Jane Placide

Jane Placide (1804 – May 16, 1835) was an American actress.[1]

Jane Placide
Born1804
DiedMay 16, 1835
OccupationActress

Life

Jane's parents had immigrated to the United States in 1792. She was the daughter of Alexander Placide, manager of the Charleston Theatre in Charleston, [2][3] and the actress and opera singer Charlotte Wrighten Placide, who managed the same theatre after the death of her spouse until 1813, when the family lost the theatre.

Placide had three siblings; Caroline, Henry and Thomas.[4] All four children became well-known actors, however, it's unclear which stage name they later used.[5]

Career

Jane Placide and her siblings where all schooled into the acting profession from an early age in their parents theater company, who performed both in the Charleston Theatre as well as toured around Virginia and the Carolina states. She made her formal debut as an actor as Volante in 'The Honey Moon' in the Virginia Company of Charles Gilfert in Norfolk, Virginia in 1820.[6]

Placide was engaged by James H. Caldwell in his American Company at the American Theatre on Orleans Street in New Orleans, where she made her debut in 1823.[7] Caldwell's American Company was the first permanent English language theatre in New Orleans, and Jane Placide was to become the most celebrated actress in New Orleans. She was engaged at the Camp Street Theatre (also called 'American Theatre') from 1824, when Caldwell founded that theatre. During her period of employ, the Camp Street Theatre was called the finest theatre in the South, and Placide was consequently famed in the entire Antebellum South.

She mainly starred in Shakespearean roles, such as Ophelia, Desdemona and Juliet, but she also acted in comedies, such as Mrs Candour in 'The School for Scandal', and melod drama, such as Mrs Haller i 'The Stranger' by Benjamin Thompson.[8] One of her most celebrated parts was when she appeared at James H. Caldwell's American Theatre in James H. Kennicott's romantic tragedy Irma; or The Prediction in 1830.[9] She acted with many of the most famed actors of the American stage, such as Thomas Abthorpe Cooper, Junius Brutus Booth and Edwin Forrest. In 1834, she accompanied James H. Caldwell to London, where she made her debut at the Covent Garden Theatre.

Placide never married, but had a long term relationship with James H. Caldwell.[10] Edwin Forrest was reportedly also in love with Placide, and supposedly challenged Caldwell to a duel, which never happened.[5][9][11][12]

Death

Placide was buried at the Girod Cemetery originally. The cemetery was eventually disbanded and her remains were reburied at the Hope Mausoleum.[1]

References
  1. "Hope Mausoleum". New Orleans Cemeteries.
  2. Brockett, O.G. (1962). "The European career of Alexandre Placide". The Southern Speech Journal. 27 (4): 306–313. doi:10.1080/10417946209371658.
  3. Durang, Charles (2007). Slout, William L. (ed.). The Theatrical Rambles of Mr. and Mrs. John Greene. Wildside Press LLC. pp. 54–56. ISBN 9780809513062.
  4. "Henry Placide - oi". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. Chase, John Churchill (2014). Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children ... and Other Streets of New Orleans!. Quid Pro Books. ISBN 9781610272391.
  6. Robin O. Warren, Women on Southern Stages, 1800-1865: Performance, Gender and Identity
  7. James H. Dormon, Jr., Theater in the Antebellum South, Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1967, p. 83; Nelle Smither, A History of the English Theatre in New Orleans, New York: Benjamin Blom, 1967, p. 35; Robin O. Warren, Women on Southern Stages, 1800-1865: Performance, Gender and Identity
  8. Robin O. Warren, Women on Southern Stages, 1800-1865: Performance, Gender and Identity
  9. Fisher, James (2015). Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 351–352. ISBN 9780810878334.
  10. Robin O. Warren, Women on Southern Stages, 1800-1865: Performance, Gender and Identity
  11. "Edwin Forrest collection, circa 1815–1931". dla.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  12. Hughes, Bethany (2018). "The Indispensable Indian: Edwin Forrest, Pushmataha, and Metamora". Theatre Survey. 59 (1): 23–44. doi:10.1017/S0040557417000473. ISSN 0040-5574.
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