{{Short description|American actress (1865–1922)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Josephine Hall | image = Josephine Hall, actress. Morrison.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Hall {{circa|1888}} | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date |1865|4|19|mf=y}} | birth_place = East Greenwich, Rhode Island, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1920|12|5|1865|4|19|mf=y}} | death_place = Apponaug, Rhode Island, U.S. | other_names = Josie Hall<br />Annie Josephine Hall | occupation = Stage actress, soprano | spouse = {{marriage|Alfred E. Aarons|1899|1911|end=divorced}} | children = 1 }}
'''Annie Josephine Hall''' (April 19, 1865{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} December 5, 1920) was an American actress and soprano. She began her career performing in musicals and operettas produced by Edward E. Rice from 1883 to 1886, including the 1885 Broadway productions of ''Polly, or The Pet of the Regiment'', and ''Billee Taylor'' at the Casino Theatre. She remained active on the stage in both plays and musicals into the early 1900s, often in works produced or created by Charles Frohman, with whom she was under contract for many years. According to her 1920 obituary in ''The New York Times'', she was most famous for her performances of the song "Sister Mary Jane's Top Note" and for her appearances in the Broadway productions of ''The Girl from Paris'' (1896) and ''The Girl from Maxim's'' (1899).<ref name="nyt"/>
Hall retired from performance in 1904. She briefly came out of retirement in 1910 to perform in Klaw & Erlanger's production of ''The Air King''. She was the mother of Broadway producer Alexander A. Aarons, who had a longterm collaboration with Vinton Freedley.{{sfn|Tepper|Everett|2017|page=119}} His father was the Broadway composer and producer Alfred E. Aarons. Hall married Alfred in 1899, nine years after Alex was born. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1911. She died in 1920.
==Early life and family== The daughter of Albert A. Hall and his wife Marion J. Hall, Annie Josephine "Josie" Hall was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1865.<ref>Annie J. Hall in the ''1900 United States Federal Census'', Rhode Island, Providence, Providence Ward 05, Enumeration District No. 47, sheet 13B</ref><ref>Annie J. Hall in ''1880 United States Federal Census'', Rhode Island, Kent, Warwick, Enumeration District No. 077, page 14</ref><ref>Ann J. Hall in the ''1870 United States Federal Census'', Rhode Island, Kent, Warwick, page 209</ref> Her parents descended from early American settlers to New England and were very religious. They opposed their daughter's ambitions as an actress, and she ran away from home in order to have a stage career.<ref>{{cite news|title=An Actress's Perseverance|work=New York World|date= November 21, 1892|page= 8}}</ref> Her sister, Frances Hall, also had a career on the stage as an opera singer.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Return Home|work=Western Mercury|date= May 24, 1885|page=1}}</ref>
==Career== ===Early career with Edward E. Rice=== thumb|Josephine Hall In her early career Hall performed under the stage name Josie Hall. In 1883 she performed with Rice's Surprise Party, a theater troupe managed by producer Edward E. Rice, as the young maid Jeanette in ''Pop''<ref name="STPOP">{{cite news|title=Stage Splinters|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date= January 14, 1884|page= 8}}</ref><ref name="CHICAGOPOP">{{cite news|title=Amusements: Grand Opera House|work=The Inter Ocean|location=Chicago|date= January 16, 1884|page= 3}}</ref> for performances in Maryland,<ref>{{cite news|title=''Pop'' at the Academy of Music|work=The Baltimore Sun|date= November 7, 1883|page= 4}}</ref> Maine,<ref>{{cite news|title=Music and Drama: Pop|work=The Portland Daily Press|date= September 29, 1883|page= 4}}</ref> and Ohio.<ref>{{cite news|title=Opera House: Pop!|work=The Plain Dealer|location=Cleveland|date= December 4, 1883|page= 4}}</ref> On Christmas Eve of 1883 she made her New York stage debut in this show at the Fourteenth Street Theatre.<ref>{{cite news|title=Fourteenth–Street Theatre|work=The New York Times|date= December 25, 1883|page= 4}}</ref> She continued to tour in ''Pop'' in 1884 for performances in Missouri,<ref name="STPOP"/> Illinois,<ref name="CHICAGOPOP"/> Michigan,<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements|work=Detroit Free Press|date= March 19, 1884|page= 4}}</ref> and upstate New York.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements: Academy of Music—Rice's Surprise Party in ''Pop''|work=The Buffalo Times|date= February 11, 1884|page= 4}}</ref> When the tour reached Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in March 1884, Hall quit the show along with other performers because the producers had not been paying the actors their salaries.<ref>{{cite news|title=Disruption Threatened|work=The Pittsburgh Post|date= March 24, 1884|page= 4}}</ref> In July 1884 she returned to Rice's reorganized company of ''Pop'' in which she succeeded May Stembler in the larger role of Adele Pop.<ref name="OLIO">{{cite news|title=The Olio: A San Francisco Paper says|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date= July 6, 1884|page= 11}}</ref> The resumed tour included performances in Iowa,<ref>{{cite news|title=Pop at Dohany's|work=The Daily Nonpareil|date= July 6, 1884|page= 8}}</ref> Massachusetts,<ref>{{cite news|title=Late Amusement Notes|work=The Boston Globe|date= August 24, 1884|page= 3}}</ref> and California.<ref name="OLIO"/>
After the conclusion of the 1883{{ndash}}1884 season, Hall was hired by Eugene Tompkins of the Boston Theatre to star in ''Zanita'' in the trouser role of Prince Huon.<ref>{{cite news|title=Here and There|work=The Boston Globe|date= August 24, 1884|page= 10}}</ref><ref name="BG">{{cite news|title=Drama and Music|work=The Boston Globe|date= September 7, 1884|page= 10}}</ref> This original work was co-authored by Tompkins and Dexter Smith.<ref name="BG"/> Its premiere on September 16, 1884, received a glowing review in ''The Boston Globe''.<ref>{{cite news|title=''Zanita'', the Superb. Magnificence in Spectacle Gloriously Presented|work=The Boston Globe|date= September 17, 1884|page= 1}}</ref> It played there until December 1884 when it toured to the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Academy of Music|work=The Times|location=Philadelphia|date= December 14, 1884|page= 5}}</ref> It then toured in the early months of 1885 to the Academy of Music in Baltimore<ref>{{cite news|title=''Zanita'' at the Academy|work=The Baltimore Sun|date= January 21, 1885|page= 1}}</ref> and McVicker's Theater in Chicago.<ref>{{cite news|title=M'Vickers|work=The Inter Ocean|date= February 1, 1885|page= 13}}</ref>
By April 1885 Hall had joined a theater troupe headlined by Lillian Russell and managed by Rice, with whom she made her Broadway debut at the Casino Theatre as Sarah in James Mortimer and Edward Solomon's operetta ''Polly, or The Pet of the Regiment'', on April 27, 1885.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dramatic Notes|work=New-York Tribune|date= April 27, 1885|page= 5}}</ref> It played there through June 19, 1885.<ref>{{cite news|title=Musical and Dramatic Notes|work=New-York Tribune|date= June 19, 1885|page= 4}}</ref> Immediately following this show, the same company remained at the Casino Theatre with a production of ''Billee Taylor'' in which Hall portrayed the part of Susan.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements: Casino|work=New-York Tribune|date= June 20, 1885|page= 7}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Musical Melange|work=The Inter Ocean|date= June 21, 1885|page= 13}}</ref>
Hall remained with Rice's company for the 1885{{ndash}}1886 season as Eulalie in the revival of Rice's ''Evangeline'', which had a lengthy run at the Fourteenth Street Theatre.{{sfn|Strang|1906|page=47}} When the production left New York for Chicago in May 1886, she did not continue with the show but returned to Rhode Island to spend the summer performing in the plays ''Under the Gaslight'' and ''The Two Orphans'' at the Providence Opera House.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusement News|work=The New York Sun|date= June 20, 1886|page= 2}}</ref> She later returned to ''Evangeline'' in May 1887 for a production produced by Rice at the Hollis Street Theatre in Boston.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Popular Burlesque Evangeline|work=Boston Evening Transcript|date= April 23, 1887|page= 11}}</ref>
