV

 

Poster for Kirke La Shelle's production of The Princess Chic (1900).

 

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved