Blanche Ring

{{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{infobox person | name = Blanche Ring | image = Blanchering.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Ring in the November of 1906 | birth_name = | birth_date = April 24, 1871 | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1961|01|13|1871|04|24}} | death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S. | restingplace = | restingplacecoordinates = | othername = | occupation = {{hlist|Actress|singer}} | years_active = 1887–1945 | spouse = Walter F. MacNichol{{Citation needed |date=September 2021}} James Walker Jr. Edward Wentworth Frederick E. MacKay Charles Winninger | relatives = Cyril Ring (brother) A. Edward Sutherland (nephew) }} '''Blanche Ring''' (April 24, 1871 – January 13, 1961) was an American singer and actress in Broadway theatre productions, musicals,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.playbill.com/person/blanche-ring-vault-0000107223|publisher=Playbill|title=Blanche Ring|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref> and Hollywood motion pictures.<ref>{{cite news|title=Blanche Ring, Early Star of Musicals, Dies|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 15, 1961|page=18}}</ref> She was best known for her rendition of "In the Good Old Summer Time."

==Early life and family== Ring was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to James H. Ring and Wilhelmena F. Ring. She came from show business stock. Her father was a comedian for 30 years<ref name="Press">{{Cite news|publisher=New York Press|date=March 8, 1914|title=Blanche Ring Tells the Secret of How She Makes Her Audiences Sing With Her|page=3}}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{Cite news|work=New York Times|title=Blanche Ring, 89, Stage Star, Dies|date=January 15, 1961|page=86}}</ref> and her grandfather James H. Ring, was a leading comedian of the Boston Museum company.<ref>{{cite web |title=Death of Mr. James H. Ring |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/431089110/?terms=James%20H.%20Ring%20Actor&match=1 |website=June 19, 1882 |publisher=The Boston Globe |access-date=November 5, 2020}}</ref> Her great-great-grandfather, Charles Fisher, was also an actor and came to the United States from England.<ref>{{cite news |title=Noted Actor Dead. Charles Fisher Taken from the Stage by Eryspilelas |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/428489452/?terms=Charles%20Fisher%20Actor&match=1 |access-date=5 November 2020 |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=June 12, 1891}}</ref> His wife was Josephine H. Shaw, an actress.<ref>{{cite news |title=Charles Fisher Weds |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/428220287/?terms=Charles%20Fisher%20Actor&match=1 |access-date=5 November 2020 |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=June 19, 1876}}</ref> He journeyed with theatrical caravans as far west as the Mississippi River. Her grandmother was Julie Fisher, a celebrated actress of her time.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ring Dies of Auto Injury In New York |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47375695/obituary-for-james-h-ring-aged-75/ |access-date=November 5, 2020 |publisher=Boston Globe |date=November 28, 1924}}</ref> Her heritage was English-Irish-Scottish. In total, four generations of her ancestors were Shakespearean actors.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Blanche was one of six children (five daughters and one son) born to the Rings. Several of Blanche's siblings were in the entertainment business and quickly became recognizable names in the industry. In fact, they often performed together or on the same playbill.<ref name="Rye">{{cite news|title=Blanche Ring Returns to the Stage|publisher=The Rye Chronicle|date=March 19, 1932|location=Rye, New York, NY|page=13}}</ref> Two of the Ring sisters, Grace and Sarah, were not performers.<ref>{{cite news|title=Grace Ring Dunham|publisher=The New York Herald|date=July 15, 1915|location=New York}}</ref>

Blanche's sister, Julie Ring, became a stage actress. Julie married Albert H. Sutherland,<ref>{{cite news|title=Albert H. Sutherland|publisher=New York Daily Tribune Press|date=February 22, 1911|location=New York, NY}}</ref> a theatrical agent and former British actor. They had a son, A. Edward Sutherland, who became a film director in the United States. Albert H. Sutherland was a Theatrical and Vaudeville Agent in New York City.<ref>{{cite news |title=A. H. Sutherland Dead |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62285201/obituary-for-a-h-sutherland/ |access-date=1 November 2020 |publisher=Fall River Daily Evening News |date=February 21, 1911}}</ref> Julie's second marriage was to actor James Norval on November 9, 1914.<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Passport Applications |url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1174/images/USM1834_25-0349?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=79848a2e3042a09c62d4cbbdd685aecc&usePUB=true&_phsrc=dKi58&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.147085623.1296513437.1604097091-827966315.1603072903&pId=1234023 |website=ancestry.com |access-date=November 1, 2020}}</ref> They frequently appeared on stage together.<ref>{{cite news |title=Julie Ring Pays First Visit to Houston as Vaudeville Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62291299/the-houston-post/ |access-date=1 November 2020 |publisher=The Houston Post |date=December 22, 1915}}</ref> She died in 1957.<ref>{{cite web |last1=California Death Index |title=Julie Ring Norval |website=ancestry.com |url=http://www.ancestry.com/ |access-date=November 1, 2020}}</ref>

Her sister, Frances Ring,<ref>''Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912-1976'', Gale Research (compilation of John Parker's ''Who's Who in the Theatre'' series originally published annually)</ref> was married in 1909 to Thomas Meighan, the popular stage and later silent film actor.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

The Ring sisters' younger brother, Cyril, was a freelance actor. He was the first husband of actress Charlotte Greenwood. He later married Ziegfeld Follies girl Molly Green in 1923;<ref>{{cite book|title=Screen World 1968|author=John Willis|publisher=Biblo & Tannen|location=Connecticut|page=238|date=1983}}</ref> they had two daughters.

