Selena Fetter Royle
Selena Fetter Royle | |
|---|---|
Selena Fetter Royle, from a 1902 publicity photo | |
| Born | Selena Gray Fetter April 12, 1860 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | May 10, 1955 (aged 95) Van Nuys, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Spouse | Edwin Milton Royle |
| Relatives | Earle Larrimore (son-in-law) Georges Renavent (son-in-law) |
Selena Gray Fetter Royle (April 12, 1860 – May 10, 1955) was an American stage actress, active in the 1890s and 1900s. Her husband and daughters were also on the stage.
Early life and education
Fetter was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of George Griffith Fetter and Catherine Ann Mercer Gray Fetter.[1] Her sister Virginia Fetter married Civil War general Amos George Stickney.[2][3]
Career
Fetter's first roles were on the stage in Louisville, where she made her professional acting debut in 1881, starring in The Wife by James Sheridan Knowles.[4][5] She appeared in Love's Sacrifice in Chicago in 1893,[6] starred in The Tigress in 1888,[7] and acted with Alexander Salvini in 1892.[8] She was associated with Stuart Robson and William H. Crane on the vaudeville stage.[7] Her Broadway credits included roles in her husband's comedies, Friends (1892), Captain Impudence (1897),[9][10] My Wife's Husbands (1903), and The Other Girl (1903–1904). She also toured with Friends and Captain Impudence across the United States.[11][12]
Fetter Royle was known for her ability to fall on stage, in a gown, sometimes to "ghastly effect".[13] "Ladies used to scream in the audience simultaneously with my 'dull thud', and inquiries would be kindly sent to the dressing room concerning my physical condition," she told an 1895 interviewer.[14] When she appeared in San Francisco, there was a fad among young women, trying to imitate Fetter Royle's falls.[15]
Personal life and legacy
Fetter married actor and playwright Edwin Milton Royle in 1892. They had two daughters, Josephine and Selena, who both became actresses.[16] The family lived in Darien, Connecticut, after 1910. Her husband died in 1942,[17] and she died in 1955, at the age of 95, in Van Nuys, California. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a tobacco card featuring Fetter as a young actress.[18]
References
- ^ "Woman's Department" Fetter's Southern Magazine 1(6)(January 1893): 622-624.
- ^ "Mrs. Amos Stickney; Widow of General Who Served With Grant in Cvil War". The New York Times. 1934-06-12. p. 23. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
- ^ Johnson, Leland R. (2007). Triumph at the falls: the Louisville and Portland Canal. Louisville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. p. 176.
- ^ "Selena Fetter; Another Louisiana Girl Makes Her Debut Before an Enthusiastic Audience at Macauley's". The Courier-Journal. 1881-01-21. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Miss Selena Fetter". The Owensboro Messenger. 1881-04-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brief untitled item". The Courier-Journal. 1883-06-12. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Amusements for the Week". The Indianapolis Journal. 1888-10-21. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Salvini at Macauley's". The Courier-Journal. 1892-02-28. p. 20. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Orpheum's Entertainers". The Brooklyn Citizen. 1901-11-05. p. 12. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Browne, Walter; Austin, Frederick Arnold (1908). Who's who on the Stage: The Dramatic Reference Book and Biographical Dictionary of the Theatre, Containing Records of the Careers of Actors, Actresses, Managers and Playwrights of the American Stage. B.W. Dodge & Company. p. 378.
- ^ "A Grand Play". Marysville Democrat. 1896-05-09. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "'Friends' at the Grand Opera House". The Times-Picayune. 1896-02-03. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Snap-shots of the Most Famous Woman Stage-Faller in This Country; Falling in Gowns as a Fine Art". The San Francisco Examiner. 1896-03-22. p. 21. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "About Stage Falls; Selena Fetter Tells Some of her Experiences". Minneapolis Daily Times. 1895-09-19. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "'Friends'". The Zanesville Signal. 1894-01-22. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-09-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Fisher, James; Londré, Felicia Hardison (2017-11-22). Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Modernism. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. p. 577. ISBN 978-1-5381-0786-7.
- ^ "Edwin Milton Royle (obituary)". Billboard. February 28, 1942. p. 28.
- ^ "Selena Fetter, from the Actors and Actresses series (N342), Type 3c, issued by Thomas H. Hall Tobacco to promote Between the Acts Cigarettes.", Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1880–92, archived from the original on 2025-11-15, retrieved 2025-09-29