In September 1887 Hall was with Rice's Surprise Party once again in a short-lived production of Eduard Holst and Woolson Morse's ''Circus in Town'' at the Bijou Opera House. She played a flying trapeze artist in this show.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bijou Opera House|work=The New York Times|date= September 13, 1887|page= 4}}</ref>
===Performances from 1886 to 1889=== In the autumn of 1886 Hall joined the theater company of Eben Plympton to perform as Baby Blanchemayne in the play ''Jack'' by Mrs. Harry Beckett (widow of the actor Harry Beckett).<ref name="JB">{{cite news|title=''Jack'' with Plympton in the Title Role|work=The Boston Globe|date= November 28, 1886|page=10}}</ref><ref name="KT">{{cite news|title=At the Theaters|work=The Courier-Journal|date= January 9, 1887|page= 12}}</ref> The tour of this show included a brief stop on Broadway at Wallack's Theatre in early November 1886,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1886/11/03/archives/amusements-mr-eben-plympton.html|title=Amusements; Mr. Eben Plympton|date=November 3, 1886|page=4|work=The New York Times}}</ref> after which it played at the Park Theatre in Boston<ref name="JB"/> and the Brooklyn Theater in late 1886.<ref>{{cite news|title=Theaters and Music|work=Brooklyn Eagle|date= December 12, 1886|page= 2}}</ref> In 1887 she continued to tour in the production to theaters in Kentucky,<ref name="KT"/> Indiana,<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements: Grand–''Jack; or Life in Bohemia''|work=The Indianapolis Journal|date= January 14, 1887|page= 8}}</ref> Missouri,<ref>{{cite news|title=''Jack''—Coates Opera House|work=Kansas City Journal|date= January 23, 1887|page= 8}}</ref> and Illinois<ref>{{cite news|title=The Grand–''Jack; or Life in Bohemia''|work=Chicago Tribune|date= February 1, 1887|page= 5}}</ref> before returning with the show for further performances on Broadway at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in February 1887.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusement Notes|work=The New York Times|date= February 15, 1887|page= 5}}</ref>
In November 1887 Hall returned to Wallack's Theatre in T. W. Robertson's ''School'', which was produced by Henry Eugene Abbey.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Playbills|work=The New York Times|date= November 13, 1887|page=10}}</ref> Not long after this production she became severely ill and was not able to continue performing.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Testimonial to George W. Floyd|work=The Boston Globe|date= March 18, 1888|page= 10}}</ref> It was reported in the American press in July 1888 that she had gone to Europe to convalesce and there had married a German baron.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements|work=Chicago Tribune|date= July 12, 1888|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Behind the Footlights|work=The San Francisco Examiner|date= July 22, 1888|page= 15}}</ref> While in Europe in this period she studied acting with François Jules Edmond Got in Paris.<ref>{{cite news|work=The Weekly Press|title=Josephine Hall|date=February 10, 1893|page= 3}}</ref> She returned to the stage in October 1888, replacing Maude Adams in ''The Paymaster'' at Niblo's Garden.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Paymaster|work=The New York Sun|date= October 28, 1888|page= 9}}</ref>
