# Lil Hawthorne

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{{short description|American actress}}

thumb|right|Lil Hawthorne
'''Lil Hawthorne''' (4 July 1877 &ndash; 22 March 1926) was an American-born British stage beauty, [music hall](/source/music_hall) performer and [pantomime](/source/pantomime) [Principal Boy](/source/Principal_boy). In 1910, Hawthorne was involved in bringing [Dr. Crippen](/source/Hawley_Harvey_Crippen) to justice for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen, whom she had regarded as a good friend prior to her death.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2017/07/31/on-this-day-an-arrest-at-sea/|title=On this day, an arrest at sea|last=Wunderli|first=Molly|date=July 31, 2017|work=The British Newspaper Archive|access-date=2018-11-03|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Early years==
Born in [Nashville, Illinois](/source/Nashville%2C_Illinois), as '''Lillian Hawthorne''', she was one of four daughters of New Orleans estate agent Tazwell Wolfe (known as Hawthorne) and his wife Adrianna or Ada ''née'' Rogers, a farmer's daughter from Pontotoc, Mississippi. In 1889 aged 12 Lilian Hawthorne  was cast in the role of a small boy in the [comic opera](/source/comic_opera) ''Paola'' after which she and her younger sister Adelaide joined the theatrical company, The Bostonians, for whom they appeared in ''The Knickerbockers'', ''Robin Hood'', and ''The Ogallalas''. In 1892 they played Leila and Fleta in ''[Iolanthe](/source/Iolanthe)'' with Henry Dixey's company at [Palmer's Theatre](/source/Palmer's_Theatre). She started her [variety](/source/Variety_show) career in America at the age of 14, as part of the song and dance trio, "The Hawthorne Sisters," with her sisters Eleanor and Adelaide (1892–1898).<ref name=Kurt>[Gänzl, Kurt](/source/Kurt_G%C3%A4nzl), [https://kurtofgerolstein.blogspot.com/2020/07/cartesians-murder-she-said.html?fbclid=IwAR29I97M8G8KqFcZTPqaYdqnhgq7XH58fFbWvdpnaeOmoi4zRfOkjplyOVc Cartesians: Murder, she said ....: Kurt of Gerolstein - Around the World in Twenty Years: Years One to Twelve]</ref><ref name=Stage>[http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/hawthorne/hawthorne-l.html Hawthorne on the ''Stage Beauty'' website]</ref> She performed with her sisters in Boston and New York before transferring to England, making her first appearance in London at the [Palace Theatre](/source/Palace_Theatre%2C_London) in 1896, singing [Leslie Stuart](/source/Leslie_Stuart)'s popular song, "Willow Pattern Plate".<ref name=Era/><ref name=Foot>[http://footlightnotes.tripod.com/ArchiveTextH/LilHawthorne.html Hawthorne on the ''Footlight Notes'' website]</ref>

==Career==
After her sisters' marriage and retirement, Hawthorne remained in the United Kingdom where she soon became popular in [music halls](/source/music_halls) all over the country. She made the first of many appearances in [pantomime](/source/pantomime) at the [Empire Palace Theatre](/source/Empire_Palace_Theatre), Edinburgh in 1898. Hawthorne's repertoire of songs included 'Lucy Loo', 'Tessie, You are the Only, Only, Only' and 'Mamie May,' all of which she recorded, as well as 'Kitty Mahone' and 'Don't Cry Little Girl, Don't Cry'.<ref name=Era>The Era, London, Saturday, 26 August 1899, p.19a</ref><ref name=Foot/>

