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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2014

Renée M. Sentilles
Renée M. Sentilles
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
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Summary

On Tuesday last, in the city of Paris, Adah Isaacs Menken, well known in this country as an actress of only meagre ability, died.

New York Herald, August 13, 1868

The Menken is dead. The bare-faced, bare-limbed, reckless, erratic, ostracized, but gifted, kind-hearted, successful, yet ill-starred Menken is no more. …

Clipping from an unidentified newspaper

The well-known equestrian actress, Adah Isaacs Menken, died of consumption on Monday afternoon. … She was born in New Orleans, in the spring of 1841. … At the commencement of the civil war she evinced strong southern sympathies, and on one occasion was arrested on a charge of rebellious conduct, and was imprisoned for 30 days. …

London Daily Telegraph, August 12, 1868

Miss Adah Isaacs – for such was her maiden name – was born in Chicago about 1832. … Menken's success on the stage has been attributed to her fine figure, easy carriage, and thoroughly debonnaire deportment. … The more recent celebrities with whom her name has been associated in unenviable notoriety, were Alexander Dumas, the novelist, and the young English poet, Algernon Swinburne. …

New York Daily Tribune, August 12, 1868

She died in London. Her name has been in the mouth of all men for the last half dozen years, and very seldom has she been mentioned with respect. … Her first name was Ada McCoard. She was born in Memphis. … Bad as was her course, there are worse women living than the dead Menken.

Galveston Bulletin, August 19, 1868

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Performing Menken
Adah Isaacs Menken and the Birth of American Celebrity
 , pp. 1 - 21
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

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  • Introduction
  • Renée M. Sentilles, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
  • Book: Performing Menken
  • Online publication: 05 July 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139236959.001
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  • Introduction
  • Renée M. Sentilles, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
  • Book: Performing Menken
  • Online publication: 05 July 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139236959.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Renée M. Sentilles, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
  • Book: Performing Menken
  • Online publication: 05 July 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139236959.001
Available formats
×