On June 11, 1889, Hall created the role of Abdallah in the world premiere of Clay M. Greene, Fred J. Eustis, Richard Maddern, and John Joseph Braham Sr.'s ''Blue Beard, Jr.'' at the Grand Opera House, Chicago.<ref>{{cite news|title=Theatrical Gossip|work=The Inter Ocean|date= June 2, 1889|page= 13}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements: Chicago Opera House|work=The Inter Ocean|date= June 12, 1889|page= 4}}</ref> The work was a critical triumph.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1889/06/13/archives/chicagos-new-spectacle-bluebeard-jr-as-presented-by-manager.html|title=Chicago's New Spectacle; ''Bluebeard, Jr.'', as Presented by Manager Henderson|date=June 13, 1889|page=5|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Hall's performance of its "Cigarette Song" was popular with Chicago audiences.<ref>{{cite news|title=Isn't that Great?|work=The Inter Ocean|date= June 30, 1889|page= 21}}</ref> She left the production for New York in July 1889 to join the theater troupe of Frederick Hallen and Joseph Hart in their company's production of the musical farce ''Later On''.<ref>{{cite news|title=General Mention|work=The Inter Ocean|date= July 2, 1889|page= 4}}</ref> She toured nationally in this production in 1889{{ndash}}1890.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hallen and Hart at the National|newspaper=The Washington Post|date= September 26, 1889|page= 6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Let Us Go to the Play|work=Pittsburg Dispatch|date= December 1, 1889|page= 12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=News of the Theatres|work=The New York Sun|date=December 15, 1889|page= 18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Christmastide Plays|work=The Boston Globe|date= December 22, 1889|page=10}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Pick Your Choice|work=Buffalo Courier Express|date= February 9, 1890|page= 10}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Windsor|work=The Inter Ocean|date= March 16, 1890|page= 13}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Town Topics|work=The San Francisco Examiner|date= March 16, 1890|page= 9}}</ref>
===Work with Charles Frohman in the 1890s=== thumb|upright|Josephine Hall On May 15, 1890, Hall gave birth in Philadelphia to Alexander A. Aarons, her child by the Broadway composer and producer Alfred E. Aarons.{{sfn|Tepper|Everett|2017|page=119}} Hall and Aarons married a little over nine years later in December 1899.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dramatic Notes|work=Buffalo Courier|date=December 24, 1899|page= 20}}</ref> Immediately following the birth of their son in 1890, Hall began touring under the management of Charles Frohman, who oversaw her career through the 1890s. One of the plays he was responsible for producing was Bronson Howard's Civil War drama ''Shenandoah'' in which Hall portrayed Jenny Buckthorn.{{sfn|Strang|1906|page=47}} This production began its tour at the Hyperion Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, in May 1890.<ref>{{cite news|title=Entertainments: ''Shenandoah''|work=The Morning Journal-Courier|date= May 13, 1890|page= 3}}</ref> It then toured Connecticut,<ref>{{cite news|title=''Shenandoah'' at the Opera House|work=Hartford Courant|date= May 16, 1890|page= 5}}</ref> Delaware,<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements: Bronson Howard's ''Shenandoah'' at the Academy of Music|work=The Evening Journal|date= May 24, 1890|page=3}}</ref> Massachusetts,<ref>{{cite news|title=City News: At the Academy|work=The Evening Herald|date= October 18, 1890|page= 1}}</ref> upstate New York,<ref>{{cite news|title=Our Local Amusements: ''Shenandoah''|work=Yonkers Statesman|date= October 28, 1890|page=1}}</ref> Pennsylvania,<ref>{{cite news|title=A Crowded House|work=Lancaster Daily Intelligencer|date= November 21, 1890|page=1}}</ref> and Virginia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements: ''Shenandoah''|work=The Virginian-Pilot|date= November 25, 1890|page= 4}}</ref> By Christmas of 1890, the production was playing in Alabama.<ref>{{cite news|title=At the Theater|work=Birmingham Post-Herald|date= December 25, 1890|page= 3}}</ref> It continued to tour nationally in early 1891 with Hall in the cast.<ref>{{cite news|title=This Week's Attractions|work=The Kansas City Times|date= January 18, 1891|page= 5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements|work=The Topeka Daily Capital|date= January 25, 1891|page= 5}}</ref>
