{"id":2788,"date":"2026-03-04T09:14:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/yiddish-stage\/?p=2788"},"modified":"2026-03-04T09:14:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:14:49","slug":"yuh-gotta-play-ball-chicagos-surprising-yiddish-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/yiddish-stage\/yuh-gotta-play-ball-chicagos-surprising-yiddish-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cYuh Gotta Play Ball!\u201d\u00a0Chicago<\/b><\/em>\u2019s Surprising Yiddish Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Come on, sister, yuh gotta play ball: this is Chicago!” (Jake to Roxie \u2013 the final line of <\/em>Chicago, a play by Maurine Dallas Watkins.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chicago, Chicago<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chicago<\/em>, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, is a two-billion-dollar enterprise according to Wikipedia.1<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0It enjoyed a very successful initial run of 936 performances on Broadway from 1975 to 1977 and was revived in 1996. Since then,\u00a0Chicago<\/em>\u00a0has played continuously, making it the longest-running musical in Broadway theatrical history. There have been numerous productions of\u00a0Chicago<\/em>\u00a0outside of New York City and its film adaptation (2002) won six Oscars including Best Picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roxie Hart is the central character of a plot that \u201cseeks to literalize the showbizification of American justice by performing it as a series of variety acts,\u201d writes\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0drama critic Jesse Green.2<\/a><\/sup> Roxie is jailed after shooting the man with whom she\u2019s been carrying on an affair. Her cellmates include several other women who are likewise accused of murdering their lovers. When she goes on trial the courtroom theatrics of her celebrity lawyer Billy Flynn gets her acquitted. The musical concludes with Roxie and her former cellmate (and rival for attention) Velma Kelly performing together on a vaudeville stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five decades before the musical there was the play\u00a0<\/em>on which it was based.\u00a0Chicago<\/em>\u2019s original author was Maurine Dallas Watkins (1896-1969), who had been a courthouse reporter for the\u00a0Chicago Tribune<\/em>. It had its Broadway premiere at the Music Box Theatre on December 30, 1926. The\u00a0New York<\/em>\u00a0Herald Tribune<\/em>\u2019s theatre critic described it as \u201ca flighty panorama in burlesque\u2026 as jocular as a comic strip and almost as dramatic.\u201d3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0A small pit orchestra occasionally chimed in with renditions of \u201cYes, Sir, That\u2019s My Baby\u201d and\u2014of course!\u2014\u201cChicago, Chicago, that toddlin\u2019 town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original Roxie Hart was played by a \u201cflapper comedian\u201d named Francine Larrimore (1898?-1975). A newspaper columnist described her as \u201ca wild, untamed, sensual, alluring Roxie, all sex appeal, quivering, alive\u2014utterly unmoral. She is an animal out of a jungle. She is as conscienceless as a child.”4<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The artist Miguel Covarrubias captured these qualities in his\u00a0New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0caricature of Larrimore\u2019s Roxie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A different actress, Jeanne Eagels (1890-1929), had been cast in the role, but two weeks before opening night she stepped down, claiming \u201cartistic differences\u201d with its director, George Abbott. Larrimore was hastily drafted to perform in Eagels\u2019s stead. No regrets or hard feelings; the\u00a0Herald Tribune<\/em>\u2019s critic took note of the \u201ccontented expression on the face of Miss Jeanne Eagels\u201d in the opening-night audience.5<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Chicago <\/em>enjoyed a respectable Broadway run of 172 performances, and the play then went on tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Theatre ads in the Morgen zhurnal<\/em> (New York), March 18, 1928. Chicago<\/em>, starring Francine Larrimore, was having a one-week revival at the Irving Place Theatre. Also advertised here: the plays Marco Millions<\/em> and Strange Interlude<\/em> by Eugene O\u2019Neill, and Porgy<\/em> by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward; the movie Dressed to Kill<\/em>;  a Jazztime Review; and a New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini. (Source: Historical Jewish Press.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Roxie Hart: Jacob P. Adler\u2019s Niece<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What could that first production of Chicago<\/em> possibly have to do with the Yiddish theatre? The answer: Its Roxie had an uncle named Jacob P. Adler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francine Larrimore\u2019s name cropped up while I was searching the Historical Jewish Press site for mentions of the Yiddish actor Samuel Goldenberg. Among the results was a\u00a0review by Abraham Cahan of a Broadway play called\u00a0Shooting Star<\/em>, by Noel Pierce and Bernard C. Schoenfeld.6<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Over the course of eleven scenes and three-and-a-half hours, it depicted the meteoric rise and fall of a fictionalized diva named Julie Leander. Francine Larrimore played Julie and Goldenberg was Herman Mordecai, an impresario of German-Jewish background inspired perhaps by Oscar Hammerstein (Senior) or Daniel Frohman. The caricaturist Al Hirschfeld produced a marvelous sketch of the cast.\u00a0Shooting Star\u00a0<\/em>ran for just sixteen, un-air-conditioned performances in June 1933 before being taken down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cahan commented that despite Shooting Star<\/em>\u2019s clich\u00e9d plot, the play was a case of art imitating life. In it, Julie Leander succumbs to burnout and addiction after having starred in the same play for five years. Similarly, Jeanne Eagels had performed for four years in Rain<\/em>, a play based on a story by Somerset Maugham, and in 1929 she died from a toxic mix of opiates and alcohol. There is of course a \u201cmeta\u201d dimension to Shooting Star<\/em> in that Larrimore was the very actress who had replaced Eagels as Roxie Hart in Chicago<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cast of Shooting Star<\/em>, by Noel Pierce and Bernard C. Schoenfeld, drawn by Al Hirschfeld for the New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, June 18, 1933. Francine Larrimore, as Julie Leander, is at center. The Yiddish actor Samuel Goldenberg, as Herman Mordecai, is at the upper right of the frame. (Source: ProQuest Historical Newspapers.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An Upper Crust \u201cYankee\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Internet Broadway Database (IDBD) lists twenty-one Broadway plays from 1910 to 1934 in which Larrimore had roles.7<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0(She also performed in plays outside of New York City.) Her first major hit came in 1919, when she played Beatrix Vanderdyke in the three-act rom-com\u00a0Scandal<\/em>, by the English playwright and novelist Cosmo Hamilton (1870-1942). Before\u00a0Scandal\u00a0<\/em>reached Broadway it had already played for six months in Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beatrix is the \u201cspoiled daughter of a wealthy family longing for adventure in Bohemian atmosphere.\u201d When her anxious parents track down Beatrix at an artist\u2019s studio, she informs them (falsely) that she has eloped with one of the artist\u2019s friends, Pelham Franklin (played by the English actor Charles Cherry [1872-1931]). This revelation is followed by a mock honeymoon, which begins with Beatrix and Pelham at each other\u2019s throats and concludes (predictably) with \u201cthe couple in each other\u2019s arms at the final curtain.\u201d Though some newspaper critics complained that it was \u201ctoo talky in parts,\u201d they praised Larrimore\u2019s and Cherry\u2019s performances.8<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Scandal<\/em>\u00a0ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years later Hamilton reflected upon Scandal<\/em>\u2019s success:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It did not seem to me that Francine Larrimore was suited to the part of the young autocrat\u2026 The manager [Walter Hast (1876-1945)] and all the members of his loving family argued with me at once, and while I sent people to scour New York to find another actress, Miss Larrimore clung to the part with so fine a courage and so clamlike a determination that the atmosphere of the empty theatre became charged with emotion.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, Hamilton was worn down by the sheer force of Larrimore\u2019s insistence and then he was persuaded by her convincing performance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

Her belief in herself as the exponent of Beatrix Vanderdyke was more than justified by the extraordinary success that she achieved\u2026 With a rare combination of comedy and tragedy, Miss Larrimore is a young actress of genius who will, in a better part than that of the girl in Scandal<\/em>, jump to the very top of the dramatic tree.9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In 1924 she starred in another play by Hamilton, Parasites<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larrimore was often typecast in upper crust \u201cYankee\u201d roles in middlebrow \u201cboulevard dramas,\u201d\u00a0including at least three works by prominent women authors. These included the title role in\u00a0Nancy Ann<\/em>\u00a0(1924), by Dorothy Heyward (1890-196110<\/a><\/sup>), and two plays by Rachel Crothers (1878-1958),\u00a0Nice People\u00a0<\/em>(1921) and\u00a0Let Us Be Gay<\/em> (1929), a hit that enjoyed a run of 132 performances on Broadway and then went on tour.\u00a0In\u00a0Nice People<\/em>\u00a0Larrimore shared the stage with two young actresses who went on to illustrious careers, Katharine Cornell and Tallulah Bankhead.\u00a0Let Us Be Gay<\/em>\u00a0was a drawing-room comedy involving a divorced couple that is brought together again. Brooks Atkinson, in\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, praised Larrimore\u2019s performance in that play while drawing attention to her elocution: \u201cAs the Lorelei of Westchester and Manhattan, Francine Larrimore gives the most supple character interpretation in her career. Her diction is slovenly and her voice uncontrolled. Her acting, however, has a new fluency.”11<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In 1931, as her theatrical career was beginning to wind down, she was upstaged by the loquacious Alexander Woollcott (1887-1943), her co-star in\u00a0Brief Moment,<\/em>\u00a0by S. N. Behrman (1893-1973).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Francine Larrimore, in the title role in Dorothy Heyward\u2019s play Nancy Ann<\/em> (1924), drawn by Bert Sharkey for the New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, April 6, 1924. (Source: ProQuest Historical Newspapers.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just Be Yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francine Larrimore was petite (five feet, one inch), with flaming auburn hair. She delivered her lines in a husky, \u201cfreakish\u201d contralto which reviewers considered either off-putting or captivating (or both). In the mid-1920s the future screenwriter Wells Root wrote: \u201cMiss Larrimore probably omits more syllables than any other actress that ever made herself quite audible across the footlights. She slouches. Her face and hands are constantly in nervous motion. Yet she has some power of personality, some vocal note that carries its appeal.\u201d12<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The critic George Jean Nathan defended Larrimore\u2019s unconventional delivery:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Heavily criticized for the peculiar hoarseness of her speaking voice, it will be well for her to rest assured that this peculiar hoarseness is one of her most valuable assets, and that for her to lose it would be a distinct loss to her individuality. The studiously acquired and artificial mellifluous speaking voice is one of the banes of the American stage… There are altogether too many second-hand Ethel Barrymore voices as it is.13<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