==Theater== thumb|In The Good Old Summer Time - Cover - Blanche Ring

===Musicals=== Miss Ring made her debut at age 16 in ''A Parisian Romance'' in 1887 with Shakespearean actor Richard Mansfield's theatrical company. Later she acted with Nat Goodwin and Chauncey Olcott.<ref name="NYT"/> In 1902 she made her Broadway debut as Millie Canvass in Charles Dennée's musical ''The Defender''. In this show she introduced to the public the new song "In the Good Old Summer Time"; a work which became a popular standard in the American song canon.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2022|isbn=9781538168943|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TdwEAAAQBAJ|chapter=The Defender|pages=110–112}}</ref> She followed this with another hit song "The Belle of Avenue A", performed in ''Tommy Rot'', which was staged at Mrs. Osborn's Playhouse in New York City. In 1903 she had a hit song, "Bedelia", which she performed in the musical ''The Jersey Lily''; a song whose sheet music sold more than three million copies.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2022|isbn=9781538168943|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LecZEAAAQBAJ|chapter=The Jersey Lily}}</ref> Ring left the US for a tour of Europe including London, returning to America in 1904 where she became even more established as a favorite performer appearing at three notable venues belonging to vaudeville impresario F.F. Proctor including Proctor's Twenty-third Street Theater, Newark Theater and Fifth Avenue Theater.<ref>{{cite news|title=Theatrical News|publisher=The Eastern State Journal|date=May 28, 1904|location=White Plains, NY}}</ref>

"I've Got Rings On My Fingers" was introduced when Blanche performed in ''The Midnight Sons'' in 1909. Her recording of the song for Victor Records is listed as one of ''Billboard'''s top hits of that year, along with her recordings of "Yip-I-Addy-I-Aye" and "The Billiken Man."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5aG_h2Jc88|title=Blanche Ring "I've Got Rings On My Fingers" on Victor 60016 (1909) LYRICS|publisher=Tim Gracyk|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>

Will Rogers spoke his first lines on stage in Ring's play ''The Wall Street Girl''. In 1910, she recorded "Come Josephine in My Flying Machine" after introducing it in a Broadway show, and the song became one of her biggest hits.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} She portrayed the title role in the 1914 Broadway musical ''When Claudia Smiles''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1914/02/04/archives/when-blanche-ring-smiles-and-sings-her-exceptional-versatility.html|title=When Blanche Ring Smiles and Sings|work=The New York Times|date=February 4, 1914|page=9}}</ref>

Among her other songs of note are "Bedelia" and "I'd Leave My Happy Home for You". The former was featured in ''The Jersey Lilly''. During World War I, the singer was popular with "They're All Out of Step But Jim".{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Blanche Ring possessed a talent for mime. This helped her advance in musical revues and she was billed as "America's Favorite Singing Comedienne" as of 1918.<ref>{{cite news|title=Engagement de Luxe|author=B.F. Keith's Palace|publisher=The Larchmonter-Times|date=September 28, 1918|location=Larchmont, NY}}</ref> Her impersonations were paired with those of Charles Winninger in the ''Passing Show of 1919'', performed at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City.

====1930s==== Ring appeared as Mrs. Grace Draper in ''Strike Up the Band'' (1930) and she played Josie Huggins in ''Right This Way'' (1938).

===Dramas=== On the dramatic stage she appeared in ''Cradle Snatchers'' and as Mrs. Hawthorne in ''The Great Necker'' (1928).

Her final stage performance was in her role as Rose Bertin in ''Madame Capet'' (1938); the production starred Eva Le Gallienne.

==Film== Ring went to Hollywood in 1916 to star in the silent film ''The Yankee Girl''. She has a brief role in ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. She acted in the motion picture ''It's the Old Army Game'' (directed by her nephew Eddie Sutherland) with W.C. Fields in 1926.

In 1940, Ring appeared as one of the featured vaudeville greats in the Bing Crosby picture, ''If I Had My Way'' (1940).

==Personal life==

===Marriages=== The singer's personal life was tumultuous and not without scandal. In all, Blanche Ring was married five times and by her own admission she separated from several of her husbands for various reasons.<ref name="PERSONALITIES">{{cite news|publisher=The Times-Union|location=Albany|title=PERSONALITIES Interviewing Blanche Ring-News and Views Along the Radio Rialto |author=Harriet Menken|date=December 1, 1935}}</ref> All of Ring's marriages ended in divorce.