Another play produced under the management of Frohman in which Hall appeared was William Gillette's ''All the Comforts of Home''.{{sfn|Strang|1906|page=47}} Hall portrayed Emily Pettibone in this work's April 1891 run at Herrmann's Theatre at Broadway and 29th Street in New York.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gotham Gossip|work=The Times-Picayune|date= April 28, 1891|page= 6}}</ref> It then played at the Park Theatre in Brooklyn in September 1891.<ref>{{cite news|title=All the Comforts of Home|work=The Brooklyn Daily Times|date= September 8, 1891|page= 4}}</ref> The following month she resumed performing in ''Shenandoah'' at the Columbus Theatre in Upper Manhattan.<ref>{{cite news|title=News of the Theatres|work=The New York Sun|date=October 25, 1891|page= 15}}</ref> In late 1891 she toured in ''Shenandoah'' to Washington D.C.,<ref>{{cite news|title=The New National|work=Washington Sentinel|date= November 7, 1891|page= 2}}</ref> Pittsburgh,<ref>{{cite news|title=Stage Whispers|work=The Pittsburgh Press|date= December 3, 1891|page= 2}}</ref> and Chicago.<ref>{{cite news|title=Music and Drama|work=Chicago Tribune|date= December 23, 1891|page= 5}}</ref> By February 1892 she was no longer being billed as Josie Hall in the ''Shenandoah'' production but was credited as Josephine Hall,<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements|work=The Courier-Journal|date= February 9, 1892|page= 5}}</ref> the name which she used in her later career.{{sfn|Strang|1906|pages=46-55}} She was still in the ''Shenandoah'' tour as late as March 1892 when it was playing at the Grand Opera House in Boston.<ref>{{cite news|title=Grand Opera–''Shenandoah''|work=The Boston Globe|date= March 15, 1892|page= 4}}</ref>
On November 7, 1892, Hall performed in the world premiere of Bronson Howard's ''Aristocracy'' at the New National Theatre in Washington D.C. which was co-produced by Frohman and Al Hayman.<ref>{{cite news|title=A True American Comedy|newspaper=The Washington Post|date= November 8, 1892|page= 6}}</ref> She played the role of Katherine Ten Broeck Lawrence in this production,{{sfn|Strang|1906|page=47}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1892/11/08/archives/aristocracy.html|title=''Aristocracy''|work=The New York Times|date=November 8, 1892|page= 4}}</ref> which transferred to Broadway's Palmer's Theatre immediately after its premiere in Washington D.C.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/11/15/104101525.html?pageNumber=5|title=''Aristocracy''|work=The New York Times|date=November 15, 1892|page= 5}}</ref> The production left New York for Ford's Grand Opera House in Baltimore where it opened on February 13, 1893.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Theatres|work=The Baltimore Sun|date= February 14, 1893|page= 8}}</ref> It then toured to cities including Chicago,<ref>{{cite news|title=Music and Drama|work=Chicago Tribune|date= February 21, 1893|page=4}}</ref> Louisville,<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusement|work=The Courier-Journal|date= April 4, 1893|page= 2}}</ref> St. Louis,<ref>{{cite news|title=Olympic Theatre–''Aristocracy''|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date= April 9, 1893|page= 13}}</ref> and Boston.<ref>{{cite news|title=Theatres and Concerts|work=Boston Evening Transcript|date= April 25, 1893|page= 5}}</ref> When the tour went on hiatus in the summer of 1893 she returned to her family's home in Greenwich, Rhode Island.<ref>{{cite news|title=Some Stage Stories|work=The Boston Globe|date= May 7, 1893|page=18}}</ref> She returned to the tour in September 1893,<ref>{{cite news|title=Gossip of the Theatres|work=The New York World|date= September 3, 1893|page= 19}}</ref> and remained in it until December 1893 when she left temporarily after learning about the death of her father.{{sfn| East Greenwich Historic Preservation Society|2006|page=114}} She continued to tour in the production as late as April 1894.<ref>{{cite news|title=Entertainments: Hyperion|work=The Morning Journal-Courier|date= April 21, 1894|page= 2}}</ref>
