William Blaisdell
American actor
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William Blaisdell (April 1865 – January 1, 1931) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He was a member of the Peake family of musicians through his the mother, the harpist Julia Peake Blaisdell. He grew up performing in the Peak Family Bell Ringers as a child, and also performed on the stage in his father's theatre troupe as an actor and musician. As a teenager and young adult he performed as a singer and dancer in vaudeville before moving into work on the stage as a comic actor and singer in both light operas and plays. On screen he appeared in silent films released between the years 1917-1929.
William Blaisdell | |
|---|---|
Cabinet card of Blaisdell, pre-1914 | |
| Born | April 1865 |
| Died | January 1, 1931 (aged 65) |
Resting place | Kensico Cemetery |
Early life and career
The son of William Blaisdell[1] and harpist Julia Peake Blaisdell,[2] William Blaisdell was born in April 1865[3] in San Francisco, California.[4] He was trained by his mother as a musician and began performing as a child.[2] His mother was part of the Peak family of musicians, and by 1870 young William was performing in the family music act, the Peak Family Bell Ringers, as a vocalist and instrumentalist.[5] He also performed as an actor and musician in his father's theatre troupe.[2] As a teenager he worked as singer in vaudeville under the name Willie Blaisdell.[6]
By 1883 Blaisdell had formed a dance act with Josie Granger.[7] He wrote the song "That's The Idea Exactly" which was published in Boston in 1886 under the name William Blaisdell, Jr.[8] In 1886-1887 he toured as Prof J. Potiphar in the musical comedy Si Perkins;[9][10][11] a production which was produced by his father. His father died of heart disease in Cincinnati in 1888.[12] In 1888-1889 he toured as Felix Crackle in the musical farce Skipped By the Light of the Moon.[13][14][15] For the 1889-1890 season he toured in Lizzie Evans's troupe as Charlie Childs in The Buckeye.[16][17]
In 1890 Blaisdell was appointed a leading comic with the McCaull Comic Opera Company, replacing Jefferson De Angelis.[18] With this organization he portrayed Spatzle in Karl Millöcker's The Seven Suabians (original German name Die sieben Schwaben)[19] and Cassimir in Clover (an English language adaptation of Franz von Suppé's Jagd nach dem Glücke).[20] For the 1891-1892 season he joined Pauline Hall's opera troupe for their touring productions of Jacques Offenbach's La belle Hélène (as King Ménélas of Sparta)[21] and Offenbach's Madame Favart (as the Marquis de Pontsablé).[22] For the fall of 1892 he was with Jennie Yeamans's company performing in 12 P.M.[23]
In 1893 Blaisdell played in William Haworth's war drama A Flag of Truce[24] before returning to Pauline Hall's troupe to perform as Sparacaui in Amorita in the summer of that year.[25] In the Fall of 1893 he joined Fay Templeton's opera company to perform once again in Madame Favart.[26] In 1894-1895 he toured in the farce A Railroad Ticket.[27][28] In the Fall of 1895 he performed at Broadway's Fifth Avenue Theatre as Lord Fitzpoodle in Rupert Hughes's and Robert Coverly's comic opera The Bathing Girl[29][30] before joining Lillian Russell's opera company with whom he toured as Don Pedro in La Périchole in the 1895-1896 season.[31][32]
Blaisdell portrayed the prince in La mascotte by Edmond Audran in August 1896 at the Academy of Music in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[33] After this he joined May Ten Broeck and John E. Henshaw's theatre troupe with whom he toured in the comic opera The Nabobs; or Dodge at the French Ball in 1896-1897.[34][35] He returned to Broadway in 1897 as the French spy M. Auguste Pompier in The Girl from Paris at the Herald Square Theatre.[36] This show was produced by Edward E. Rice, and Blaisdell toured in this work to the Chicago Grand Opera House among other theaters in 1897-1898.[37][38] In the summer of 1898 he portrayed Sir Joseph in Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore at the Auditorium Theatre in Baltimore.[39]
Later life and career
In 1898-1899 Blaisdell toured in Alfred J. Kuttner and Sidney R. Ellis's musical The Evil Eye in the role of Peleg Philemon.[40] The tour included a stop in New York City at the Grand Opera House in January 1899.[41] He subsequently returned to Broadway as Otto Work in Star and Garter (1900, Victoria Theatre);[42] Franz in Vienna Life (1901, Broadway Theatre);[43] and Pettifer in The Toreador (1902, Knickerbocker Theatre).[44] In 1905 he starred as Polycop in a production of Stanislaus Stange's The Wedding Day with Dorothy Morton as Lucille.[45] In 1906 he toured in Raymond Hubbell's musical Fantana with Jefferson De Angelis's theater troupe.[46] In 1907 he performed in vaudeville with Pat Rooney among other entertainers,[47] and portrayed August Lump in a revival of The Strollers staged in Los Angeles.[48]
In 1908 Blaisdell portrayed Kibosh in Victor Herbert's The Wizard of the Nile with the Aborn Opera Company,[49] and toured as a member of the Manhattan Comic Opera Company.[50] In 1909 he toured with Al Cameron's theatre company in The Last of the Regiment.[51] After this his career had a lull after he was seriously injured in an assault at a railway station. The perpetuator had recently been released from an insane asylum.[52] In 1911 he performed as a smuggler in Georges Bizet's Carmen at the Terrace Garden (also known as the Lexington Opera House) on 58th St in New York City with Bertha Shalek in the title role.[53]
From 1912-1915 Blaisdell portrayed Monsieur Larose in a long running touring production of The Quaker Girl starring Natalie Alt (and later Bernice McCabe) in the title role.[54][55][56][57] After leaving this tour he portrayed Gaspard in Robert Planquette's The Chimes of Normandy at the Standard Theatre in Manhattan where the production opened in May 1915.[58] In 1916 he toured in Jerome Kern's musical Nobody Home.[59]
In his later career, Blaisdell's work shifted away from the stage towards film. In 1917-1918 he worked as an actor numerous comedic short films made for Pathé Exchange with Harold Lloyd. These included All Aboard (1917),[60] Bashful (1917),[61] The Big Idea (1917),[62] Over the Fence (1917),[63] We Never Sleep (1917),[64] Step Lively (1917),[65] Are Crooks Dishonest? (1918),[66] Fireman Save My Child (1918),[67] Follow the Crowd (1918),[68] Beat It (1918),[69] On the Jump (1918),[70] Pipe the Whiskers (1918),[71] Take a Chance (1918),[72] A Gasoline Wedding (1918),[73] Hey There! (1918),[74] The City Slicker (1918), Look Pleasant, Please (1918),[75] An Ozark Romance (1918),[63] Bees in His Bonnet (1918),[76] Swing Your Partners (1918),[77] Hear 'Em Rave (1918),[78] Here Come the Girls (1918),[79] The Non-Stop Kid (1918),[80] Nothing but Trouble (1918),[81] It's a Wild Life (1918),[82] Kicked Out (1918),[83] and Two-Gun Gussie (1918).[84]
Blaisdell continued to work regularly in film into the late 1920s. Some of his many other films include Love's Young Scream (1919),[85] On the Fire (1919),[70] A Fat Chance (1924),[86] Hot Sands (1924), Racing Luck (1924, as Cafe Proprietor),[87] Don't Pinch (1925),[88] Good Spirits (1925),[89] Crazy like a Fox (1926),[90] Dizzy Sights (1927),[91] The Yankee Clipper (1927, as Ike),[92] Sappy Service (1929), and Rough Dried (1929).[93]
Blaisdell died in 1931. His widow, fellow actor Clara Lavine, died at age 75 on December 29, 1948.[94]