John Bassett, the author of a recent biography of the playwright Rachel Crothers, considers Larrimore\u2019s seemingly casual vocal technique to have been an effective dramatic tool. She \u201cwas especially engaging for her dexterity in using her voice in creative ways for emotional impact,\u201d he writes.14<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her part, Larrimore defended what critics perceived as \u201ca cyclonic, turbulent method of acting\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I really believe\u2026 that the stage has spoiled the ability to be natural\u2026 Very few persons I know begin a sentence and see it through to a successful termination. Our thoughts skip too quickly for the tongue to master them\u2026 In my performance [in\u00a0Parasites<\/em>] I attempt to catch that quality\u2026 I want to be natural and in so doing I slur words, I falter, I hesitate\u2014just as I do when I ordinarily talk. If this be injustice to dramatic art\u2014make the most of it.15<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Yet, Larrimore would scarcely have described herself a \u201cMethod\u201d actor had this label been au courant<\/em> in her heyday. By 1929 she insisted that she left her roles behind at the stage door:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Naturally, a certain amount of resistance is necessary to keep one from going stale in a part played for many months. One of the surest ways to wear the edge off is to live a part twenty-four hours each day\u2026 When I step on the stage, I become Kitty Brown [in Let Us Be Gay<\/em>], but Francine Larrimore rides home with me\u2014not Kitty Brown\u2014and that makes all the difference in the world. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Rather than follow Jeanne Eagels\u2019s example and remain for years in a hit play, Larrimore consistently elected to move on to the next project rather than go \u201cstale.\u201d16<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a successful attempt to demonstrate that she really did possess dramatic range, Larrimore held her own in\u00a0This Was a Man<\/em>, by No\u00ebl Coward (1899-1973). The\u00a0Herald Tribune<\/em>\u2019s critic praised her, though with a whiff of condescension: \u201cSurrounded by a company of British artists to the manner born, she vied with them in elegance of diction and grace of movement, proving perhaps that it is not too far from upper Riverside Drive to Mayfair.\u201d17<\/a><\/sup> It was in the middle of that run that she was tapped for\u00a0Chicago<\/em>, where her representation of Roxie was in an altogether different register.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cCome and greet Jacob P. Adler tonight, on the occasion of his 70th<\/sup> birthday\u201d\u2014display ad in the Forverts <\/em>(New York), February 8, 1923. Jacob and Sarah Adler separately performed scenes from plays by Jacob Gordin and Leo Tolstoy. The event was chaired by Joseph Barondess. Francine Larrimore and the songwriter Con Conrad (they were secretly married at the time) were among those who stepped out on stage between the acts. The Yiddish actors Jacob Ben-Ami, Bertha Kalich, Rudolph Schildkraut, Elye Tenenholtz, and Boris Thomashefsky also paid homage to \u201cThe Great Eagle.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to her acting, Larrimore displayed a flair for costumes. Starting as early as 1912, newspapers and magazines often published photographs of her in the frocks and gowns that she wore on stage. And then there was her aptitude for set design. As a\u00a0New York Tribune<\/em>\u00a0reporter wrote: \u201cWhen she was playing in \u2018Scandal\u2019 she helped decorate and design some of the sets, and she planned the interior decorating scheme of the bedroom and actually made most of the pillows and hangings that were used.\u201d18<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The playwright Cosmo Hamilton confirmed this in his reminiscences concerning that production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Roaring Twenties and Beyond<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francine Larrimore\u2019s life offstage during those years might provide worthwhile fodder for a play or movie about a star actress during the Roaring Twenties. When the Volstead Act prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages took effect, the\u00a0Herald Tribune<\/em>\u00a0revealed that Larrimore intended to set up an \u201caerial nest\u201d on her Riverside Drive building\u2019s rooftop where she promised to \u201cserve things that you cannot get in restaurants.\u201d Invoking the Deity, she stated: \u201cGod will be the only one to see us and He will not object\u2026 Didn\u2019t He make the rye, the grapes and the other things? Why should He object, then?\u201d19<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years later, the\u00a0Herald Tribune<\/em>\u00a0reported on \u201chotel revelry\u201d in Atlantic City and New York, led by Charles R. Forbes, the scandal-ridden director of the federal Veterans Bureau. \u201cThe Larrimore girls, sisters,\u201d partied there together with Forbes, a building contractor named J. W. Thompson, and Thompson\u2019s agent Elias H. Mortimer and his wife. A clerk with the Veterans Bureau, McGill Connor, testifying at Forbes\u2019s conspiracy trial in mid-December 1924, recalled these hijinks more than two years after they had occurred. Connor averred that a craps game at the New York hotel had been organized by Mrs. Mortimer. It \u201clasted fifteen or twenty minutes,\u201d following which \u201cthe party continued for some hours\u201d and \u201ca general, social good time\u201d was had by all.20<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there was the sensational burglary on January 13, 1924, at Larrimore\u2019s apartment on Fifth Avenue near 50th<\/sup>\u00a0Street. The Broadway star \u201cwas at her mother\u2019s apartment, at 730 Riverside Drive,\u201d when the heist took place. \u201cHer maid was out for the day. She did not return until nearly midnight, and entered to find the place turned topsy-turvy and her jewels, valued at $25,000, missing.\u201d Total losses (also including clothing and furnishings) amounted to $30,000 \u2013 the equivalent of over half a million dollars in 2026. At Larrimore\u2019s request, the theft was kept secret for over a month.21<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early 1930, during the tour of\u00a0Let Us Be Gay<\/em>, Larrimore was kept \u201cconstantly under guard of two Chicago detectives after \u201cracketeers\u201d threatened \u201cto take Miss Larrimore \u2018for a ride\u2019\u201d and \u201cextort $25,000 from the actress.\u201d She had \u201creceived a letter\u2026 informing her that hundreds of World War veterans were in distress in Chicago and saying that she had been put down for a $1,000 contribution.\u201d A few days later a telephone caller informed \u201cher that the \u2018ante\u2019 had been raised to $25,000 and that unless she paid it she would be kidnapped.\u201d22<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This incident led\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0to run a mordant editorial riffing on the Windy City\u2019s shady reputation. It seems that \u201cthe persons who attempted various hold-ups of Miss Francine Larrimore, [the actor] Mr. Charles Winninger and Mr. Groucho Marx were small fry\u201d in the eyes of \u201cChicago\u2019s eminent gang leaders\u2026 They expressed formal indignation that these trifling demonstrations should have been connected with the real gangs of the city.\u201d One \u201crenowned [gang] leader suggested that if Miss Larrimore would dine with him in public it would be sufficient notice to the jackals that the lion would stand for no poaching.\u201d The upshot, per the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0editorialist: \u201cThe stage and all the artistic elements of the nation will note with appreciation what Chicago\u2019s responsible gangsters have done.\u201d23<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For about three years in the 1920s, Francine Larrimore maintained a stealth marriage to the songwriter Con Conrad (n\u00e9 Conrad Dober). He is remembered for his lyrics to such popular songs of the era as \u201cBarney Google\u201d and \u201cLena from Palesteena.\u201d24<\/a><\/sup> The couple lived apart during much of that period, keeping their relationship secret from their closest friends and relatives for the first eighteen months of the marriage. There was a separation followed by a reconciliation which blew up on April 30, 1925.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was when Francine, suspecting Conrad of carrying on an affair, organized a raid at the Hotel Claridge, near Times Square. Joined there by her sister Stella, their brother Louis Adler, and a friend of Louis, they \u201cidentified Dober\u2019s handwriting in the hotel register in which he had made the entry, \u2018Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gorman.\u2019 Going to the room indicated alongside the names, the raiders discovered Mr. Dober, claid [sic<\/em>] in pajamas. Searching further, they found a blonde young woman hiding in a closet.\u201d Larrimore\u2019s lawsuit was uncontested at the divorce trial, which took place on October 9th<\/sup>\u00a0of that same year. Having been caught\u00a0in flagrante delicto<\/em>, \u201cMr. Dober failed to appear to defend the suit,\u201d the\u00a0Herald Tribune<\/em>\u2019s reporter laconically observed.25<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larrimore\u2019s summertime crossings to and from London and Paris were duly recorded by New York\u2019s newspapers of record. Her personal papers include a souvenir program from the Royal Ascot races and a printed menu for her birthday celebration at the Savoy, in London (both, 1937). Since she did not become a U.S. citizen until 1935, one wonders what kind of travel documents she presented to officials at her ports of call until that juncture. First-class passengers like her may have been granted absolution by customs officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A passel of Adlers, photographed in the 1920s. At the center are the white-haired Jacob P. Adler and his sister Sara (Soore), who is holding a portrait of her daughter Francine Larrimore. Seated next to Sara are her daughter Stella Larrimore and Sara\u2019s anonymous husband. Several of Francine\u2019s siblings and their spouses and children are also in this group portrait. Her cousin Stella Adler stands at the far left of the back row. (Source: \u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait,\u201d in the blog Stella Adler: A Life in Art<\/em>, June 20, 2014: https:\/\/stellaadleralifeinart.wordpress.com\/tag\/francine-larrimore\/<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just Who Was<\/em> Francine Larrimore?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA French-born New Yorker and sister of the great Yiddish singer Jacob Astor\u2026\u201d\u2014this is how John Bassett introduces our heroine in his biography of Rachel Crothers.26<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The phrase encapsulates the Yiddish saying \u201cNoyekh mit zibn grayzn<\/em>,\u201d wherein the biblical figure Noah\u2019s two-letter Hebrew name\u00a0\u05e0\u05d7<\/strong>\u00a0impossibly contains no fewer than seven spelling errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cFrench-born<\/em><\/strong>\u201d? We\u2019ll get to that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cJacob Astor<\/em><\/strong>\u201d? This sounds like something out of a Mel Brooks script. (Beaver pelts, anyone?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astor\u2019s <\/em>\u201csister<\/em><\/strong>\u201d? No, she was Jacob P. Adler\u2019s<\/strong> niece<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe great Yiddish singer<\/em><\/strong>\u201d? Adler disclaimed any talents or aspirations in this direction. He was a dramatic actor, not a singer (in contrast, say, to his colleague and sometime rival Boris Thomashefsky).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Depending on who you believe, Francine Larrimore was either born in Odessa or in Verdun, France. Her father was either a Russian-Jewish dry-goods merchant named Isaac Levovsky (or possibly Leibowitch) or a Frenchman named J. Louis La Rem\u00e9e (or possibly Larimee). She claimed that she was born in 1898, though circumstantial evidence suggests that she was born a few years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larrimore\u2019s Declaration of Intention for naturalization (filed in December 1932) states that she emigrated from Southampton, England, in 1903, on the \u201cSS Unknown,\u201d under the name Frances Adler\u2014her legal name in the US.27<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In her Petition for Citizenship (filed in May 1935) she affirmed that she had resided continuously in New York City since May 1903, when she was (supposedly) not quite five years old. In both documents she stated that she was born in Verdun, France, on August 22, 1898, and that her nationality was French.28<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Some of these details are debatable, to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacob P. Adler\u2019s granddaughter Lulla Adler Rosenfeld wrote that Francine\u2019s family hailed from Odessa, not France, and she referred to Fanya\u2014the future Francine\u2014as one of her \u201cpretty Russian cousins.