In August 1894 a revival of ''Shenandoah'' produced by Frohman opened at the Academy of Music in New York City with Hall returning to the part of Jenny Buckthorn.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Revival of ''Shenandoah''|work=New-York Tribune|date= August 31, 1894|page= 7}}</ref> She once again toured nationally in this work in the 1894{{ndash}}1895 season.<ref>{{cite news|title=Some Events of this Week: ''Shenandoah'' at the Columbia|work=Chicago Tribune|date= December 30, 1894|page= 36}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=As the Crowds Come Out|work=Times Herald|date= December 11, 1894|page= 2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Columbia Theatre|work=The Brooklyn Citizen|date= February 12, 1895|page= 3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Columbia Theatre: ''Shenandoah''|work=Boston Evening Transcript|date= February 26, 1895|page= 5}}</ref> She left the tour in March 1895.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements|work=The St. Joseph Herald|date= March 24, 1895|page= 12}}</ref> She next performed the role of Victorine in ''The Gay Parisians'', Frohman's American adaptation of the French play {{lang|fr|L'Hôtel du libre échange}}.<ref name="HOYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/09/24/archives/john-drew-in-a-new-play-that-imprudent-young-couple-by-hg-carleton.html|title=The English Version of "Hotel du Libre Echange" at Hoyt's|work=The New York Times|date=September 24, 1895|page= 5}}</ref> It premiered at the Star Theatre in Buffalo on September 18, 1895,<ref>{{cite news|title=The Gay Parisians|work=The Buffalo Enquirer|date= September 19, 1895|page= 5}}</ref> before playing on Broadway at Hoyt's Theatre.<ref name="HOYT"/>
===Performances from 1896 to 1899=== thumb|right|Cover to the sheet music for "Sister Mary Jane's Top Note" In November 1896 it was announced that Frohman had struck a deal with Edward E. Rice to loan out Josephine Hall (who was still under contract with Frohman) for the upcoming Broadway production of ''The Girl From Paris'', in which she was cast as Ruth.<ref>{{cite news|title=Theatrical Gossip|work=The New York Times|date= November 23, 1896|page= 8}}</ref> This work was an adaptation of the Edwardian musical comedy ''The Gay Parisienne'' by George Dance and it premiere at the Herald Square Theatre on December 8, 1896.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Lively New Burletta; ''The Girl from Paris'' Received with Noisy Approbation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1896/12/09/archives/a-lively-new-burletta-the-girl-from-paris-received-with-noisy.html|work=The New York Times|date=December 9, 1896|page= 5}}</ref> It was the hit Broadway production of the 1896{{ndash}}1897 season,{{sfn|Bordman|Norton|2010|page=172}} and Hall's lauded performance as Ruth brought her fame in the United States.<ref name="nyt"/>{{sfn|Strang|1906|page=48}} She was particularly celebrated for her performance of the song "Sister Mary Jane's Top Note"<ref name="nyt"/>{{sfn|Strang|1906|page=48}} in which she deliberately sang a high off-key note at the end to great comedic effect.{{sfn|Strang|1906|page=48}} She toured nationally in this part during the 1897{{ndash}}1898 season.<ref>{{cite news|title=''The Girl from Paris'' and ''David La Roque''|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date= September 21, 1897|page= 5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=''A Girl from Paris'' at the Montauk|work=The Brooklyn Citizen|date= January 11, 1898|page= 4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Lafayette Square Opera House|work=Washington Evening Star|date= November 9, 1897|page= 10}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Theatres Last Night: Academy of Music|work=The Baltimore Sun|date= November 16, 1897|page= 7}}</ref>
