Mabel Bert

Mabel Bert (née Scott, 1862 – ?) was an Australian-born American actress.

Mabel Bert
Born
Mabel Scott

1862
Australia
OccupationActress
Spouse(s)Edward G. Bert
Forrest Robinson
Partner(s)McKee Rankin
RelativesDoris Rankin (daughter)
Phyllis Rankin (daughter)
Gladys Rankin (daughter)

Early life

Bert was born in Australia in 1862.[1][2] Her father was A.C. Scott whose family was very wealthy.[1] They immigrated to the United States in 1865, settling in San Francisco, California to allow Mabel better schooling.[1] She was educated in Mills Seminary in Oakland, California.[2][3]

Career
Mabel Bert in Turn to the right

Mabel was an actress, known for Straight Is the Way (1921), The Wonderful Thing (1921) and Blackbirds (1920).[3]

She started as an actress by chance. She was behind the scenes with a friend during the performance of Oliver Twist and was asked at the last minute to replace a missing actress who had three lines.[2]

At the beginning of her career, she played with various companies throughout California for two years and in 1886 joined a stock company in San Francisco for leading parts. For 14 months she took a new part every week, including Shakespeare's plays, old comedies, melodramas, society plays and burlesques. In 1887, she went east and joined one of Frohman Brothers' companies in Held by the Enemy. Since that time, Bert took leading parts in various plays and appeared in all of the important cities of the U.S. She played leads for the John A. Stevens Company at the old Grand Opera House, San Francisco.[4][3][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

Personal life
Doris Rankin

She left school when she was 17 years old, and on 25 May 1879, she married Edward G. Bert,[1] theatrical manager working for his brother, Fred Bert, a pioneer theater man of Oakland. She had two daughters, Phyllis and Gladys,[4] and made her debut on the stage in 1880.[3]

In 1887, she began a relationship with Arthur McKee Rankin (known as McKee Rankin) and became pregnant. She gave birth to a baby girl, Doris Rankin, who later married Lionel Barrymore, Bert's costar in Arizona.[23][24] In 1888 her husband filed for divorce on the ground of desertion.[1] In 1892, Rankin's wife filed for divorce, but Rankin, a devoted Catholic, did not marry Bert.[25] Rankin already had two daughters (Gladys and Phyllis) from his marriage to Kitty Blanchard.

On 28 July 1893, Bert married Forrest Robinson,[4] who was an actor from Broadway and later starred in films of Mary Pickford.[26] They met when performing together in The Lost Paradise.[27]

After becoming a widow in 1924, she lived with her daughter in Denver in the 1930s.[4]

Works
Mabel Bert, 1915, Daddy Long Legs
  • Stage Play 1925: Accused as Mme. De Verron
  • Movie 1921: The Wonderful Thing as Lady Sophia Alexandria Mannerby
  • Movie 1921: Straight Is the Way as Aunt Mehitabel[28]
  • Movie 1920: Blackbirds
  • Stage Play 1918: Turn to the Right[29]
  • Stage Play 1915: Daddy Long Legs[24]
  • Stage Play 1914: Young Wisdom as Mrs. Claffenden: "The girls' mother played splendidly by Mabel Bert."[30]
  • Stage Play 1912: The Senator Keeps House as Mrs Ida Flower: "Miss Mabel Bert played the part of Mrs. Ida Flower with great skill, delicacy and charm."[31]
  • Stege Play 1911: Sire as Mlle de Saint-Salbi: "One of the most sympathetic and charming character portrayals that has been seen on the Pittsburgh stage in a long time."[2]
  • Stage Play 1911: What the Doctor Ordered
  • Stage Play 1910: The Faith Healer
  • Stage Play 1909: Ragged Robin[32]
  • Stage Play 1906: The Crossing as Mrs. Temple: "The finished acting of Miss Mabel Bert saved it from exceeding tameness"[33]
  • Stage Play 1906: The Light Eternal
  • Stage Play 1906: The Price of Money
  • Broadway 1899-1900-1901-1903-1905: Ben Hur as Mother of Hur[34]
  • Stage Play 1899: Arizona as Estrella Bonham[35]
  • Stage Play 1898: The Master as Mrs. Thomas Faber: "Mabel Bert as the wife of the stern "Master" cannot well be too much praised for her earnest and natural performances."[36]
  • Stage Play 1896: The Liar as Elaine Rousseau[37]
  • Stage Play 1894: The Lost Paradise: "Among the actors and actresses who made up the stock company and the Bijou last summer, none were more genuinely appreciated than young Forrest Robinson and Mabel Bert."[38]
  • Stage Play 1892: Little Tippett[39]
  • Stage Play 1891: The Canuck as Angelique Bisquitte[40]
  • Stage Play 1890: The Fatal Card[2]
  • Stage Play 1890: Shenandoah[2]
  • Stage Play 1890: The Masqueraders[2]
  • Stage Play 1889: Hearts-Ease as Lady Neville[41]
  • Stage Play 1889: Undine[4]
  • Stage Play 1889: Hazel Kirk[4]
  • Stage Play 1889: Convict 1240[4]
  • Stage Play 1889: The Silver King[4]
  • Stage Play 1889: The Kantuck[24]
  • Stage Play 1888-1889: The Runaway Wife[42]
  • Stage Play 1888: The New Danites as Miss Dido[24]
  • Stage Play 1887: Allan Dare[24]
  • Stage Play 1887: Wife and Child as Lady Alice[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: 49 as Carrots[43]
  • Stage Play 1886: The Last Days of Pompeii[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Under the Polar Star[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Falsely Accused, or, The Deadwood Stage as Pix[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: The Two Orphans as Louise[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: The Golden Giant as Ethel Wayne and later as Bessie Fairfax[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Everybody's Friend as Mrs Featherly[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: The Field of the Cloth of Gold[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Rob Roy[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Guy Mannering as Julia Mannering[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Erin O'Chorra as Norah Delaney[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Money as Clara Douglas[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Second Sight[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Hoodman Blind[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: Notre Dame as Esmeralda[24]
  • Stage Play 1886: The Danites as Widder and later as Billy Piper: "A young lady of great talent as an actress, and of extreme beauty"[44]
  • Stage Play 1885: A Wall Street Bandit[24]
  • Stage Play 1885: Macbeth as Lady Macduff and later as Lady Macbeth[24]
  • Stage Play 1885: Brought to Justice as Nell Forrest[24]
  • Stage Play 1882: Step by Step as Shop Girl[24]
  • Stage Play 1882: A Prisoner for Life (debut)[24]
  • Mabel Bert portraits (University of Louisville, Macauley Theatre collection)