\u201d Adler visited his younger sister Sara (or Soore) and family\u2014including Fanya\u2014in Odessa sometime after 1900. According to Lulla Rosenfeld, this trip took place following the Kishinev pogrom (April 1903). \u201cHe intended to bring his family back with him to America,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHe found his sister married and with a brood of children, all in a state of excitement about their famous uncle from America.\u201d29<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0As Larrimore\u2019s grand-nephew Eric Brown remarked in a 2014 blog post: \u201cJacob Adler\u2019s sister Sara\u2026 had remained in Russia after most Jews fled the persecution of the Russian pale.\u201d30<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to public records available online, Adler had traveled to Europe a couple of years earlier, in the summer of\u00a01901<\/em>.31<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0So, if Francine and her family were already in New York City by May 1903 (as she claimed in her Petition for Citizenship) there would have been no further need for Adler to travel to Odessa.32<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Francine Larrimore, photographed by C. Bennette Moore, New Orleans, 1912. She was playing in the touring company of Over Night<\/em>, by Philip Bartholomae. (Source: Wikimedia Commons.) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Part of Larrimore\u2019s self-reinvention involved re-situating her birthplace from the Black Sea port city to a relatively obscure town in northeastern France where one of the Great War\u2019s bloodiest battles had been fought. In so doing, Larrimore\u2019s purported Franco-American identity became part of her act. Nevertheless, it was hard to reconcile this with the universally acknowledged fact that she was the niece of a famous Yiddish actor from Odessa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Francine Larrimore and a co-star, Sam B. Hardy, in the touring company of Over Night<\/em>, by Philip Bartholomae, Sunset: The Pacific Monthly<\/em>, May 1912. (Source: Google Books via HathiTrust.org.) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Did She Fudge Her Age?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The likely distortion in Francine Larrimore\u2019s biography concerning her birthdate is less surprising, given that this is a common practice in show business and elsewhere. Abraham Cahan, in his dual roles as Yiddish newspaper editor and occasional theatre critic, was certainly aware of Jacob Adler\u2019s familial ties. In his review of\u00a0Shooting Star<\/em>, he wrote that Larrimore was about ten years old when she came to the US.33<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Had she been born in August 1898 (as she asserted) and then immigrated at the age of ten (per Cahan), that would place her arrival in the US as late as 1908. However, Larrimore must have immigrated several years earlier, given that she made her Broadway debut in February 1910. By then she would have resumed her education in New York\u2019s public schools and the future Hunter College High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lulla Rosenfeld recalled that once \u201cthe whole brood of pretty \u2018Russian cousins\u2019 had come to America\u201d they \u201cwere always in\u201d Jacob and Sara Adler\u2019s spacious apartment.34<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Francine\u2019s mother discouraged Larrimore from pursuing a career on the stage, possibly\u00a0because of<\/em>\u00a0her firsthand exposure to the Adler household. As Eric Brown observed, \u201cA rift between the two sides of the family ensued as the bohemian, theatrical Jacob and his children didn\u2019t mix with the \u2018conservative,\u2019 other half of the family who went into retail.\u201d35<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0It was only after graduating high school that Francine \u201cfinally gain[ed] her mother\u2019s consent.\u201d36<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A newspaper profile from the mid-1930s stated that Larrimore \u201cwas but fifteen years old\u201d when she first went on stage. This was echoed in the program brochure for\u00a0The Temporary Mrs. Smith<\/em>\u00a0(1946): \u201cAt the age of fifteen, she was given the chance to play the leading part in a touring company of \u2018Overnight,\u2019\u201d a popular play by Philip Bartholomae (1880-1947).37<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0However, in an interview published much earlier, at the time of her breakthrough in\u00a0Parasites<\/em>\u00a0(1920), Larrimore stated that she cast her lot with the theatre when she dropped out of \u201cnormal college\u201d as an undergraduate.38<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0This chronology was substantiated by a brief profile in\u00a0The Hebrew Standard\u00a0<\/em>in April 1921: \u201cMiss Larrimore graduated from High School, and some eight years ago, while attending a normal school preparatory to becoming a teacher, was offered a small part in \u2018Over Night.\u2019\u201d39<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0She would presumably have been around seventeen at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larrimore appeared in Over Night<\/em> during the course of 1912\u2014two years after her Broadway debut\u2014performing in venues across the country. In other words, if she was indeed fifteen at the time she would have been born in 1897<\/em>, not 1898 (as she later claimed). But given her mother\u2019s reservations concerning Francine\u2019s chosen profession I question whether she would have been permitted to join a traveling ensemble even at that age\u2014playing a young bride, no less! (Though I\u2019m open to persuasion regarding this point.) Rather, I\u2019m inclined to believe that the future Francine Larrimore was born circa 1895, immigrated with her family in 1903 or thereabouts, and graduated high school around 1911 or 1912.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Name Larrimore<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paternal surname La Rem\u00e9e is almost certainly a made-in-USA invention.40<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0It doesn\u2019t seem to derive from an actual word in the French language.\u00a0Be that as it may, Isaac and Sara\u2019s children bore the maternal surname Adler in America. Because Francine shared her legal name, Frances Adler, with an actress cousin, she adopted a different stage name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where, then, did the name Larrimore come from? In his review of\u00a0Shooting Star<\/em>, Abraham Cahan wrote that she had picked the name out of a novel. But according to a photo caption in Eric Brown\u2019s blog post about his great aunt, \u201cLarrimore was a name\u00a0taken from a Lexington Avenue drugstore.\u201d41<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Oddly enough, there might actually be some truth to that claim: the 1910-11 New York City Directory lists two Dudley Larimore (just one \u201cr\u201d) & Co. pharmacies in midtown Manhattan, with locations at 1 West 46th<\/sup>\u00a0Street and 511 Madison Avenue.42<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Of course, it didn\u2019t hurt that \u201cLarrimore\u201d rhymes with Barrymore, the name of a celebrated American show-biz dynasty. (Years later, did she work backwards from that to come up with the faux-French La Rem\u00e9e as her father\u2019s supposed last name?)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Francine Larrimore in a publicity photo for the Paramount movie John Meade\u2019s Woman<\/em>, 1937. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Larrimore and the Adlers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a group photograph of the Adler family that was taken some time in the 1920s. Seated at center is the family patriarch, Jacob P. Adler. Next to him is his sister Sara, proudly displaying a small, framed photograph of her famous daughter Francine, who however is not present in person. Among the nineteen Adlers and their spouses and children are two Stellas: Jacob\u2019s daughter and Francine\u2019s younger sister, both of them actresses. Stella Adler later achieved great renown as a teacher of actors; Stella Larrimore\u2019s career on stage was brief\u2014though it did lead to her marriage to the actor Robert Warwick, who had once co-starred alongside Francine. Albert, Louis, and Paul Adler are also in the picture, as is their unnamed father (Sara\u2019s husband). \u201cHe was so incidental,\u201d Eric Brown remarked, \u201cthat even on his deathbed\u2026 he was relegated to a cot in the dining room so as not to inconvenience Sara.\u201d43<\/a><\/sup> The family regarded Sara\u2019s husband\u2014Francine\u2019s father\u2014as something of a nebbish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francine\u2019s American-born nephews and nieces called her Aunt Tween, but to members of her famous uncle\u2019s generation she remained Fanya, the \u201cprettiest of the \u2018little Russian cousins\u2019.\u201d44<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0She lent her presence to at least four of Jacob P. Adler\u2019s farewell appearances\u2014five, if you count his funeral. First, there was the benefit on December 4, 1922, at Gabel\u2019s 116th<\/sup>\u00a0Street Theatre, where Adler performed his \u201cimmortal success\u201d as Dovid Moisheles in the Jacob Gordin play\u00a0The Jewish King Lear<\/em>. During intermission \u201cthe great American actress\u201d Francine Larrimore paid tribute to her uncle. She was joined on stage by Ludwig Satz, Clara Cherniavsky (Satz\u2019s piano accompanist), and Maurice Schwartz.45<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next came the benefit on February 8, 1923, celebrating Adler\u2019s seventieth birthday, when Larrimore and Con Conrad (to whom she was secretly married at the time) and others rendered homage to the \u201cGreat Eagle.\u201d46<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0(What might Conrad have contributed to that event \u2013 a rendition of \u201cLena from Palesteena,\u201d maybe?)\u00a0Another benefit performance honoring the ailing Adler was held on March 16, 1923, with Larrimore and several other actors again stepping out on stage between the acts.47<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Then, on February 9, 1926 (less than two months before Adler\u2019s death), \u201cthe great American actress Francine Larrimore\u201d joined a constellation of stars at Kessler\u2019s Second Avenue Theatre, in a matinee honoring \u201cthe king of the Yiddish stage.\u201d48<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0These appear to be the only occasions in Larrimore\u2019s professional career when she graced the stages of Yiddish theatres, though her presence there was as an \u201cAmerican actress\u201d\u2014and the honoree\u2019s niece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, New York\u2019s English-language dailies noted her attendance at Adler\u2019s funeral on April 1, 1926.49<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Apart from these occasions, Larrimore kept her distance from the Yiddish theatre. The detailed inventory of her personal papers does not list the names of any Yiddish actors or directors\u2014Adlers included (!).50<\/a><\/sup> Her social connections resembled those of the comfortably well-off WASP-y characters that she often portrayed on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Francine Larrimore\u2019s Declaration of Intention (U.S. citizenship application), December 22, 1932. (Source: Ancestry.com<\/a>, via Palo Alto City Library.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fadeout<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\u00a0Shooting Star<\/em>, Larrimore appeared in just one more Broadway play, in October 1934. It was her only Jewish role, Florrie Solomon, in\u00a0Spring Song<\/em>, by the screen- and play-writing couple Bella and Samuel Spewack. The cast of\u00a0Spring Song<\/em>\u00a0included several veterans of the Yiddish theatre.51<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Larrimore\u2019s character was \u201ca lowly belle of the Ghetto\u201d as the\u00a0Herald Tribune<\/em>\u2019s acerbic theatre\u00a0<\/em>critic put it. \u201cShe was an irritating brat, wheedling, snarling, mumbling and shrieking accurately throughout the evening…\u201d52<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Abraham Cahan\u2019s\u00a0Forverts\u00a0<\/em>review of\u00a0Spring Song<\/em>\u00a0offered a more charitable spin. He praised the play as \u201ca genuine drama, strong and realistic in the true sense of the word.