Hall next performed in the United States premiere of Mark Ambient, Alban Atwood, and Russell Vaun's ''Oh, Susannah!'' at the Hyperion Theatre in Connecticut on February 3, 1898.<ref>{{cite news|title=''Oh Susannah''|work=The Meriden Daily Republican|date= February 4, 1898|page= 5}}</ref> She portrayed the lead female role of the maid Aurora in this production,<ref>{{cite news|title=Oh, Susannah!|work=The New York Sun|date= February 6, 1898|page= 9}}</ref> a character similar to the one she had taken on in ''A Girl from Paris''.<ref>{{cite news|title=This Week's New Bill's|work=The New York Times|date= February 6, 1898|page= 16}}</ref> The production moved to Broadway where it opened at Hoyt's Theatre on February 7, 1898.<ref>{{cite news|title=The New Farce at Hoyt's|work=The New York Times|date=February 8, 1898|page= 6}}</ref> It closed there after eight weeks of performances on April 2, 1898, and then went on a brief tour.<ref>{{cite news|title=Songs and Singers. Plays and Players|work=Democrat and Chronicle|date=April 3, 1898|page= 11}}</ref>
In the summer of 1898 Hall appeared in the comic part of Measles in ''Cook's Tour'' by playwright Joseph W. Herbert and composer Max Gabriel (1861{{ndash}}1942) at Koster & Bial's Music Hall.<ref>{{cite news|title=Musical and Dramatic|work=The New York Times|date= June 7, 1898|page= 6}}</ref> She remained at that theater the following autumn in multiple burlesque shows. One of these was ''In Gotham'' in which she performed a comedy routine with Richard Carle,<ref>{{cite news|title=Notes of the Stage|work=New-York Tribune|date= October 2, 1898|page= 20}}</ref> and another was a send up of the play ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' which was then playing at the Garden Theatre.<ref>{{cite news|title=Affairs of the Theatre|work=The New York Sun|date= October 20, 1898|page=7}}</ref> She took a break from performance beginning in late 1898 after experiencing appendicitis that necessitated an appendectomy in early December 1898.<ref>{{cite news|title=Health Hoodoo|work=Wilkes-Barre Times|date= December 1, 1898|page= 1}}</ref>
On February 10, 1899, Hall left New York aboard ''The Mexico'', an American passenger steamship, which carried her and a vaudeville company she led to American Cuba for a short four-day long performance tour.<ref>{{cite news|title=Josephine Hall Goes to Cuba|work=The Plain Dealer|date= February 19, 1899|page= 16}}</ref> She then rejoined the touring production of ''The Girl from Paris'' for further performances as Ruth beginning in Philadelphia in March 1899.<ref>{{cite news|title=Grand–''Girl from Paris''|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date= March 12, 1899|page= 26}}</ref> During the first portion of the 1899{{ndash}}1900 season she portrayed Fraline in the Broadway production of ''The Girl from Maxim's'',{{sfn|Strang|1906|page=49}} another work for which she was celebrated,<ref name="nyt"/> although more so outside of New York where the show was more warmly received.{{sfn|Strang|1906|pages=49-50}} She toured in this production after its Broadway run ended in October 1899.<ref>{{cite news|title=Theatrical Amusements|work=The New York Sun|date= October 29, 1899|page= 29}}</ref> She was still with the tour in mid-February 1900 when it was playing at the Boston Museum.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Girl from Maxim's|work=The Boston Globe|date= February 20, 1900|page= 8}}</ref>
===Later career in the 1900s=== Hall left the tour of ''The Girl from Maxim's'' to take on the title role in a new musical ''Mam'selle 'Awkins'', which produced by her husband, Alfred E. Aarons. Aarons co-wrote the music to this show with Herman Perlot, and the work's libretto was written by Richard Carle.{{sfn|Dietz|2022|page=11}} It played at the Victoria Theatre located at 201 West 42nd Street from February 26 through March 31, 1900, just 35 performances.{{sfn|Dietz|2022|page=10}} In October of that same year she returned to Broadway in another musical featuring music by Aarons, portraying Fleurette d'Norville in ''The Military Maid'' at the Savoy Theatre.{{sfn|Dietz|2022|page=33}} She later appeared in a comic opera by Aarons, the part of Anastasia in ''The Ladies Paradise'', which was performed at the old Metropolitan Opera House on 39th Street in September 1901.{{sfn|Dietz|2022|page=74}}
