{{short description|American actress}} {{Use American English|date=January 2015}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Gail Kane | image = Gail Kane 1917.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Kane in 1917 | birth_name = Abigail Kane | birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|07|10}} | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1966|02|17|1885|07|10}} | death_place = Augusta, Maine, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1914{{ndash}}1927 | known_for = | spouse = {{marriage|Henry Iden Ottman|1920|1939|end=died}} | children = 1 }}
'''Gail Kane''' (born '''Abigail Kane''';<ref>{{cite book |title=Fort Lee: Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry |date=2006 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-4501-1 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ViR3b72xkK0C&dq=%22Gail+Kane%22+actress&pg=PA77 |access-date=December 24, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> July 10, 1885 – February 17, 1966) was an American stage and silent movie actress.
==Early years== Kane was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kear |first1=Lynn |last2=King |first2=James |title=Evelyn Brent: The Life and Films of Hollywood's Lady Crook |date=2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5468-6 |page=124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_ODoCwz2EsC&dq=%22Gail+Kane%22+actress&pg=PA124 |access-date=December 24, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> She attended a private school in Newburgh, New York, but eschewed additional education to become an actress. She became a dedicated student of the art of pantomime. She stood 5'7" tall, weighed 142 pounds, and had dark brown hair and eyes.{{cn|date=December 2019}}
==Theatrical actress== Kane performed at the Lyceum Theatre in ''Heap Game Watch'' in January 1914. She had a significant role in ''Seven Keys To Baldpate Astor'', which was staged at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in May 1914. The comedy was brought to the stage by George M. Cohan. She paired with George Nash in ''The Miracle Man'' at the Astor Theatre. The play was produced on Broadway in the fall of 1914.
thumb|left|''Souls in Pawn'' (1917) Kane acted in a presentation of ''The Hyphen Knickerbocker'' in April 1915. She returned to the stage at the Broadhurst Theatre in July 1920. She was paired with Earle Fox, another actor who had been spending much of his time in movies. They appeared in the comedy ''Come Seven''. The production was an adaptation by Octavus Roy Cohen of stories he had contributed to ''The Saturday Evening Post''. The play was the first ever featuring an entirely caucasian cast in black face.
''Lawful Larceny'' (1922) was a comedy written by Samuel Shipman. It was presented at the Republic Theater, built by Oscar Hammerstein in 1900, at 42nd Street. The players included Kane, Margaret Lawrence, Ida Waterman, and Lowell Sherman.
''The Breaking Point'' by Mary Roberts Rinehart was staged at the Klaw Theatre, West 45th Street, New York City, in August 1923. The plot concerned amnesia with the setting (fiction) moving from New York to Wyoming and back. Kane, Regina Wallace, Reginald Barlow, and McKay Morris were the principal actors in the drama.
She played Ellen Halpin in the 1925 comedy ''Loggerheads'' at the Cherry Lane Theatre. The Booth Theatre produced ''Paid'', written by Sam Forrest, in November 1925. Kane portrayed ''Mrs John Ramsey'' in a play which endured for twenty-one performances.