\u201d As for Francine Larrimore, \u201cShe performs this role strongly and she meets with success once again.\u201d53<\/a><\/sup> Brief scenes from\u00a0Spring Song<\/em>\u00a0were broadcast on the New York radio station WEVD during the play\u2019s Broadway run.54<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Larrimore\u2019s career on the Broadway stage was finished, a casualty of the Depression and professional burnout. \u201cIt is hard work, nothing but hard, relentless work,\u201d she complained during\u00a0Spring Song<\/em>\u2019s run. A decade earlier she had gloried in the little adjustments that she made to each of her performances. But by 1934 she lamented that \u201cperhaps the most bitter thing of all\u2026 is that we have to start every evening all over again, practically from scratch. One stands always before a new case, a new problem, and has to succeed, or one fails completely and all former successes are forgotten. The public is pitiless and has a short memory.\u201d55<\/a><\/sup> Larrimore had evidently wearied of what her famous uncle called the actor\u2019s \u201ceverlasting duel with the public.\u201d56<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\u00a0Spring Song<\/em>, Larrimore occasionally acted in tryout productions on \u201cout-of-town\u201d stages, and she accepted guest spots on the radio. There were hints of returns to Broadway that never actually panned out.\u00a0In 1935, the producer Irving Thalberg signed her with MGM, but her Hollywood career was brief and forgettable. Her social engagements were occasionally mentioned by gossip columnists in trade publications, as was the fancy car that she drove \u201caround town with her nose bobbed \u2013 looks like a cross between Miriam Hopkins and Helen Mencken [sic<\/em>].\u201d57<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0(This possibly alluded to Hopkins\u2019s wholesome good looks which were often enhanced by her bleached-blond hair, and Menken\u2019s semi-parabolic nasal profile.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPalesteena,\u201d 1920 sheet music cover, published and copyrighted by Shapiro, Bernstein & Company, Corner of Broadway and 47th Street, New York City, NY. Sol Wohlman, cover art. (Source: Wikipedia.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MGM was unable to find a suitable vehicle for Larrimore\u2019s talents, so she was loaned out to Paramount, which cast her alongside Edward Arnold in a second-tier feature film,\u00a0John Meade\u2019s Woman<\/em>. It opened to mixed reviews in 1937.58<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Two years later Larrimore had uncredited part as an \u201cIsland Girl\u201d in\u00a0The Devil\u2019s Daughter<\/em>, a short feature that was set in Jamaica. That was the sum total of her involvement with the talkies (she had appeared in a few silent shorts between 1915 and 1917).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The factors that formerly made Larrimore such a success on the theatre stage probably worked against her on the soundstage. These included the stop-and-start regimen in front of the camera and the absence of a live audience. In addition, her diminutive stature, the \u201chaunting timbre\u201d of her voice, and her (by Hollywood standards) advanced age were barriers to success on the silver screen. A first-time movie actress who was pushing forty wasn\u2019t about to be cast in the carefree romantic roles and screwball comedies that had been her Broadway trademarks back in the 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During World War II, Larrimore completed a Motor Mechanics course, and she\u00a0served as a hostess at the Stage Door Canteen in the Broadway theatre district, an entertainment venue for soldiers and sailors that was organized by producers and stage personalities. A year after the war ended, she attempted a comeback in\u00a0The Temporary Mrs. Smith<\/em>, a comedy by Jacqueline Susann (future author of the best-selling novel\u00a0Valley of the Dolls<\/em>) and Beatrice Cole. Larrimore bailed after the tryout performances in Wilmington, Delaware, and the play never made it to Broadway.59<\/a><\/sup> That marked the end of her acting career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francine Larrimore lived on for almost three decades after that and she remarried late in life. (Her second husband was Alfred T. Mannon [1897-1972], who had produced and directed a few films in the 1930s.60<\/a><\/sup>) The inventory of her papers offers very few hints regarding her activities during her extended retirement. Every now and again her name was mentioned in passing by a later generation of journalists who remembered her from performances they had seen when they were young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why English (and not Yiddish)?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, quite a few Yiddish actors were either American-born or immigrated when they were children. The constant influx of new immigrants, the immersive environment of Jewish neighborhoods, the continuing popularity of the Yiddish theatre, and (in some cases) family ties with theatrical dynasties provided the conditions that made it appealing for some younger Jewish actors to choose Yiddish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 1962 article in\u00a0Variety<\/em>\u00a0about the decline of the Yiddish theatre in America, the journalist Wolfe Kaufman identified Francine\u2019s American-born cousin Celia Adler as a stage actor who had performed in both Yiddish and English. In contrast, Kaufman inaccurately wrote, \u201cother members of the fabulous Adler family\u2014Stella Adler, Luther Adler, Francine Larrimore, et al., were strictly Broadway.\u201d61<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Several of Jacob Adler\u2019s offspring, including Stella and Luther, cut their teeth on the Yiddish stage. That said, Stella admired her cousin for \u201csuccessfully mak[ing] the leap to Broadway before [she] and her siblings\u201d did so.62<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young Fanya grew up surrounded by Russian and Yiddish speakers. Conceivably, her primary language in Odessa was Russian rather than Yiddish. At any rate, after she came to America this niece of Jacob P. Adler concluded that her future stage career had to be in English. She evidently had an excellent ear for the language, accents and all. Yet this quintessentially American actress did not even become a US citizen until 1935.63<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chicago<\/em><\/strong> Redux<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Francine Larrimore is remembered\u2014if at all\u2014for just one role: Roxie Hart, in\u00a0Chicago<\/em>. Though the play had a respectable run it was far from her biggest hit. Three decades later\u00a0<\/em>Gwen Verdon began to explore possibilities of a musical adaptation. At the time she was starring in\u00a0Damn Yankees<\/em>, whose director and co-author, George Abbott, had (coincidentally or not) directed the play\u00a0Chicago\u00a0<\/em>in 1926. The\u00a0Herald Tribune<\/em>\u2019s reporter felt it necessary to remind his mid-1950s readers that\u00a0Chicago<\/em>\u00a0was \u201cthe satirical comedy in which Francine Larrimore appeared on Broadway in 1926.\u201d An outline of a musical tentatively titled\u00a0Roxie Hart\u00a0<\/em>was said to be in preparation. The\u00a0Trib<\/em>\u2019s reporter described it as a long-term project.64<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long term indeed! It would take nearly two more decades for the Kander-Ebb musical to reach the stage. During the 1960s the Broadway director and choreographer Bob Fosse unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the rights from the play\u2019s author, Maurine Watkins. It was only after her death in 1969 that Fosse acquired the script.65<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Sadly, the very first Roxie Hart\u2014Francine Larrimore\u2014was not present at the Broadway premiere of the musical\u00a0Chicago<\/em>\u00a0on June 3, 1975. She had died on March 7th<\/sup>\u00a0at the ostensible age of seventy-seven.66<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Hollywood star Miriam Hopkins (1902-1972) in 1932. (Source: Wikimedia Commons.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The American stage actress Helen Menken (1897-1966) in 1920. (Source: Wikipedia.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Postscript: Larrimore in Laramie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after her death Larrimore\u2019s brothers Louis and Paul Adler donated her archives to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming. This might seem an improbable resting place for the personal papers of a Broadway star; surely The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts would have been a more logical repository. A web page on the AHC does list \u201cHollywood and the history of the entertainment industry\u201d among its collections\u2019 strengths. For example, papers of such Hollywood personalities as Anne Baxter, Jack Benny, and Barbara Stanwyck are found there.67<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless, the AHC\u2019s main focus is on the American West, and not the Great White Way. The University of Wyoming\u2019s location in\u00a0Laramie<\/em>\u00a0may well explain the family\u2019s decision to place the archives of Francine\u00a0Larrimore<\/em>\u2014daughter of the supposed J. Louis\u00a0La Rem\u00e9e<\/em>\u00a0\/\u00a0Larimee<\/em>\u00a0in its American Heritage Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Appendix: Personalities mentioned in this essay.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Abbott<\/a><\/strong> (1887-1995):  Legendary director, producer, and writer for the stage and screen, with a career spanning eight decades. Abbott was the director of Chicago<\/em> during the play\u2019s 1926-1927 run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacob P. Adler<\/a><\/strong> (1855-1926): \u201cHa-nesher ha-godol<\/em>\u201d\u2014The Great Eagle, a towering dramatic actor in the Yiddish theatre. His sister Sara (not to be confused with his actress wife, also named Sara) was Francine Larrimore\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stella Adler<\/a><\/strong> (1901-1992): Daughter of Jacob and Sara Adler. She acted in both Yiddish and English, and then ran the famous Stella Adler School of Acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward Arnold<\/a><\/strong> (1890-1956): Prominent screen actor during Hollywood\u2019s \u201cGolden Age.\u201d He was Francine Larrimore\u2019s co-star in the Paramount movie John Meade\u2019s Woman<\/em> (1937).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tallulah Bankhead<\/a><\/strong> (1902-1968): Legendary actress on the New York and London stages, with notable successes in Hollywood as well. She co-starred with Francine Larrimore in Nice People<\/em> (1921), by Rachel Crothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\u00a0Bartholomae<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(1880-1947): American playwright, director, and screenwriter. Francine Larrimore was in the touring company (1912) of his first successful play,\u00a0Over Night<\/em>, after its Broadway run (1911).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S. N. (Samuel Nathaniel) Behrman<\/a><\/strong> (1893-1973): American playwright, screenwriter, and regular contributor to The<\/em> New Yorker<\/em>. Francine Larrimore was in his 1931 play Brief Moment<\/em>, where she was upstaged by her co-star Alexander Woollcott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maurice S. Campbell<\/a><\/strong> (1869 or 1870-1942): Journalist and Broadway producer; author\/adapter of the play Where There\u2019s a Will<\/em> (1910), in which Francine Larrimore made her professional stage debut when she was probably fifteen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Cherry<\/a><\/strong> (1872-1931): British-born actor; he played opposite Francine Larrimore in her first hit on Broadway, Scandal<\/em> (1920), by Cosmo Hamilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Con Conrad<\/a><\/strong> (Conrad Dober, 1891-1938): American songwriter, author of \u201cLena from Palesteena,\u201d \u201cSingin\u2019 the Blues,\u201d \u201cBarney Google,\u201d and other popular songs. He and Francine Larrimore were secretly married in 1922; they divorced in 1925.