On Christmas Eve 1900 the comic opera ''A Royal Rogue'' opened at the Broadway Theatre with Hall in the role of Stephanie. It ran there for 30 performances and closed on January 19, 1901.{{sfn|Dietz|2022|pages=49-50}} She returned to Broadway for one final appearance in June 1903 as Mehitabel Merton in ''The Knickerbocker Girl''.{{sfn|Dietz|2022|pages=164-165}}
==Later life and death== After 1903 Hall's performance career slowed and then stopped. She briefly came out of retirement in 1910 after a six year absence from the theater in Klaw & Erlanger's production of ''The Air King''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Josephine Hall in ''The Air King''|work=The Lexington Herald|date= January 9, 1910|page= 26}}</ref> Her marriage with Alfred E. Aarons ended in divorce in 1911.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stageland and Those Who Dwell There|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date= March 12, 1911|page= 34}}</ref> Aarons married his second wife, the actress Leila Hughes, in 1915.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/11/17/archives/a-e-aarons-dead-thtre-manager-producer-of-many-plays-here-was.html|title=A. E. Aarons Dead; Theatre Manager; Producer of Many Plays Here Was Connected With Stage More Than Half Century|work=The New York Times|date=November 17, 1936|page= 27}}</ref>
Josephine Hall died on December 5, 1920, in Apponaug, Warwick, Rhode Island, at the home of her sister Frances, who had married Eugene Chesebro.{{sfn|Benjamin|Rosenblatt|2006|page=328}}<ref>Annie Josephine Hall in "Deaths registered in Warwick, Rhode Island for the year ending December 31st, 1920", ''Rhode Island U.S., Death Registrations and Records, 1852-1946'', page 297</ref><ref name="BROOKLYN">{{cite news|title=Josephine Hall Dies|work=Brooklyn Eagle|date= December 7, 1920|page= 7}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1920/12/07/archives/josephine-hall.html|date=December 7, 1920|page= 13|work=The New York Times|title=Josephine Hall}}</ref> She had been ill for eight months prior to her death.<ref name="BROOKLYN"/>
==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist}}
===Bibliography=== *{{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/whosangwhatonbro0000benj/page/328/mode/2up?q=%22Josephine+Hall%22|title=Who Sang What on Broadway, 1866–1996|volume=I, The Singers A–L|year=2006|last1= Benjamin|first1=Ruth|last2=Rosenblatt|first2= Arthur|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=9780786415069|chapter=Josephine Hall (? – December 5, 1920)}} *{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanmusicalt0000bord_t3u5/mode/2up|title=American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, Fourth Edition|last1=Bordman|first1=Gerald|author-link1=Gerald Bordman|first2=Richard|last2=Norton|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199729708}} *{{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}} *{{cite book|title=East Greenwich|author=East Greenwich Historic Preservation Society|year=2006|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9780738545271}} *{{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/famousprimadonna00strarich/page/46/mode/2up?q=Josephine+Hall|title=Famous Prima Donnas|last=Strang|first= Lewis Clinton|year=1906|publisher=L. C. Page & Co.|chapter=Josephine Hall}} *{{cite book|chapter=Alexander A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley: The Smart Sophisticates|first1=Jennifer Ashley|last1=Tepper|first2=William A.|last2=Everett|editor-first=Laura|editor-last=MacDonald|isbn=9781137433084|title=The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers|date=March 25, 2017 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US}}
==External links== *{{IBDB name|id=43767}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Josephine}} Category:1865 births Category:1920 deaths Category:Actresses from Rhode Island Category:American sopranos Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:People from East Greenwich, Rhode Island Category:Singers from Rhode Island Category:American vaudeville performers