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January 4 Blanche Walsh

nPHE name of Blanche Walsh has now become one of the most powerful

*- factors in stage circles as an actress of tremendous emotional force and

unquestioned dramatic strength. She is a New York girl by birth, her
father being Thomas Power Walsh, well known in political circles. When but
fifteen years old she made her first stage appearance in ** Siberia," under
Thos. McDonough, and this was followed by a three-years* engagement with
Marie Wainwright. playing Olivia in ** Twelfth Night." Zamora in ** The
Honeymoon " and Queen Elizabeth in ** Amy Robsart." She then came to the
notice of Charles Frohman. who promptly engaged her to create the role of
Diana Stockton in ** Aristocracy." She played this role tw(^ seasons, and
the next ^'ear, 1894-95. she divided l)etween the lead in '* llic Girl I Left
Behind Me " and playing opposite Nat C. G<K)dwin in his extensive reper-
toire. The summer of 1895, she played a round of comedy roles with the
Bond Stock in Washington. The following season Miss Walsh was in " The
Great Diamond Robbery." later creating a sensation by her forceful por-
trayal of " Trilby." and in the spring went to Australia as Mr. Goodwin's
leading woman. In Noveml)er. 1896. she created the lead in " Heartsease."
with A. M. Palmer's Stock in Chicago. The following January. Miss Walsh
was seen at the Academy of Music in a melodrama entitled, " Straight From
the Heart." and in April of that year she went to London as leading lady
with William Gillette in " Secret Service." She was next found, the .season
of 1897-98, with Sol Smith Russell in " .\ Bachelor's Romance." and then
appeared with the Empire Theatre Slock in " I'he Conquerors. ' She played
a special engagement in the .spring of 1898 with the Mordauni-Block Stock
at the Herald Square Theatre, and her portrayal of Zicka in " Diplomacy "
created a positive .sen.sation. That summer she played leads with a Denver
stock, and was notably successful as Romeo in " Romeo's First Love," a
one-act play written specially for her by A. E. Lancaster, oi which she is
now the owner, and which she played several times in Australia as well as
at Ijenefits in Anwrica. 