* Walter F. MacNichol - Ring had one son, Gordon Eliot MacNichol, by her first marriage to MacNichol, a theatrical manager.<ref name="NYT"/> * James Walker Jr. - Ring separated from Walker in 1898 and the couple divorced in 1904. Walker was from Somerville, Massachusetts and worked for the railroad.<ref>{{cite news|title=WOULD DIVORCE BLANCHE RING.Walker, Boston Husband, Sues and News of Marriage Is a Surprise|publisher=The New York Press|date=August 18, 1904|location=New York, NY}}</ref> * Edward Wentworth * Frederick Edward McKay, her theatrical manager * Charles Winninger - Ring first met Winninger a fellow actor in 1908 and they later appeared in "Broadway Whirl" together. The couple married in 1912 when Ring was 41.<ref name="sp">{{cite news|title=Chas. Winninger Married Yesterday|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19485246/charles_winninger/|work=The Sheboygan Press|date=November 13, 1912|location=Wisconsin, Sheboygan|page=8|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 22, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> The couple separated in 1928; Winninger and Ring were not formally divorced until 1951.

In the summer, Ring gravitated to nearby Westchester County for golf and the beaches. She liked to entertain fellow thespians and was known for throwing house parties attended by the likes of Douglas Fairbanks and Eddie Foy Sr.<ref name="Mirror">{{cite news|publisher=The New York Dramatic Mirror|title=Blanche Ring, A Hale and Hearty Star|date=August 16, 1911|page=5}}</ref><ref name="Dramatic">{{cite news|publisher=The New York Dramatic Mirror|title=Blanche Ring Entertains|date=August 13, 1910|page=8}}</ref> At one time, Ring shared a home in Rye, New York with Winninger <ref>{{Cite news|publisher=Rye Chronicle|date=March 3, 1928|title=Two to New York|page=10}}</ref> at 30 Oakland Beach Avenue where she remained until at least 1935.<ref name="PERSONALITIES"/> Previous to living in Rye, Ring had a country home in Mamaroneck <ref name="Mirror"/> across from the actress Ethel Barrymore<ref name="Press"/> and another in Larchmont at 28 Oak Avenue.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=The Larchmont Times|location=Larchmont|title=Stars of Stage and Screen Had Homes in Old Larchmont|date=November 17, 1949}}</ref>

Ring left New York in 1959 to live in Hollywood with her brother, Cyril.

In May 1960 she attended a reunion of former Ziegfeld Follies girls. Blanche Ring was an honorary member of the Ziegfeld Club, though she never worked for Flo Ziegfeld.

===Legacy=== Ring died in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California in 1961, aged 89. She had been in poor health for two years following a stroke in 1958. Her interment was in Holy Cross Cemetery, following a rosary which was recited in the Church of the Good Shepherd, in Beverly Hills, California.{{Citation needed |date=February 2024}}

Blanche's nieces and nephews followed the family's tradition for careers in theater and music. Her great-niece is conductor Jane Ring Frank.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Concord Women's Chorus, directed by Jane Ring Frank |url=https://concordwomenschorus.org/wp/ |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=Concord Women's Chorus |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Note== In the film ''Somewhere in Time'' (1980), Christopher Reeve plays a journalist who researches a fictional Edwardian actress in a hotel's library, and finds some theatrical photos. Reeve pulls out a photo of three little girls together. The girls are Blanche Ring and her sisters Julie and Frances. The same photo appears under Blanche Ring's biography in Daniel Blum's book ''Great Stars of the American Stage'' (1954).<ref>''Great Stars of the American Stage'' by Daniel Blum ''Profile #50'', 1952 (this 2nd edition, 1954)</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Blanche Ring |sopt=t}} *{{IMDb name|0727523}} *{{IBDB name}} * [https://archive.org/details/BlancheRing Collected Recordings of Blanche Ring] *[http://www.moviecard.com/zamerican/theatre/favorite/fav-ring.jpg Photo of Blanche Ring at Moviecard] *[http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1910-theatre-september-eddie-foy-129908745 Blanche Ring on the cover of THE THEATRE magazine September 1910] *[http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/46317/Ring_Blanche_vocalist Blanche Ring; Victor discography, complete Catalog] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20170808021358/http://www.historicimages.com/1951-press-photo-former-musical-and-comedy-screen-blanche-ring-julie-sutherland with sister Julie, 1951](Wayback Machine) *[https://www.flickr.com/photos/charmainezoe/6478381883/ Blanche Ring] posing in or driving her Darracq motorcar circa 1910 *[https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/108497/Ring_Blanche Blanche Ring] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ring, Blanche}} Category:American silent film actresses Category:American women singers Category:19th-century American actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Musicians from Santa Monica, California Category:Actresses from Boston Category:1871 births Category:1961 deaths Category:American vaudeville performers Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Santa Monica, California Category:Singers from California Category:Fisher family (English show business) Category:American people of English descent