Georgia Cayvan | |
|---|---|
 Georgia Cayvan, circa 1888 | |
| Born | Georgie Eva Cayvan August 22, 1857 Bath, Maine, US |
| Died | November 19, 1906 (aged 49) |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, Comedian |
Georgie Eva Cayvan (August 22, 1857 – November 19, 1906)[1] was a popular stage actress in the United States in the later part of the nineteenth century.[2][3][4][5]
Georgia Cayvan was born at Bath, Maine.[2][4] She attended and graduated from the Boston School of Oratory.[2][3] She initially earned a living as a professional fortune teller.[2][3] She had insight into how to play out stage drama and brought her characters to fruition with her humor and expressive eyes.[5]
Cayvan in 1879 accepted her first job on stage as Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore with the Boston Ideal Opera Company.[2][3][5] She was a member of the Union Square Company.[2] She appeared in Hazel Kirke at the Madison Square Theatre in New York City in 1881.[2] She played the part of Dolly Dutton.[2][4] In 1881 she played the heroine part in a road company in such comedies and dramas as The Professor (1881); The White Slave (1882); Siberia (1883); May Blossom (1884); The Wife (1887); The Charity Ball (1889); and Squire Kate (1892).[4] She then appeared in "Oedipus Tyrannus" at the Boston Theater.[3]
Cayvan also acted at Booth's Theatre in New York City.[3] She performed at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in "The White Slave" and Laura in "The Romany Rye."[3] She also played Marcelle in "A Parisian Romance" in the Union Square Company.[3] Cayvan was successful in the leading part of David Belasco’s "La Belle Russe."[2] She was also a short time with Dion Boucicault.[2]
In 1893 Cayvan became one of the first people to wear a glass dress.[6][7][8][9] The dress was too brittle to be practical however.[6][9] It was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in The Chicago's World's Fair of 1893.[6][9][10] An article in The New York Times of July 28, 1893, predicted that glass dresses would become a fashion "fad."[11] It points out that the first dress was made for Cayvan for her performance in "American Abroad."[11] It was made by the Libbey Glass Company.[11][12] Author Amelia Ransome Neville in her book gave an account of seeing Cayvan wear the fiberglass dress made by Edward Drummond Libbey.[12] She points out that Cayvan wore it in The Charity Ball.[12]
In 1886 Cayvan contracted with Daniel Frohman, becoming the star of the Lyceum Theater in New York.[2] Cayvan toured with her own company (which included Lionel Barrymore) starting in 1896.[2][3] In March 1897, she performed with her company in El Paso, Texas in a production called "Squire Kate".[13] She was involved in a difficult divorce case in 1896 as being the other woman.[14] She was, however, totally exonerated after defending herself. Cayvan received much support from several women's groups.[2][3]
After an operation in 1892 her health began to fail.[2][3] In 1900 her poor health forced her to retire to the Sandford Sanitarium in Flushing, New York. There she died in 1906, aged 49, after an illness.[2][3][4] She is buried at Newton Cemetery, Newton Massachusetts.