==Arrest== Kane was arrested following a performance of ''The Captive'' at the Empire Theater on Broadway in February 1927. The production was considered indecent and a violation of Section 1140A of the New York City Criminal Code for its depiction of homosexuality, although the play had been tried and acquitted of immorality a short time earlier by a citizen's play jury. It was in its fifth month of production. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://broadwaydirect.com/lesbian-representation-on-broadway-a-history/| title=The Lesbian Representation on Broadway: A History|publisher=Broadway Direct.com|accessdate=2023-07-20}}</ref>
Forty-one arrests were made in total. Two other productions were raided on the same night. They were ''Sex'', playing at Daly's 63rd St. Theater, and ''The Virgin Man'', which was being performed before an audience at the Princess Theater. Among the actors taken to Night Court were Basil Rathbone, Helen Menken, Ann Trevor, Winifred Fraser, John Miltern, and Arthur Lewis. Menken was comforted by Kane as she made her exit after becoming agitated by the glares and explosions of cameras snapping as she stepped out on the sidewalk. "Please make them stop," Menken reportedly exclaimed. Also arrested was Mae West, the star of ''Sex'', and twenty others among a cast of fifty. Authorities promised to repeat the arrests if the plays were not withdrawn or modified to comply with the criminal code.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/02/10/archives/police-raid-three-shows-sex-captives-and-virgin-man-hold-actors-and.html|title=POLICE RAID THREE SHOWS, SEX, CAPTIVES AND VIRGIN MAN; HOLD ACTORS AND MANAGERS; ALL GO TO NIGHT COURT Police Politely Serve the Warrants After the Final Curtains. VICTIMS NOT UNWILLING Submit Cordially to Arrests, Which Will Be Repeated Till Plays Are Purged. 41 ARE RELEASED IN BAIL Two Shows Had Been Cleared by the Play Jury -- Drive May Be Extended to Others.|accessdate=15 January 2016|agency=The New York Times|work=The New York Times|date=Feb 10, 1927}}</ref>
==Movie career== Kane's movie career spanned much of the silent era, beginning with a role as ''Bonita Canby'', in ''Arizona'' (1913). In the western she had the third lead, portraying the unfaithful wife of a U.S. Cavalry officer. She co-starred as Jurgis Rudkus's (played by George Nash) wife Ona Lukoszaite in the film adaptation of Upton Sinclair's ''The Jungle'' (1914). She starred in ''Via Wireless'' (1915) which was adapted from a play by Winchell Smith and Paul Armstrong. The story describes the competition between two men in the invention of a new naval gun. A wealthy man becomes the rival of one of the inventors for the affection of the daughter of an ironmaster. As ''Frances Durant'', Kane is finally given a part worthy of her skill as an actress. One critic described her as ''a diamond set in brass'' in her previous films. {{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}
[[File:Gail Kane 1923 Income Letter.jpg|thumb|right|Letter from Inspiration Pictures Inc. informing Gail Kane of her 1923 earnings for The White Sister']] Kane was employed by the Mutual Film Corporation of Santa Barbara, California when she made ''The Upper Crust'' (1917). Produced by Mutual-American, Edward Pell is cast as Kane's leading man in a comedy replete with humor. Kane is a young Irish woman named ''Molly O'Toole''. She impersonates a wealthy dowager and succeeds in her ruse long enough to enjoy herself and eventually marry the dowager's son.
In July 1917 Kane joined an effort organized by William A. Brady, President of the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry, and D.W. Griffith. Their task was to utilize film as a tool of information regarding the ''plans and purposes'' of the United States in World War I. Brady was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to mobilize the motion-picture industry. Kane was assigned to the Food Commission. In addition to Mutual she was associated with Metro Pictures, Pathé, and World. Kane filed a suit against Mutual in 1918, asking $33,500 for alleged breach of contract. {{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}
''The Scarlet Oath'' (1917) was a challenging movie for Kane who played the dual role of two women. ''A Game of Wits'' (1917) is a five-reel comedy with Kane portraying ''Jeannette Browning'' in a unique love story.
She continued to act in motion pictures for another decade. Among her later movies are ''Love's Law'' (1918), ''The Daredevil'' (1918), ''Someone Must Pay'' (1919), ''Romeo's Dad'' (1919), ''Empty Arms'' (1920), ''Idle Hands'' (1921), ''The White Sister'' (1923), and ''Convoy'' (1927).
==Marriage== Kane's husband, Henry Iden Ottman, died in January 1939. Ottman was born in New York City in 1880, the son of William Ottman and Christine Iden. Ottman moved to Augusta, Maine in 1921. Kane and Ottman had a son, William Kane Ottman.
==Private life== She owned a collection of scarab beetles considered{{by whom|date=December 2019}} to be one of the finest in America in 1917. The most valuable of the Scarabaeus sacer is said to have been removed from the tomb of an Egyptian princess of the 2nd Ptolemaic dynasty. Archaeologists believe it to be one of a number issued to illustrate the doctrine of the resurrection. Kane was given her first scarab by Howard Estabrook, who played ''Adhemar de Gratignan'' in ''Divorcons'' (1913). Presented at the New York Playhouse, Kane portrayed ''Mme. de Brionne'' in the play written by the French dramatist Victorien Sardou. Estabrook purchased the scarab in India while he was touring. {{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}
She collected bathing suits. Kane possessed one of the most attractive collections of one-piece, two-piece, and ''fluffy ruffles seashore outfits'' in Chicago, Illinois by 1917. Each bathing suit was also designed by her.{{cn|date=December 2019}}
==Death== Kane died in Augusta, Maine in 1966, aged 80.
