Keene, Laura (c. 1826–1873)

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Keene, Laura (c. 1826–1873)

British-born American actress and theatrical manager. Born possibly Mary Moss around 1826 in London, England; died on November 4, 1873, in Montclair, New Jersey; married John Taylor, around 1846 (died around 1860); married John Lutz, in 1860 (died 1869); children: (first marriage) Emma Taylor; Clara Marie Cecilia Stella Taylor.

One of first two American female theatrical managers; introduced America to Our American Cousin; first to produce Dion Boucicault's The Colleen Bawn (March 1860); was present at Abraham Lincoln's assassination and identified John Wilkes Booth as his killer.

Not much is known about Laura Keene's early life, although there is speculation that her name may have been Mary Moss. Born around 1820 in London, she met her first husband, John Taylor, while working as a barmaid. After the couple married around 1846, Taylor opened a tavern but was later sent to a penal colony in Australia after being convicted of a felony. Left with sole responsibility for their two daughters, and described as a beautiful woman, Keene became an actress. She made her London debut in October of 1851, playing Pauline in The Lady of Lyons; some six months later, she became a member of Lucia Vestris ' company at the Royal Lyceum Theater. While working at this theater, Keene caught the attention of James W. Wallack, an American actor and manager scouting for new talent, who offered her a job in America.

Keene's American debut, on September 20, 1852, at Wallack's Lyceum in New York City, was enthusiastically received by both the press and the public. The New York Mirror described her as having a "natural and unstagy style, … admirable articulation … [and a] winning voice." In November of 1853 she left Wallack and went to Baltimore with John Lutz, who became her business manager and, eventually, her husband after the death of her first husband around 1860. In Baltimore, she took over as theatrical manager for the Charles Street Theater and opened on December 24, 1853, making her managerial debut. That same day, Catherine Sinclair opened a play as manager in San Francisco, making them the first women theater managers in America; Keene appeared briefly in Sinclair's company in San Francisco the following March.

Over the next couple years, Keene toured in Australia with Edwin Booth and spent a season in San Francisco. The opening of Laura Keene's Theater in New York in November of 1856 initiated the greatest successes of her career. For seven years, she produced well-received comedies and extravaganzas, playing all the lead female roles and involving herself in scenery, costumes, writing, and publicity. Members of her company included such well-known actors as Joseph Jefferson, E.A. Sothern, Dion Boucicault, John T. Raymond, and William J. Florence. Keene excelled in high comedy and melodrama; Our American Cousin, in which she played Florence Trenchard, became her most famous production, running steadily for five months from its opening on October 18, 1858. At the time, this was an unprecedented run in New York theater. In May of 1863, Keene tired of being a manager, and Matilda Wood took over. Although she did go back to managing for a brief period from 1869 to 1870 at the Chestnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, Keene spent most of the following years in touring. Revivals of OurAmerican Cousin were included in some of these tours, and on April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln attended that play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., sitting in a private box near the stage. During the third act, John Wilkes Booth shot and mortally wounded the president; Keene recognized the actor as he escaped over the stage. Mary Todd Lincoln being distraught, Keene held the president's head in her lap until he was carried from the theater.

Laura Keene did much to promote quality theater in America and to make New York City the theater capitol of the country, including establishing the matinee as a standard feature, initiating the long run for a specific play, and encouraging American playwrights. However, middle age and her husband's death in 1869 brought personal and financial struggles to Keene's life. She continued to act on occasion and gave public lectures for a few years before dying of consumption on November 4, 1873.