References
  1. "Another Theatrical Divorce - 12 Dec 1888, Wed • Page 7". Fort Worth Daily Gazette: 7. 1888. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  2. "The Career of Mabel Bert - 15 Jan 1911, Sun • Page 26". Pittsburgh Daily Post: 26. 1911. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  3. Willard, Frances Elizabeth, 1839-1898; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice, 1820-1905 (1893). A woman of the century; fourteen hundred-seventy biographical sketches accompanied by portraits of leading American women in all walks of life. Buffalo, N.Y., Moulton. p. 80. Retrieved 8 August 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. "Information - 17 Oct 1934, Wed • Page 17". Oakland Tribune: 17. 1934. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  5. "War Memorial Opera House" (PDF). verplanck consulting. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. ...the Wade (later Grand) Opera House. Located on the north side of Mission Street, just west of Third Street, the Grand Opera House perished in 1906, along with most of the city's other opera houses, including the Tivoli Opera House and the Orpheum Theater.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. Smith, James R. (4 January 2018). San Francisco's Lost Landmarks. Quill Driver Books. ISBN 9781884995446 – via Google Books.
  7. "PCAD - Wade's Opera House, San Francisco, CA". pcad.lib.washington.edu.
  8. "Daily Alta California 29 February 1876 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  9. Miller, Leta E. (4 January 2018). Music and Politics in San Francisco: From the 1906 Quake to the Second World War. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520268913 – via Google Books.
  10. "[Photograph of Grand Opera House]". Calisphere.
  11. File:LLOYD(1876) INTERIOR VIEW OF WADE'S OPERA HOUSE pg162.jpg
  12. "Grand Opera House". oac.cdlib.org.
  13. "Grand Opera House, Mission St. [No. 2.]". oac.cdlib.org.
  14. Wade's Opera House, later Grand Opera House, later Morosco's Grand Opera House
  15. "Daily Alta California 13 January 1876 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  16. "PCAD - Grand Opera House, San Francisco, CA". pcad.lib.washington.edu.
  17. "Morosco's Grand Opera House". www.worldcat.org.
  18. "[Photograph of drawing of the interior of the Grand Opera House]". oac.cdlib.org.
  19. "The Changing Faces of St Patricks". St. Patrick Church.
  20. "The San Francisco Horror • Chapter 1". penelope.uchicago.edu.
  21. "Is that my head or an Earthquake?". 23 January 2013.
  22. "San Francisco City Directory". Crocker-Langley. 1905. Grand Opera House, North Side of Mission between 3rd Street and 4th Street (page 799)
  23. "Arizona - 18 Jun 1899, Sun • Page 34". Chicago Tribune: 34. 1899. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  24. Beasley, David R. (2002). McKee Rankin and the Heyday of the American Theater. David Beasley. p. 209. ISBN 9780889203907. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  25. ""Drifting Apart" - 01 Feb 1892, Mon • Page 3". Daily Leader: 3. 1892. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  26. "Mabel Bert - 19 Jun 1927, Sun • Page 76". Oakland Tribune: 76. 1927. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  27. "25 Aug 1893, Fri • Page 3". The Leavenworth Times: 3. 1893. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  28. "Peoules - 08 May 1921, Sun • Page 52". The Oregon Daily Journal: 52. 1921. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  29. "20 Apr 1918, Sat • Page 8". The Daily Times: 8. 1918. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  30. "Charming Comedy is "Young Wisdom" - 06 Jan 1914, Tue • Page 6". The New York Times: 6. 1914. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  31. "Miss Mabel Bert Plays Part of the Widow and Remainder of the Company is Excellent - 20 Feb 1912, Tue • Page 7". The Baltimore Sun: 7. 1912. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  32. "The Alvin - 10 Jan 1909, Sun • Page 33". The Pittsburgh Press: 33. 1909. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  33. ""The Crossing" at Albaugh's - 09 Jan 1906, Tue • Page 7". The Baltimore Sun: 7. 1906. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  34. "Music and the Drama - 03 Sep 1901, Tue • Page 5". Chicago Tribune: 5. 1901. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  35. "Grand-Opera House - 18 Aug 1899, Fri • Page 12". The Inter Ocean: 12. 1899. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  36. "25 Dec 1898, Sun • Page 15". Democrat and Chronicle: 15. 1898. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  37. ""The Liar" at the Walnut - 04 Apr 1896, Sat • Page 4". The Philadelphia Inquirer: 4. 1896. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  38. "The Lost Paradise - 04 Feb 1894, Sun • Page 17". Star Tribune: 17. 1894. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  39. "The Walnut - 08 May 1892, Sun • Page 11". The Philadelphia Inquirer: 11. 1892. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  40. ""The Canuck" - 26 Feb 1891, Thu • Page 2". The Tuskaloosa Gazette: 2. 1891. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  41. "Henry Miller in "Hearts-Ease" at the Tulane - 27 Feb 1899, Mon • Page 3". The Times-Democrat: 3. 1899. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  42. "Aumsements - 22 Oct 1889, Tue • Page 1". Oakland Tribune: 1. 1889. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  43. "Grand Opera House - 04 Dec 1886, Sat • Page 2". The Ottawa Journal: 2. 1886. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  44. "A Great Attraction Coming - 29 Jun 1888, Fri • Page 3". The New North-West: 3. 1888. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
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