==Filmography== {{div col}} *''Arizona'' (1913) *''The Great Diamond Robbery'' (1914) *''The Jungle'' (1914) *''Dan'' (1914) *''The Pit'' (1914) *''Her Great Match'' (1915) * ''Via Wireless'' (1915) *''The Labyrinth'' (1915) *''Playing the Price'' (1916) *''The Velvet Paw'' (1916) * ''The Scarlet Oath'' (1916) *''The Heart of a Hero'' (1916) * ''The Men She Married'' (1916) *''On Dangerous Ground'' (1917) * ''The Red Woman'' (1917) * ''As Man Made Her'' (1917) *''Whose Wife?'' (1917) *''The Serpent's Tooth'' (1917) * ''The False Friend'' (1917) *''The Upper Crust'' (1917) *''Souls in Pawn'' (1917) * ''The Bride's Silence'' (1917) * ''Southern Pride'' (1917) * ''A Game of Wits'' (1917) *''When Men Betray'' (1918) *''Love's Law'' (1918) *''The Daredevil'' (1918) *''Someone Must Pay'' (1919) *''Romeo's Dad'' (1919) (*short) *''Empty Arms'' (1920) *''Idle Hands'' (1921) *''Wise Husbands'' (1921) *''The White Sister'' (1923) *''Convoy'' (1927) {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}} * {{cite news|publisher=Janesville Daily Gazette|title=News Notes From Movieland|date=May 10, 1917|page=6}} * {{cite news|publisher=Mansfield News|title=Gail Kane Sues|date=January 31, 1918|page=2}} * {{cite news| publisher=Newark Advocate |title=Amusements |date=November 9, 1917 |page=9}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Character And Charm In Acting |date=November 16, 1913 |page=X6}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Reading Barrie Between The Lines |date=January 25, 1914 |page=74}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=The Drama Society's Year And The Plays It Chose |date=May 3, 1914 |page=X8}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Second Thoughts On First Nights |date=September 20, 1914 |page=X5}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Second Thoughts On First Nights |date=April 18, 1915 |page=X6}} * {{cite news|title=Movies Mobilized To Aid In War Work |date=July 29, 1917 |page=8}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=The Newplays |date=July 18, 1920 |page=72}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=The Week |date=January 1, 1922 |page=68}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=The Week's Plays |date=August 12, 1923 |page=X1}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Mr. Woods Turns Prophet |date=November 29, 1925 |page=X2}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Police Raid Three Shows, Sex, Captive; Hold Actors And Managers |date=February 10, 1927 |page=1}} * {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Deaths |date=January 3, 1939 |page=17}} * {{cite news| publisher=Sheboygan Press |title=At The Majestic |date=September 28, 1915 |page=2}} * {{cite news| publisher=Warren Evening Mirror |title=Theatres |date=October 25, 1917 |page=8}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *{{IMDb name|0437312}} *[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/gail-kane-67936 Gail Kane at IBDb.com] *[https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=gail+kane Gail Kane] photo gallery NYP Library BillyRose collection *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120303191004/http://www.printsoldandrare.com/theater/016thea.jpg Gail Kane on the front cover of ''The Theater'' magazine in 1913](Wayback Machine) *[http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/sayre/id/4933/rec/2 Gail Kane] 1911 portrait still Univ of Washington J. Willis Sayre collection *[http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/sayre/id/4322/rec/1 Gail Kane] in 1917 by the sea shore Univ. of Washington, Sayre collection *[http://www.flickriver.com/photos/charmainezoe/6478382561/ Gail Kane] with her Owen ''Magnetic'' 1917 *[http://kinotv.com/page/bio.php?namecode=120338&q=0&l=en kinotv.com]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kane, Gail}} Category:1885 births Category:1966 deaths Category:Actresses from Philadelphia Category:American stage actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:Western (genre) film actresses Category:Blackface minstrel performers Category:People from Augusta, Maine Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American women singers Category:20th-century American singers