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katharine Cornell<\/a><\/strong> (1893-1974): American actress, writer, theatre owner, and producer. Another legend of the Broadway stage. She co-starred with Francine Larrimore in Nice People<\/em> (1921), by Rachel Crothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miguel Covarrubias<\/a><\/strong> (1904-1957): Mexican artist, art historian, and ethnologist. His caricature of Francine Larrimore as Roxie Hart in Chicago <\/em>was published in The New Yorker<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No\u00ebl\u00a0Coward<\/a><\/strong> (1899-1973): Urbane English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer. Francine Larrimore starred in his play\u00a0This Was a Man<\/em>\u00a0(1926), right before she was tapped to play Roxie Hart in\u00a0Chicago<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Crothers<\/a><\/strong> (1878-1958): American playwright and theatre director whose plays often dealt with feminist themes. Francine Larrimore starred in two of her plays, Nice People<\/em> (1921) and the 1929 hit Let Us Be Gay<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeanne Eagels<\/a><\/strong> (1890-1929): American stage and screen actress. She starred in Rain<\/em> (based on a story by Somerset Maugham) for four years. Eagels was dropped from Chicago<\/em>\u2019s cast two weeks before it opened, and Francine Larrimore replaced her as Roxie Hart. The 1933 play Shooting Star<\/em>, in which Larrimore played the lead, depicted the rise and fall of a fictionalized actress whose career was inspired by that of Eagels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fred Ebb<\/a><\/strong> (1928-2004): Musical-theatre lyricist who frequently collaborated with John Kander. Ebb and Bob Fosse co-wrote the book for the musical adaptation of Chicago <\/em>(1975).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob Fosse<\/a><\/strong> (1927-1987): American choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, and stage director. Fosse and Fred Ebb co-wrote the book for the musical adaptation of Chicago<\/em>. Fosse directed and choreographed the 1975 production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francine Larrimore<\/a><\/strong> (1898?-1975): She\u2019s the subject of this essay. Don\u2019t believe everything you read in Wikipedia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Frohman<\/a><\/strong> (1851-1940):  American theatre producer and manager, of German-Jewish parentage. The character Herman Mordecai in Shooting Star<\/em> (1933) may have been partially modeled on him. The teenaged Francine Larrimore sought his advice while she was considering a career in the theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cosmo Hamilton<\/a><\/strong> (1870-1942): English playwright and novelist. He was the author of Scandal<\/em>, Francine Larrimore\u2019s first Broadway hit (1919). She also starred in his play Parasites<\/em> (1924).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar Hammerstein<\/a><\/strong> I (1846-1919): New York theatre impresario and composer (not to be confused with his grandson, the lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II). The character Herman Mordecai in Shooting Star<\/em> (1933) may have been partially modeled on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walter Hast<\/a><\/strong> (1876-1945): English-born theatre producer and director, active on Broadway in the 1910s-1920s. He directed the Chicago and New York productions of Scandal<\/em>, by Cosmo Hamilton, which was Francine Larrimore\u2019s first hit on Broadway (1919).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorothy Heyward<\/a><\/strong> (1890-1961): American playwright, whose first play was Nancy Ann<\/em>, a prize-winner which she wrote while attending Professor George Pierce Baker\u2019s Workshop 47 at Harvard. Francine Larrimore was the star of Nancy Ann<\/em>\u2019s Broadway production (1924). Dorothy Heyward was the co-author with her husband DuBose Heyward, of Porgy<\/em> (1927), a play that was later adapted as the musical \/ opera Porgy and Bess<\/em>, with music by George Gershwin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Hirschfeld<\/a><\/strong> (1903-2003): This famous caricaturist continue to churn out his show-biz drawings until his death at the age of ninety-nine. One of these was of the cast of Shooting Star<\/em> (1933), a star vehicle for Francine Larrimore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Kander<\/a><\/strong> (1927-): American composer for the musical theatre. Fred Ebb was his frequent collaborator. Together with Bob Fosse they were responsible for the musical adaptation of Chicago <\/em>(1975).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer Levin<\/a><\/strong> (1905-1981): American novelist. He mentioned Francine Larrimore favorably in an Esquire<\/em> review of several recent Hollywood movies (1937). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Jean Nathan<\/a><\/strong> (1882-1958): American drama critic and magazine editor. In a 1921 article for The Smart Set<\/em>, he defended Francine Larrimore\u2019s sui generis <\/em>approach to her craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wells Crosby Root<\/a><\/strong> (1900-1993): American screenwriter. In a review of His Queen,<\/em> by the English author John Hastings Turner (1925) he both criticized and praised Francine Larrimore\u2019s approach to acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernard C. Schoenfeld<\/a><\/strong> (1907-1990: American screenwriter and playwright. With Noel Pierce, he was the co-author of Shooting Star<\/em> (1933), in which Francine Larrimore played the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bella (1899-1990) and Samuel (1899-1971) Spewack<\/a><\/strong>: A wife-and-husband writing team for stage and screen. They were the co-authors of Francine Larrimore\u2019s final play on Broadway, Spring Song<\/em> (1934).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacqueline Susann<\/a><\/strong> (1918-1974): American author and actress, remembered for her bestselling novel Valley of the Dolls<\/em> (1966). She was the co-author, with her friend Beatrice Cole, of The Temporary Mrs. Smith<\/em>, which had a tryout performance in Wilmington, Delaware (1946). It was Francine Larrimore\u2019s final theatrical role. (There is no Wikipedia entry for Beatrice Cole.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irving Thalberg<\/a><\/strong> (1899-1936): The legendary movie producer signed Francine Larrimore for MGM in 1935. However, the studio found no suitable roles for her and loaned her to Paramount for her only notable appearance in a Hollywood movie, the long-forgotten John Meade\u2019s Woman<\/em> (1937).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Hastings Turner<\/a><\/strong> (1891-1956): English novelist, dramatist, and theatre director. Francine Larrimore starred in his play His Queen<\/em> (1925). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen Verdon<\/a><\/strong> (1925-2000): American actress and dancer; winner of multiple Tony Awards. She began to explore a possible musical adaptation of Chicago<\/em> in the mid-1950s, and it finally reached the stage in 1975 with Verdon as Roxie Hart. Bob Fosse was an artistic collaborator of hers; they married in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Warwick<\/a><\/strong> (1878-1964): American stage, film, and television actor. He and Francine Larrimore shared the stage in His Queen<\/em> (1925), by the English author John Hastings Turner. According to Wikipedia: \u201cIn 1930 he married Stella Larrimore (1905\u20131960) (a sister of Francine Larrimore<\/a>). They had a daughter, Betsey, who later became a poet in Los Angeles.\u201d (There is no Wikipedia entry for Stella Larrimore. She was probably born a few years earlier than what is stated in her husband\u2019s Wikipedia entry.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maurine Dallas Watkins<\/a><\/strong> (1896-1969): American playwright and screenwriter. She was the author of the play Chicago<\/em>, in which Francine Larrimore starred as Roxie Hart. Chicago <\/em>had its Broadway premiere on December 30, 1926. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander Woollcott<\/a><\/strong> (1887-1943): American drama critic, radio personality, occasional actor, raconteur, and member of the Algonquin Round Table. He stole the show from Francine Larrimore in Brief Moment,<\/em> by S. N. Behrman (1931).<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. \u201cMaurine Dallas Watkins,\u201d Wikipedia:\u00a0https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maurine_Dallas_Watkins<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Quoted by Elisabeth Vincentelli, in \u201cBroadway Favorites to Check Out at Home,\u201d\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, August 16, 2025. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. Percy Hammond, \u201cThe Theaters,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, December 31, 1926. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. The Playgoer (pseudonym), \u201cThe Broadway Stage,\u201d\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, February 20, 1927. In English. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. Percy Hammond, \u201cThe Theaters,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, December 31, 1926. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  6. Ab. Kahan (Abraham Cahan), \u201cA zumer-pyese oyf Brodvey velkhe fardint tsu gehn vinter oykh,\u201d\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, June 24, 1933. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  7. \u201cFrancine Larrimore,\u201d Internet Broadway Database (IBDB):\u00a0https:\/\/www.ibdb.com\/broadway-cast-staff\/francine-larrimore-48979<\/a>. In addition, Larrimore acted in touring companies, regional tryouts, and in London. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  8. \u201cNew Plays: \u2018Scandal\u2019,\u201d\u00a0The Billboard<\/em>, September 27, 1919. Snippets from newspaper reviews of the play appear at the end of\u00a0The Billboard<\/em>\u00a0review. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  9. Cosmo Hamilton, \u201cUnwritten History,\u201d\u00a0The Saturday Evening Post<\/em>, February 2, 1924, 76. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  10. Dorothy Heyward and her husband DuBose Heyward co-authored the play\u00a0Porgy\u00a0<\/em>(based on a novel of his), which opened in 1927 with an all-black cast. Like\u00a0Chicago<\/em>,\u00a0Porgy<\/em>\u00a0was later adapted as a musical (some call it an opera),\u00a0Porgy and Bess<\/em>. Its composer, of course, was George Gershwin. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  11. J. Brooks Atkinson, \u201cThe Play\u2026 Two Bites at a Cherry,\u201d\u00a0New York Times<\/em>, February 22, 1929.\u00a0\u00a0A new biography of the playwright has recently come out: John Bassett,\u00a0Rachel Crothers: Broadway Innovator, Feminist Pioneer<\/em>\u00a0(Bloomsbury, 2025). \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  12. Root\u2019s assessment of Larrimore\u2019s performance in\u00a0His Queen<\/em>\u00a0(a play by the English author John Hastings Turner), which was published in the\u00a0World<\/em>, was quoted in \u201cThe Playgoer Says,\u201d\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, May 24, 1925. In English. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  13. George Jean Nathan, \u201cEmperor William in Exile,\u201d\u00a0The Smart Set<\/em>, May 1921, 137. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  14. John Bassett,\u00a0Rachel Crothers<\/em>, 89. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  15. \u201cThe Methods of the Star of \u2018Parasites\u2019,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, December 28, 1924. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  16. \u201cStar Leaves Role in Theater to Avoid Dreaded \u2018Staleness\u2019,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, November 3, 1929. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  17. Percy Hammond, \u201cThe Theaters,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, November 24, 1926. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  18. \u201cThe Evolution of a Star: Francine Larrimore,\u201d\u00a0New York Tribune<\/em>, March 27, 1921. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  19. \u201cFrancine Larrimore Plans \u2018The Hang Out\u2019 \u2013 Not a Play But Aerial Nest on the Drive,\u201d\u00a0New York Tribune<\/em>, January 6, 1920. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  20. \u201cForbes Ex-Aid Tells of Hotel Revelry Here,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, December 18, 1924. On January 30, 1925, Charles R. Forbes was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government, in this Harding-era scandal. See Milton Berman,\u00a0U.S. Senate Investigates Veterans Bureau Chief for Fraud<\/em>,\u201d EBSCO Knowledge Advantage (https:\/\/www.ebsco.com\/research-starters\/history\/us-senate-investigates-veterans-bureau-chief-fraud<\/a>). \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  21. \u201cFrancine Larrimore Loses $30,000 by Theft in Flat,\u201d\u00a0New York Tribune<\/em>, February 17, 1924. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  22. \u201cThreaten to Kidnap Francine Larrimore,\u201d\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, February 12, 1930. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  23. \u201cChicago\u2019s Fair Name,\u201d\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, February 28, 1930. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  24. \u201cPalesteena\u201d:\u00a0https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/<\/a>wiki<\/a>\/Palesteena<\/a>. The song\u2019s first stanza reads: \u201cIn the Bronx of New York City\u00a0\/\u00a0Lived a girl, she’s not so pretty;\u00a0\/\u00a0Lena is her name.\u00a0\/\u00a0Such a clever girl is Lena!\u00a0\/\u00a0How she played her concertina,\u00a0\/\u00a0Really, it’s a shame.\u201d Its klezmer-inflected music was composed by J. Russell Robinson. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  25. \u201cFrancine Larrimore Wins Decree From Con Conrad,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, October 10, 1925. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  26. John Bassett,\u00a0Rachel Crothers<\/em>, 89. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  27. It seems almost deliberately confusing that Francine Larrimore\u2019s legal name in the U.S., Frances Adler, was identical with that of her first cousin\u2014Jacob and Sara Adler\u2019s daughter\u2014who was a Yiddish and English-language stage actress. Similarly, Francine\u2019s younger sister, whose stage name was Stella Larrimore, probably bore the same legal name as her more famous cousin Stella Adler. On the other hand, it was merely a coincidence that the Larrimore sisters\u2019 mother bore the same name as her brother Jacob\u2019s third wife. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  28. I located these two documents through\u00a0Ancestry.com<\/a>, provided by the Palo Alto City Library. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  29. Jacob Adler,\u00a0A Life on the Stage: A Memoir<\/em>, translated, edited, and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld (Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 350. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  30. \u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait,\u201d in the blog\u00a0Stella Adler: A Life in Art<\/em>, June 20, 2014:\u00a0https:\/\/stellaadleralifeinart.wordpress.com\/tag\/francine-larrimore\/<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  31. \u201cIdishe shoyshpieler obgerayzt nokh Eyropa,\u201d\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, May 31, 1901. The entourage aboard the S.S. Columbia included Jacob Adler and his wife Sara, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, and Joseph and Pauline Edelstein. According to this brief dispatch, \u201cThey will hold performances of Yiddish plays in London, Manchester, Leeds, Lemberg, and a few other cities.\u201d Adler may have proceeded to Odessa on his own, since the Yiddish theatre was still banned in tsarist Russia. According to Zalmen Zylbercweig, Adler visited his mother and sister in Odessa following the Yiddish actors\u2019 strike. See: \u201cAdler, Yankev P.,\u201d in Zalmen Zylbercweig,\u00a0Leksikon fun yidishn teater<\/em>, vol. 1 (Farlag \u201cElisheva,\u201d 1931), col. 22. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  32. Toward the end of May 1903, Adler participated in a benefit performance in New York City on behalf of the Kishineff Relief Fund. See: \u201cIn Aid of the Kishineff Sufferers,\u201d\u00a0The Hebrew Standard<\/em>, May 29, 1903. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  33. Likewise, the cartoonist and humor writer Harry Hershfield stated, \u201cFrancine Larrimore, the actress, was born in Odessa and was a big girl before she learned English.\u201d See: \u201cStrictly Confidential,\u201d\u00a0American Jewish World<\/em>, July 22, 1932. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  34. Jacob Adler,\u00a0A Life on the Stage<\/em>, 372. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  35. \u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait.\u201d \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  36. \u201cJacob Adler\u2019s Fair Niece, Now a Star, Was Barred from High School Stage,\u201d\u00a0New York Tribune<\/em>, February 1, 1920. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  37. \u201cFrancine Larrimore Scoffs at Glamour, Dazzle of the Stage,\u201d Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 28, 1934; \u201cWho\u2019s Who in the Cast,\u201d in\u00a0Vincent Freedlen presents Francine Larrimore in \u201cThe Temporary Mrs. Smith\u201d\u00a0<\/em>[Wilmington:] The Playhouse, [1946]. A copy of this program is in the Francine Larrimore Papers, 1916-1965 (Collection Number 05976, Box 16), American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. Wikipedia summarizes the plot of\u00a0Over Night<\/em>\u00a0as follows: \u201cThe story concerns two mismatched newlywed couples who are compelled to temporarily swap partners through circumstance while traveling.\u201d See: \u201cOver Night,\u201d\u00a0Wikipedia<\/em>: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Over_Night<\/a>. The May 1912 issue of\u00a0Sunset<\/em>\u00a0ran a photo of her with a fellow actor, Sam B. Hardy, while their company was touring the West Coast. The top of Francine\u2019s bonnet barely reached Hardy\u2019s shoulder. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  38. A reporter for the\u00a0New York Tribune<\/em>\u00a0wrote: \u201cHer progress from high school and college to stardom on Broadway, although rapid, was not a spectacular, overnight advance, and was not without its difficulties of strenuous parental objection\u2026 Her family was a home-loving one and, except for her uncle, none of them was connected with the stage.\u201d See \u201cJacob Adler\u2019s Fair Niece,\u201d February 1, 1920. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  39. \u201cFrancine Larrimore,\u201d\u00a0The Hebrew Standard<\/em>, April 22, 1921. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  40. Larrimore\u2019s Verdun \u201corigin story\u201d first cropped up in newspaper stories in the 1920s and has been repeated ever since. An article in the June 11, 1924, issue of the\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cMiss Larrimore and Con Conrad Wed 18 Months\u201d) summarized her family background as follows: \u201cMiss Larrimore has been known in personal life as Frances Adler, as she is a niece of Jacob Adler, noted actor on the Yiddish stage, and her mother adopted her brother\u2019s name. The star\u2019s family name is Larimee, her father having been a Frenchman. She was born at Verdun.\u201d See also her Wikipedia entry:\u00a0https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Francine_Larrimore<\/a>. Regarding Larrimore\u2019s paternal \u201cpedigree,\u201d a syndicated columnist for the Anglo-Jewish press, Henry Montor, wrote that her \u201creal name is Leibowitch.\u201d Yet according to Lulla Rosenfeld, Sara (Soore) Adler\u2019s husband was an Odessa shopkeeper named Isaac Levovsky. See: Henry Montor, \u201cPersonalities of the Stage and Screen,\u201d\u00a0American Jewish World<\/em>, September 3, 1926, and\u00a0Intermountain Jewish News<\/em>, September 16, 1926; Lulla Rosenfeld Adler,\u00a0The Yiddish Theatre and Jacob P. Adler\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Shapolsky Publishers, 1988), pp. 144,\u00a0316. The surname Levovsky and its variant spellings do not appear in the 1910 New York City Directory\u2014nor are La Rem\u00e9e or Larimee recorded there. However, the directory does include listings for five individuals named Isaac Lebowitch, Leibovitz, and Leibowitz. See:\u00a0Trow General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York, for the Year 1910, Ending August 1, 1911<\/em>, 851. Online access:\u00a0https:\/\/digitalcollections.nypl.org\/items\/4bf06f90-317a-0134-0a99-00505686a51c?canvasIndex=860<\/a>. Of the five, only Isaac Lebowitch was in the dry-goods business (at 881 10th<\/sup>\u00a0Avenue), which according to Lulla Rosenfeld was Fanya\u2019s father\u2019s occupation in Odessa. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  41. \u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait.\u201d \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  42. Trow General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York, for the Year 1910, Ending August 1, 1911<\/em>, 835. Online access:\u00a0https:\/\/digitalcollections.nypl.org\/items\/4bf06f90-317a-0134-0a99-00505686a51c?canvasIndex=844<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  43. \u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait.\u201d Sara \u2013 or Soore, as she is identified in the index to Lulla Rosenfeld\u2019s translation of Jacob Adler\u2019s memoir \u2013 was about ten years younger than her famous brother. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  44. Jacob Adler,\u00a0A Life on the Stage<\/em>, 377 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  45. \u201cKumt obgeben koved dem nesher ha-godol Yankev P. Adler,\u201d display ad,\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, December 2, 1922. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  46. \u201cKumt haynt obend [sic<\/em>]\u00a0<\/em>bagrisn Yankev P. Adler,\u201d display ad,\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, February 8, 1923. Jacob Adler performed in a scene from\u00a0Der fremder<\/em>, by Jacob Gordin, and Sara Adler played in a scene from\u00a0Resurrection<\/em>, by Leo Tolstoy. The benefit performance took place at Kessler\u2019s Second Avenue Theatre. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  47. \u201cKumt zikh gezegenen mit dem nesher ha-godol,\u201d display ad,\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, March 13, 1923. This event took place at the People\u2019s Theatre. It included a scene from Jacob Gordin\u2019s play\u00a0The Jewish King Lear<\/em>\u00a0and an act from\u00a0A farvorfn vinkl<\/em>, by Peretz Hirschbein, performed by Celia Adler. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  48. \u201cDer yontev fun dem idishen teater\u2026 Yankev P. Adler,\u201d display ad,\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, February 2, 1926. This event took place at Kessler\u2019s Second Avenue Theatre. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  49. The\u00a0New York Herald Tribune\u00a0<\/em>identified her as \u201chis niece, Francine Larrimore, whose real name is Francine [sic<\/em>] Adler.\u201d See: \u201cThousands View Body of Adler, Jewish Actor,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, April 2, 1926. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  50. Larrimore\u2019s brothers Louis and Paul Adler donated the\u00a0Francine Larrimore Papers, 1916-1965<\/em>\u00a0(Collection Number 05976) to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, shortly after her death in 1975. The collection-level record is at:\u00a0https:\/\/<\/a>archiveswest.orbiscascade.org\/ark:80444\/xv287342?q=%22Francine%20Larrimore%22<\/a>. The link to the PDF inventory is at:\u00a0https:\/\/archiveswest.orbiscascade.org\/ark:80444\/xv287342?q=%22Francine%20Larrimore%22<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  51. For example, Helen Zelinskaya, who played Florrie\u2019s mother, was in the cast of the Yiddish Art Theatre\u2019s sensational production of\u00a0Yoshe Kalb<\/em>\u00a0in 1932. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  52. Percy Hammond, \u201cThe Theaters: Pathetic Sex-Troubles on the East Side,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, October 3, 1934. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  53. Ab. Kahan (Abraham Cahan), \u201cA shtarke drame fun idishen leben oyf der ist sayd in a Brodveyer teater,\u201d\u00a0Forverts<\/em>, October 4, 1934. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  54. \u201cWEVD,\u201d in the Francine Larrimore Papers, 1916-1965, box 16. This twelve-page script includes dialogue from the play, announcements and narration in English, and \u201cA few words about SPRING SONG\u201d and the sponsor by the program\u2019s \u201cJewish [i.e., Yiddish] announcer.\u201d Larrimore was one of four actors from the Broadway cast who participated in this broadcast. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  55. \u201cFrancine Larrimore Scoffs at Glamour, Dazzle of the Stage.