In 1899, she married John Edward Nash (1863–1934), who became her manager.<ref name=Who>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130331014608/http://www.drcrippen.co.uk/whoswho/john_nash.html Who's Who on the Dr Crippen website]}}</ref> Also in 1899 she recorded the song "Sweet Rosie O'Grady" (written by [Maude Nugent](/source/Maude_Nugent)) for [Berliner Gramophone](/source/Berliner_Gramophone) and "I'll Be Your Sweetheart". In 1900 she starred in [Walter Gibbon](/source/Walter_Gibbons_(singer))'s Anglo-American Bio-Tableaux film ''Kitty Mahone''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2094764/ Hawthorne in ''Kitty Mahone''] - the [Internet Movie Database](/source/Internet_Movie_Database)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150413005909/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2bb422d07a Hawthorne in ''Kitty Mahone''] - the [British Film Institute](/source/British_Film_Institute) website</ref> She was the [Principal Boy](/source/Principal_boy) in the [pantomime](/source/pantomime)s ''[Puss in Boots](/source/Puss_in_Boots)'' (1903–1904) and ''[Sleeping Beauty](/source/Sleeping_Beauty)'' (1904–1905), both at the [Prince's Theatre](/source/Prince's_Theatre%2C_Bristol) in [Bristol](/source/Bristol).<ref>[http://theatricalia.com/person/cqj/lil-hawthorne Hawthorne on the Theatricalia website]</ref> On 6 December 1909 Hawthorne topped the bill at the opening night of the Hippodrome Theatre in [Bishop Auckland](/source/Bishop_Auckland).<ref>[http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/blogs/staff/echomemories/4778839.From_the_Hippodrome_to_the_gallows_in_less_than_a_year/ 'Bishop Auckland: From the Hippodrome to the gallows in less than a year'] - ''[The Northern Echo](/source/The_Northern_Echo)'' – 5 December 2009 {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150406211010/http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/blogs/staff/echomemories/4778839.From_the_Hippodrome_to_the_gallows_in_less_than_a_year/ |date=6 April 2015 }}</ref>

==Dr. Crippen==
[[File:Belle Elmore.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Belle Elmore – wife of  [Dr. Crippen](/source/Hawley_Harvey_Crippen)]]
Hawthorne was a close friend of Cora Henrietta Crippen (née Corrine Turner and stage name Belle Elmore), the estranged wife and murder victim of [Hawley Harvey Crippen](/source/Hawley_Harvey_Crippen). She and Elmore were members of the Music Hall Ladies' Guild. Police first heard of Elmore's disappearance from her friend, strongwoman Kate Williams, better known as [Vulcana](/source/Vulcana),<ref name="Home_Truths">{{Cite news |last1=Hunt |first1=Jane |last2=Peel |first2=John |author2-link=John Peel |title=Vulcana and Atlas |work=[Home Truths](/source/Home_Truths) |publisher=BBC 4|date=August 30, 2004|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hometruths/20040830_vulcana_atlas.shtml}}</ref> but began to take the matter more seriously when asked to investigate by Hawthorne and her husband, who were personal friends of [Scotland Yard](/source/Scotland_Yard) [Superintendent](/source/Superintendent_(police)) [Frank Froest](/source/Frank_Froest).<ref>[Larson, Erik](/source/Erik_Larson_(author)) ''Thunderstruck'' –  New York: Crown Publishers (2006) pg 347=348 {{ISBN|978-1-4000-8067-0}}</ref> They were able to prove that, despite Crippen's assertion to the contrary, his wife had not died in America.<ref name=Who/>

As they lost professional engagements due to appointments with the police and the nervous strain Hawthorne suffered because of these and giving evidence at the trial, on 7 April 1911 [HM Treasury](/source/HM_Treasury) authorised the payment of £100 in respect of expenses incurred and loss sustained by the couple in connection with the case of [Rex v. Crippen](/source/Hawley_Harvey_Crippen).<ref name=Who/>

In about 1915 Hawthorne and her husband finally left Britain and returned to America to Manhattan Beach. After various business enterprises including beach catering and owning a garage her husband found a new career in writing film screenplays.<ref name=Kurt/>

Lil Hawthorne died of heart trouble in 1926 aged 49.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp100814/lillian-lil-hawthorne Photographs of Hawthorne] on the [National Portrait Gallery](/source/National_Portrait_Gallery%2C_London) website
*[http://footlightnotes.tumblr.com/post/75445908071/lil-hawthorne-1877-1926-american-born-british Hawthorne on the ''Footlight Notes'' website]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawthorne, Lil}}
Category:1877 births
Category:1926 deaths
Category:American music hall performers
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American vaudeville performers
Category:American emigrants to the United Kingdom

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lil Hawthorne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Hawthorne) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Hawthorne?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.