\u201d \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  56. Jacob Adler,\u00a0A Life on the Stage<\/em>, 4. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  57. \u201cRambling Reporter,\u201d\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, March 10, 1936. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  58. The novelist Meyer Levin praised her performance in\u00a0John Meade\u2019s Woman<\/em>: \u201cFrancine Larrimore manages to capture and hold tight onto the most vital characteristic of the American farming type. She is damned independent. It\u2019s not the cute spunk of a Jean Arthur, but a down-to-the-toes midwestern folk quality that comes out of the screen as sheer truth.\u201d See Meyer Levin, \u201cThe Candid Cameraman,\u201d\u00a0Esquire<\/em>, May 1937, 184. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  59. For a review of the Wilmington tryout, see: \u201cTemporary Mrs. Smith,\u201d\u00a0The Billboard<\/em>, September 21, 1946. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  60. Larrimore and Mannon were married from 1968 until his death in 1972. See:\u00a0https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0543471\/bio\/<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  61. Wolfe Kaufman, \u201cOnly Two Permanent Yiddish Legit Cos., Paradoxically, Are in Communist Warsaw & Jassy,\u201d\u00a0Variety<\/em>, January 10, 1962. Several of Francine\u2019s American-born Adler cousins performed in Yiddish as well as English. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  62. \u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait.\u201d \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  63. \u201cFrancine Larrimore Made Full-Fledged U.S. Citizen,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, May 24, 1935. Larrimore\u2019s citizenship status hadn\u2019t prevented her from joining the Hoover-Curtis Theatrical League during the 1928 presidential campaign. See: \u201cStage Folk Greet Hoover as Liberal,\u201d\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, October 23, 1928. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  64. Bert McCord, \u201cJames Cain Writes a Melodrama,\u201d\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\/em>, May 29, 1956. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  65. \u201cMaurine Dallas Watkins,\u201d Wikipedia. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  66. She was probably closer to eighty. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  67. University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Featured Collections:\u00a0https:\/\/7055.sydneyplus.com\/<\/a>archive\/final\/Portal\/AHC.aspx?lang=en-US<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    “Come on, sister, yuh gotta play ball: this is Chicago!” (Jake to Roxie \u2013 the final line of Chicago, a play by Maurine Dallas Watkins.) Chicago, Chicago Chicago, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, is a two-billion-dollar enterprise according to Wikipedia.\u00a0It enjoyed a very successful initial run of 936 performances on Broadway from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35946,"featured_media":2807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"[{\"id\":\"c8e76857-3f9a-47be-8b90-d793b885bed6\",\"content\":\"\\u201cMaurine Dallas Watkins,\\u201d Wikipedia:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Maurine_Dallas_Watkins<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"e49570d4-b52e-4522-b06e-7c545abdc893\",\"content\":\"Quoted by Elisabeth Vincentelli, in \\u201cBroadway Favorites to Check Out at Home,\\u201d\\u00a0The New York Times<\\\/em>, August 16, 2025.\"},{\"id\":\"ae187cfe-907e-4c6a-aa7c-288a0f2b5f9a\",\"content\":\"Percy Hammond, \\u201cThe Theaters,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, December 31, 1926.\"},{\"id\":\"30b3db62-001a-40ee-bc7c-736f93b47291\",\"content\":\"The Playgoer (pseudonym), \\u201cThe Broadway Stage,\\u201d\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, February 20, 1927. In English.\"},{\"id\":\"8f69913f-dc54-4d56-bbe7-a366d1d0c191\",\"content\":\"Percy Hammond, \\u201cThe Theaters,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, December 31, 1926.\"},{\"id\":\"0310b41b-9f60-4719-939f-bad4a5beb7a0\",\"content\":\"Ab. Kahan (Abraham Cahan), \\u201cA zumer-pyese oyf Brodvey velkhe fardint tsu gehn vinter oykh,\\u201d\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, June 24, 1933.\"},{\"id\":\"02a9aee8-9a64-4f3a-a043-cbbfb28b8063\",\"content\":\"\\u201cFrancine Larrimore,\\u201d Internet Broadway Database (IBDB):\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/www.ibdb.com\\\/broadway-cast-staff\\\/francine-larrimore-48979<\\\/a>. In addition, Larrimore acted in touring companies, regional tryouts, and in London.\"},{\"id\":\"30815ab4-e2ff-47a1-8381-714823d5ec17\",\"content\":\"\\u201cNew Plays: \\u2018Scandal\\u2019,\\u201d\\u00a0The Billboard<\\\/em>, September 27, 1919. Snippets from newspaper reviews of the play appear at the end of\\u00a0The Billboard<\\\/em>\\u00a0review.\"},{\"id\":\"e043e3ba-b2f7-4ccb-a9c2-c092b5162bd7\",\"content\":\"Cosmo Hamilton, \\u201cUnwritten History,\\u201d\\u00a0The Saturday Evening Post<\\\/em>, February 2, 1924, 76.\"},{\"id\":\"46d7364f-f7b0-4488-87bb-8b072a9cb2b4\",\"content\":\"Dorothy Heyward and her husband DuBose Heyward co-authored the play\\u00a0Porgy\\u00a0<\\\/em>(based on a novel of his), which opened in 1927 with an all-black cast. Like\\u00a0Chicago<\\\/em>,\\u00a0Porgy<\\\/em>\\u00a0was later adapted as a musical (some call it an opera),\\u00a0Porgy and Bess<\\\/em>. Its composer, of course, was George Gershwin.\"},{\"id\":\"650204e1-9409-4a34-8a7e-98c60b3f3b98\",\"content\":\"J. Brooks Atkinson, \\u201cThe Play\\u2026 Two Bites at a Cherry,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Times<\\\/em>, February 22, 1929.\\u00a0\\u00a0A new biography of the playwright has recently come out: John Bassett,\\u00a0Rachel Crothers: Broadway Innovator, Feminist Pioneer<\\\/em>\\u00a0(Bloomsbury, 2025).\"},{\"id\":\"62d30845-fbf1-4e3a-a917-fa1e91dc5695\",\"content\":\"Root\\u2019s assessment of Larrimore\\u2019s performance in\\u00a0His Queen<\\\/em>\\u00a0(a play by the English author John Hastings Turner), which was published in the\\u00a0World<\\\/em>, was quoted in \\u201cThe Playgoer Says,\\u201d\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, May 24, 1925. In English.\"},{\"id\":\"b43b8b49-63fd-463f-aa25-44d08a930b06\",\"content\":\"George Jean Nathan, \\u201cEmperor William in Exile,\\u201d\\u00a0The Smart Set<\\\/em>, May 1921, 137.\"},{\"id\":\"4ef6efba-53fc-4a90-9577-8d4966ccb6bf\",\"content\":\"John Bassett,\\u00a0Rachel Crothers<\\\/em>, 89.\"},{\"id\":\"a6a77ece-c59f-43d0-909a-db1c04271766\",\"content\":\"\\u201cThe Methods of the Star of \\u2018Parasites\\u2019,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, December 28, 1924.\"},{\"id\":\"8000d99c-0882-44c4-8e9a-37e676692b09\",\"content\":\"\\u201cStar Leaves Role in Theater to Avoid Dreaded \\u2018Staleness\\u2019,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, November 3, 1929.\"},{\"id\":\"f27bd3f6-30c0-4b50-8621-ce77f5b939d0\",\"content\":\"Percy Hammond, \\u201cThe Theaters,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, November 24, 1926.\"},{\"id\":\"3311d659-0106-4630-9e0e-75b0e2360943\",\"content\":\"\\u201cThe Evolution of a Star: Francine Larrimore,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Tribune<\\\/em>, March 27, 1921.\"},{\"id\":\"5089d49f-4b13-44db-aeb4-a228305a0c1f\",\"content\":\"\\u201cFrancine Larrimore Plans \\u2018The Hang Out\\u2019 \\u2013 Not a Play But Aerial Nest on the Drive,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Tribune<\\\/em>, January 6, 1920.\"},{\"id\":\"37757d6a-4e0a-4778-b8e2-478911e8c1b7\",\"content\":\"\\u201cForbes Ex-Aid Tells of Hotel Revelry Here,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, December 18, 1924. On January 30, 1925, Charles R. Forbes was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government, in this Harding-era scandal. See Milton Berman,\\u00a0U.S. Senate Investigates Veterans Bureau Chief for Fraud<\\\/em>,\\u201d EBSCO Knowledge Advantage (https:\\\/\\\/www.ebsco.com\\\/research-starters\\\/history\\\/us-senate-investigates-veterans-bureau-chief-fraud<\\\/a>).\"},{\"id\":\"05d40eeb-d906-42d7-904e-a14805aadad2\",\"content\":\"\\u201cFrancine Larrimore Loses $30,000 by Theft in Flat,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Tribune<\\\/em>, February 17, 1924.\"},{\"id\":\"ef431de1-33eb-4fc8-a6a1-d5a5a3311074\",\"content\":\"\\u201cThreaten to Kidnap Francine Larrimore,\\u201d\\u00a0The New York Times<\\\/em>, February 12, 1930.\"},{\"id\":\"d8046c5a-07cf-470d-b143-975f23f0242d\",\"content\":\"\\u201cChicago\\u2019s Fair Name,\\u201d\\u00a0The New York Times<\\\/em>, February 28, 1930.\"},{\"id\":\"87676013-8d37-4841-99a5-494c43d1e425\",\"content\":\"\\u201cPalesteena\\u201d:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/<\\\/a>wiki<\\\/a>\\\/Palesteena<\\\/a>. The song\\u2019s first stanza reads: \\u201cIn the Bronx of New York City\\u00a0\\\/\\u00a0Lived a girl, she's not so pretty;\\u00a0\\\/\\u00a0Lena is her name.\\u00a0\\\/\\u00a0Such a clever girl is Lena!\\u00a0\\\/\\u00a0How she played her concertina,\\u00a0\\\/\\u00a0Really, it's a shame.\\u201d Its klezmer-inflected music was composed by J. Russell Robinson.\"},{\"id\":\"b36976ad-8a9c-47ee-9e35-89d6a31da328\",\"content\":\"\\u201cFrancine Larrimore Wins Decree From Con Conrad,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, October 10, 1925.\"},{\"id\":\"c6531684-f1a4-4145-bfcc-81f5a5ad5bef\",\"content\":\"John Bassett,\\u00a0Rachel Crothers<\\\/em>, 89.\"},{\"id\":\"fa8f68d1-9ffe-4235-9a9f-35940a328525\",\"content\":\"It seems almost deliberately confusing that Francine Larrimore\\u2019s legal name in the U.S., Frances Adler, was identical with that of her first cousin\\u2014Jacob and Sara Adler\\u2019s daughter\\u2014who was a Yiddish and English-language stage actress. Similarly, Francine\\u2019s younger sister, whose stage name was Stella Larrimore, probably bore the same legal name as her more famous cousin Stella Adler. On the other hand, it was merely a coincidence that the Larrimore sisters\\u2019 mother bore the same name as her brother Jacob\\u2019s third wife.\"},{\"id\":\"a4e8e5b4-9a45-4fae-93ef-ca3fd8f6e6d7\",\"content\":\"I located these two documents through\\u00a0Ancestry.com<\\\/a>, provided by the Palo Alto City Library.\"},{\"id\":\"6172b7f1-94a4-446d-96a6-3729c1183ab8\",\"content\":\"Jacob Adler,\\u00a0A Life on the Stage: A Memoir<\\\/em>, translated, edited, and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld (Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 350.\"},{\"id\":\"543f24a1-2db5-4df0-a3a1-4f37aaca0c5c\",\"content\":\"\\u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait,\\u201d in the blog\\u00a0Stella Adler: A Life in Art<\\\/em>, June 20, 2014:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/stellaadleralifeinart.wordpress.com\\\/tag\\\/francine-larrimore\\\/<\\\/a>.\\u00a0\"},{\"id\":\"c43edc45-1361-4eac-9413-db39cea150c1\",\"content\":\"\\u201cIdishe shoyshpieler obgerayzt nokh Eyropa,\\u201d\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, May 31, 1901. The entourage aboard the S.S. Columbia included Jacob Adler and his wife Sara, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, and Joseph and Pauline Edelstein. According to this brief dispatch, \\u201cThey will hold performances of Yiddish plays in London, Manchester, Leeds, Lemberg, and a few other cities.\\u201d Adler may have proceeded to Odessa on his own, since the Yiddish theatre was still banned in tsarist Russia. According to Zalmen Zylbercweig, Adler visited his mother and sister in Odessa following the Yiddish actors\\u2019 strike. See: \\u201cAdler, Yankev P.,\\u201d in Zalmen Zylbercweig,\\u00a0Leksikon fun yidishn teater<\\\/em>, vol. 1 (Farlag \\u201cElisheva,\\u201d 1931), col. 22.\"},{\"id\":\"89ceb42f-9b4d-4a96-9536-c8bc8334cfd4\",\"content\":\"Toward the end of May 1903, Adler participated in a benefit performance in New York City on behalf of the Kishineff Relief Fund. See: \\u201cIn Aid of the Kishineff Sufferers,\\u201d\\u00a0The Hebrew Standard<\\\/em>, May 29, 1903.\"},{\"id\":\"c9a4c701-bfd5-4f79-b864-544696104e4d\",\"content\":\"Likewise, the cartoonist and humor writer Harry Hershfield stated, \\u201cFrancine Larrimore, the actress, was born in Odessa and was a big girl before she learned English.\\u201d See: \\u201cStrictly Confidential,\\u201d\\u00a0American Jewish World<\\\/em>, July 22, 1932.\"},{\"id\":\"97aafb67-f871-4796-9508-1335ed61aa01\",\"content\":\"Jacob Adler,\\u00a0A Life on the Stage<\\\/em>, 372.\"},{\"id\":\"e70c4b8e-2866-465a-ab70-19f49f69325e\",\"content\":\"\\u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait.\\u201d\"},{\"id\":\"86abf042-9749-4cb5-8b05-1b5cdd0b05b4\",\"content\":\"\\u201cJacob Adler\\u2019s Fair Niece, Now a Star, Was Barred from High School Stage,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Tribune<\\\/em>, February 1, 1920. \"},{\"id\":\"d1249497-9156-4711-9d0a-4e0e980f7571\",\"content\":\"\\u201cFrancine Larrimore Scoffs at Glamour, Dazzle of the Stage,\\u201d Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 28, 1934; \\u201cWho\\u2019s Who in the Cast,\\u201d in\\u00a0Vincent Freedlen presents Francine Larrimore in \\u201cThe Temporary Mrs. Smith\\u201d\\u00a0<\\\/em>[Wilmington:] The Playhouse, [1946]. A copy of this program is in the Francine Larrimore Papers, 1916-1965 (Collection Number 05976, Box 16), American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. Wikipedia summarizes the plot of\\u00a0Over Night<\\\/em>\\u00a0as follows: \\u201cThe story concerns two mismatched newlywed couples who are compelled to temporarily swap partners through circumstance while traveling.\\u201d See: \\u201cOver Night,\\u201d\\u00a0Wikipedia<\\\/em>: https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Over_Night<\\\/a>. The May 1912 issue of\\u00a0Sunset<\\\/em>\\u00a0ran a photo of her with a fellow actor, Sam B. Hardy, while their company was touring the West Coast. The top of Francine\\u2019s bonnet barely reached Hardy\\u2019s shoulder.\"},{\"id\":\"5f600bf6-e6df-428a-b1ca-c5e888307f9f\",\"content\":\"A reporter for the\\u00a0New York Tribune<\\\/em>\\u00a0wrote: \\u201cHer progress from high school and college to stardom on Broadway, although rapid, was not a spectacular, overnight advance, and was not without its difficulties of strenuous parental objection\\u2026 Her family was a home-loving one and, except for her uncle, none of them was connected with the stage.\\u201d See \\u201cJacob Adler\\u2019s Fair Niece,\\u201d February 1, 1920.\"},{\"id\":\"647a7138-7d6b-4063-80aa-fac486e66a0e\",\"content\":\"\\u201cFrancine Larrimore,\\u201d\\u00a0The Hebrew Standard<\\\/em>, April 22, 1921.\"},{\"id\":\"d2210fc6-843f-44cc-8e49-64750c7a6d89\",\"content\":\"Larrimore\\u2019s Verdun \\u201corigin story\\u201d first cropped up in newspaper stories in the 1920s and has been repeated ever since. An article in the June 11, 1924, issue of the\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>\\u00a0(\\u201cMiss Larrimore and Con Conrad Wed 18 Months\\u201d) summarized her family background as follows: \\u201cMiss Larrimore has been known in personal life as Frances Adler, as she is a niece of Jacob Adler, noted actor on the Yiddish stage, and her mother adopted her brother\\u2019s name. The star\\u2019s family name is Larimee, her father having been a Frenchman. She was born at Verdun.\\u201d See also her Wikipedia entry:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Francine_Larrimore<\\\/a>. Regarding Larrimore\\u2019s paternal \\u201cpedigree,\\u201d a syndicated columnist for the Anglo-Jewish press, Henry Montor, wrote that her \\u201creal name is Leibowitch.\\u201d Yet according to Lulla Rosenfeld, Sara (Soore) Adler\\u2019s husband was an Odessa shopkeeper named Isaac Levovsky. See: Henry Montor, \\u201cPersonalities of the Stage and Screen,\\u201d\\u00a0American Jewish World<\\\/em>, September 3, 1926, and\\u00a0Intermountain Jewish News<\\\/em>, September 16, 1926; Lulla Rosenfeld Adler,\\u00a0The Yiddish Theatre and Jacob P. Adler\\u00a0<\\\/em>(New York: Shapolsky Publishers, 1988), pp. 144,\\u00a0316. The surname Levovsky and its variant spellings do not appear in the 1910 New York City Directory\\u2014nor are La Rem\\u00e9e or Larimee recorded there. However, the directory does include listings for five individuals named Isaac Lebowitch, Leibovitz, and Leibowitz. See:\\u00a0Trow General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York, for the Year 1910, Ending August 1, 1911<\\\/em>, 851. Online access:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/digitalcollections.nypl.org\\\/items\\\/4bf06f90-317a-0134-0a99-00505686a51c?canvasIndex=860<\\\/a>. Of the five, only Isaac Lebowitch was in the dry-goods business (at 881 10th<\\\/sup>\\u00a0Avenue), which according to Lulla Rosenfeld was Fanya\\u2019s father\\u2019s occupation in Odessa.\"},{\"id\":\"1ca96cdc-b2d6-4f76-9c20-bbbacfdf5e10\",\"content\":\"\\u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait.\\u201d\"},{\"id\":\"f0f0b935-30b1-40b8-8fc4-ff898e563ef4\",\"content\":\"Trow General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York, for the Year 1910, Ending August 1, 1911<\\\/em>, 835. Online access:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/digitalcollections.nypl.org\\\/items\\\/4bf06f90-317a-0134-0a99-00505686a51c?canvasIndex=844<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"b4265024-0f20-4e3a-b46c-252903574e66\",\"content\":\"\\u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait.\\u201d Sara \\u2013 or Soore, as she is identified in the index to Lulla Rosenfeld\\u2019s translation of Jacob Adler\\u2019s memoir \\u2013 was about ten years younger than her famous brother.\"},{\"id\":\"c9968ba7-049c-48cf-8d18-32bb01d23106\",\"content\":\"Jacob Adler,\\u00a0A Life on the Stage<\\\/em>, 377\"},{\"id\":\"0fa020d4-b9a8-4680-8bed-9063ac0535d6\",\"content\":\"\\u201cKumt obgeben koved dem nesher ha-godol Yankev P. Adler,\\u201d display ad,\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, December 2, 1922.\"},{\"id\":\"f84e9147-9b22-4ffe-8381-5f8896d855b6\",\"content\":\"\\u201cKumt haynt obend [sic<\\\/em>]\\u00a0<\\\/em>bagrisn Yankev P. Adler,\\u201d display ad,\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, February 8, 1923. Jacob Adler performed in a scene from\\u00a0Der fremder<\\\/em>, by Jacob Gordin, and Sara Adler played in a scene from\\u00a0Resurrection<\\\/em>, by Leo Tolstoy. The benefit performance took place at Kessler\\u2019s Second Avenue Theatre.\"},{\"id\":\"d6a9e766-c3f2-4a79-a70f-d3fb823ff3a0\",\"content\":\"\\u201cKumt zikh gezegenen mit dem nesher ha-godol,\\u201d display ad,\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, March 13, 1923. This event took place at the People\\u2019s Theatre. It included a scene from Jacob Gordin\\u2019s play\\u00a0The Jewish King Lear<\\\/em>\\u00a0and an act from\\u00a0A farvorfn vinkl<\\\/em>, by Peretz Hirschbein, performed by Celia Adler.\"},{\"id\":\"3aae6b9d-5176-49fe-a52b-32df579c75cc\",\"content\":\"\\u201cDer yontev fun dem idishen teater\\u2026 Yankev P. Adler,\\u201d display ad,\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, February 2, 1926. This event took place at Kessler\\u2019s Second Avenue Theatre.\"},{\"id\":\"c9e0df30-459d-48a7-b595-d2cf4303e488\",\"content\":\"The\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune\\u00a0<\\\/em>identified her as \\u201chis niece, Francine Larrimore, whose real name is Francine [sic<\\\/em>] Adler.\\u201d See: \\u201cThousands View Body of Adler, Jewish Actor,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, April 2, 1926.\"},{\"id\":\"d5c63f76-68a1-47f1-8ee4-015aab2cbe0f\",\"content\":\"Larrimore\\u2019s brothers Louis and Paul Adler donated the\\u00a0Francine Larrimore Papers, 1916-1965<\\\/em>\\u00a0(Collection Number 05976) to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, shortly after her death in 1975. The collection-level record is at:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/<\\\/a>archiveswest.orbiscascade.org\\\/ark:80444\\\/xv287342?q=%22Francine%20Larrimore%22<\\\/a>. The link to the PDF inventory is at:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/archiveswest.orbiscascade.org\\\/ark:80444\\\/xv287342?q=%22Francine%20Larrimore%22<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"a144563f-da75-4ab3-8af7-f9ad56bb9450\",\"content\":\"For example, Helen Zelinskaya, who played Florrie\\u2019s mother, was in the cast of the Yiddish Art Theatre\\u2019s sensational production of\\u00a0Yoshe Kalb<\\\/em>\\u00a0in 1932.\"},{\"id\":\"138ec78a-09d4-4d97-9f76-cba3b3bdd188\",\"content\":\"Percy Hammond, \\u201cThe Theaters: Pathetic Sex-Troubles on the East Side,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, October 3, 1934.\"},{\"id\":\"1aafabb8-6881-4475-a6bd-c4619cc6de84\",\"content\":\"Ab. Kahan (Abraham Cahan), \\u201cA shtarke drame fun idishen leben oyf der ist sayd in a Brodveyer teater,\\u201d\\u00a0Forverts<\\\/em>, October 4, 1934.\"},{\"id\":\"f206e4a5-f397-451b-a855-304a66109b5c\",\"content\":\"\\u201cWEVD,\\u201d in the Francine Larrimore Papers, 1916-1965, box 16. This twelve-page script includes dialogue from the play, announcements and narration in English, and \\u201cA few words about SPRING SONG\\u201d and the sponsor by the program\\u2019s \\u201cJewish [i.e., Yiddish] announcer.\\u201d Larrimore was one of four actors from the Broadway cast who participated in this broadcast.\"},{\"id\":\"9a3d3e0a-cb1c-475b-99ee-f5f0d7cf4097\",\"content\":\"\\u201cFrancine Larrimore Scoffs at Glamour, Dazzle of the Stage.\\u201d\"},{\"id\":\"fa5ee060-2732-4c4b-a154-19ff2d8be7b3\",\"content\":\"Jacob Adler,\\u00a0A Life on the Stage<\\\/em>, 4.\"},{\"id\":\"38da1250-0f8a-4adf-ae27-23473b639484\",\"content\":\"\\u201cRambling Reporter,\\u201d\\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\\\/em>, March 10, 1936.\"},{\"id\":\"2ec03d47-412c-4a26-b1b3-89957a811cee\",\"content\":\"The novelist Meyer Levin praised her performance in\\u00a0John Meade\\u2019s Woman<\\\/em>: \\u201cFrancine Larrimore manages to capture and hold tight onto the most vital characteristic of the American farming type. She is damned independent. It\\u2019s not the cute spunk of a Jean Arthur, but a down-to-the-toes midwestern folk quality that comes out of the screen as sheer truth.\\u201d See Meyer Levin, \\u201cThe Candid Cameraman,\\u201d\\u00a0Esquire<\\\/em>, May 1937, 184.\"},{\"id\":\"88820b5f-d2c9-4049-953e-b31c0a589d04\",\"content\":\"For a review of the Wilmington tryout, see: \\u201cTemporary Mrs. Smith,\\u201d\\u00a0The Billboard<\\\/em>, September 21, 1946.\"},{\"id\":\"446d4f42-084f-4a32-a647-60d43bae682b\",\"content\":\"Larrimore and Mannon were married from 1968 until his death in 1972. See:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/www.imdb.com\\\/name\\\/nm0543471\\\/bio\\\/<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"29f1d0a7-a727-43c8-a461-ec48581120f4\",\"content\":\"Wolfe Kaufman, \\u201cOnly Two Permanent Yiddish Legit Cos., Paradoxically, Are in Communist Warsaw & Jassy,\\u201d\\u00a0Variety<\\\/em>, January 10, 1962. Several of Francine\\u2019s American-born Adler cousins performed in Yiddish as well as English.\"},{\"id\":\"fb709534-47b5-4710-86d1-17fa9ac064d3\",\"content\":\"\\u201cStella Stories: The Never-Ending Yarn of Family Portrait.\\u201d\"},{\"id\":\"8abcc064-4f92-4540-8ad1-0f7d3c470566\",\"content\":\"\\u201cFrancine Larrimore Made Full-Fledged U.S. Citizen,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, May 24, 1935. Larrimore\\u2019s citizenship status hadn\\u2019t prevented her from joining the Hoover-Curtis Theatrical League during the 1928 presidential campaign. See: \\u201cStage Folk Greet Hoover as Liberal,\\u201d\\u00a0The New York Times<\\\/em>, October 23, 1928.\"},{\"id\":\"8b733eea-641a-44af-946c-97174d370fc6\",\"content\":\"Bert McCord, \\u201cJames Cain Writes a Melodrama,\\u201d\\u00a0New York Herald Tribune<\\\/em>, May 29, 1956.\"},{\"id\":\"6761488d-8780-481c-974b-b5dc1b2f2efb\",\"content\":\"\\u201cMaurine Dallas Watkins,\\u201d Wikipedia.\"},{\"id\":\"88a2d257-3935-4862-a956-b565e1bfb813\",\"content\":\"She was probably closer to eighty.\"},{\"id\":\"1fb81e89-a005-4ad9-adc2-60904952e997\",\"content\":\"University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Featured Collections:\\u00a0https:\\\/\\\/7055.sydneyplus.com\\\/<\\\/a>archive\\\/final\\\/Portal\\\/AHC.aspx?lang=en-US<\\\/a>.\"}]","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[45,47,48,11,10,14,12,16,17],"tags":[184,181,183,148],"class_list":["post-2788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1876-1899","category-1918-1945","category-1945-1999","category-actors","category-audiences","category-musicians","category-directors","category-impersarios","category-writers","tag-broadway-theatre","tag-chicago","tag-francine-larrimore","tag-yiddish-theatre"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cYuh Gotta Play Ball!\u201d\u00a0Chicago\u2019s Surprising Yiddish Connection - Digital Yiddish Theatre Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/yiddish-stage\/yuh-gotta-play-ball-chicagos-surprising-yiddish-connection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cYuh Gotta Play Ball!\u201d\u00a0Chicago\u2019s Surprising Yiddish Connection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Come on, sister, yuh gotta play ball: this is Chicago!” (Jake to Roxie \u2013 the final line of Chicago, a play by Maurine Dallas Watkins.) 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