{{short description|American actress}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Lizzie Evans | image = File:Lizzie Evans.jpg | image_size = | caption = Theatrical poster | birth_date = 1864 | birth_place = Mount Vernon, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = After October 29, 1923 | death_place = | other_names = Mrs. Harry Mills | known_for = | occupation = Actress<br>Vaudeville entertainer<br>Comedian | spouse = {{plainlist| * Nelson Compton (divorced 1886)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SI4PAAAAYAAJ&q=Nelson+Compton+&pg=RA7-PA13|title = Music & Drama|year = 1882}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MRtRAQAAMAAJ&q=nelson+compton+lizzie+evans&pg=RA1-PA46|title=The New York Clipper Annual ... Containing Theatrical, Musical and Sporting Chronologies|year=1886}}</ref> * {{marriage|Harry Mills|1890}} }} }} '''Lizzie Evans''' was an entertainer in vaudeville and musical theatre in New York City and Chicago, Illinois, from the 1880s into the 20th century. A New York Times article described her as "a bright little person of the Lotta Crabtree physique and school, but with less naturalness and more nasal twang".<ref name=description>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/05/20/103616754.pdf "Tony Pastor's Theatre"], ''New York Times'', May 20, 1884, pg. 4.</ref>
==Biography==
Lizzie Evans was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio in 1864, although one newspaper report from 1879 already identifies her as touring with the Standard Dramatic Company in a lead role, suggesting an earlier birth year. She possibly was the daughter of Sarah Evans, a Welsh-born widow.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.knoxpages.com/history/mystery-what-happened-to-this-mount-vernon-star-comedienne/article_c5c447f8-e44d-11e8-b0ac-6f202f2b599e.html|title = Mystery: What happened to this Mount Vernon star comedienne?}}</ref>
She was the wife of Harry Mills, who was also a well-known comedian. At the time of their marriage in 1890, he was playing in her company. Miss Evans first appeared on the stage at the age of seventeen on August 25, 1882, with Barney McAuley as Clip in ''A Messenger from Jarvis Section''. She was next seen with Milton and Dolly Nobles in their well-known play, ''The Phoenix''. After leaving Mr. Nobles' company, she joined C.E. Callahan, in whose plays she starred for nine years in such roles as Chip in ''Fogg's Ferry'' and Jane in ''The Buckeye''. Miss Evans also took the leading part in ''Our Angel'' and a number of other plays (see the list below). A reviewer for the ''New York Times'' observed about her acting:
<blockquote>Miss Lizzie Evans, who fills the part around which ''Fogg's Ferry'' is built, is a bright little person of the Lotta physique and school, but with less naturalness and more nasal twang. Her performance, however, is earnest and vivacious; she emphasizes her comic lines with her nether limbs and feet, more or less in accordance with Shakespeare's advice as to suiting the action to the word and the word to the action, but always with a marked effect upon the spectator, and her pathos, although scarcely profound, is a good deal more genuine and touching than that of her prototype. Miss Evans has no voice for song, and her cleverness as an actress is sufficiently appreciable to warrant her avoidance of vocal efforts.<ref name=description/></blockquote>
After severing her connection with Mr. Callahan, Miss Evans retired from the stage for two years. Afterwards she returned to play the part of Madge in ''Old Kentucky'', meeting with great success. She was next seen in vaudeville until the 1900-01 season, when she was featured in ''A Romance of Coon Hollow''. By this time she had formed her own troupe. She also returned to her favorite role of Chip, the character in which she had made her debut when she was only seventeen years old.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KlE3AAAAIAAJ&q=lizzie+evans+mills ''The Players Blue Book''], edited by A.D. Storm, 1901, p. 268.</ref>
Evans continued to headline into the 1920s; a review of her performance of the lead role Miss Cornelia Van Gorder in the mystery “The Bat,” in Knoxville, Tennessee, on October 29, 1923 was the last time she was mentioned in the media. The Bat was later turned into a silent film in 1926, starring Jack Pickford and Louise Fazenda.
==List of vaudeville and theater credits== thumb|Evans in ''Fogg's Ferry'' circa 1882 * August 1881: Impersonation of "Chip" at the reopening of the Standard Theatre,<ref>"Amusements", ''New York Times'', August 22, 1881, pg. 5.</ref> 6th Avenue between 32nd Street and 33rd Street, Manhattan (New York).<ref>[https://archive.today/20120622022041/http://home.comcast.net/~m.chitty/newyorkmap.htm EJ Phillips' Manhattan, Standard Theatre.] Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref> Evans was part of a show at Tony Pastor's Theatre,<ref name=description/> East 14th Street between Irving Place and Third Avenue. *May 5 through May 10, 1884, National Theatre ''Dewdrop'' – romantic comedy by Con.T. Murphy and C.E. Callahan. Starring Miss Lizzie Evans. Cast includes Al Phillips, George W. Deyo, [Harry] Henry Scharf, C.R. Burrows, E.D. Tannehill, Ed Clifford, W.T. Sheehan, Ida Burrows, Marie LeGros, Selina Anderson, Charline Weidman.<ref>Cache, past shows, National Theater</ref> * August 29, 1887: ''Our Angel'', a drama at the Lexington Opera House in Ohio.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lexingtonoperahouse.com/aboutUs/history.php |title=History of the Lexington Opera House |access-date=July 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716095755/http://www.lexingtonoperahouse.com/aboutUs/history.php |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> *January 1890: Haymarket Theatre,<ref name=chicago/> 722-24 West Madison Street (Chicago),<ref>[http://cinematreasures.org/theater/11991/ Cinema Treasures, Haymarket Theatre.] Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref> Chicago.<ref name=chicago>"The Chicago Playhouse", ''New York Times'', January 28, 1890, pg. 9.</ref> She had a role in ''The Buckeye'' at the Windsor Theatre,<ref name=playhouse/> 1225 North Clark Street,<ref>[http://cinematreasures.org/theater/4073/ Cinema Treasures, Windsor Theatre.] Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref> Chicago, in April 1890.<ref name=playhouse>"The Chicago Playhouses", ''New York Times'', April 14, 1890, p.4.</ref> The following November she was again at the Haymarket, beginning a new rendition of ''Fogg's Ferry''.<ref>"Chicago Playhouses", ''New York Times'', November 30, 1890, pg. 13.</ref> *In May 1891 she was featured in the same play at Havlin's Theatre,<ref name=venue>"The Chicago Playhouses", ''New York Times'', May 17, 1891, pg. 13.</ref> 1838 South Wabash Avenue,<ref>[http://cinematreasures.org/theater/21235/ Cinema Treasures, Wabash Theatre.] Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref> Chicago.<ref name=venue/> *Evans replaced Annie Lewis in the role of "Cinders" in ''A Nutmeg Match'' in March 1893. It was staged at the 14th Street Theatre,<ref name=street>"Theatrical Gossip", ''New York Times'', March 3, 1893, pg. 8.</ref> 344 East 14th Street.<ref> [http://www.theatermania.com/content/theater.cfm?intTheaterID=2777 TheaterMania 14th Street Theater.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630204248/http://www.theatermania.com/content/theater.cfm?intTheaterID=2777 |date=June 30, 2007 }} Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref>
*Proctor's Pleasure Palace, East 58th Street between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue,<ref>"Proctor's Pleasure Palace", ''New York Times'', Wednesday, September 1, 1895, pg. 11.</ref> hosted a production of ''The Man Up Stairs'' by Augustus Thomas in January 1897. Evans was in the cast with Lucille Lee, William Ranous, and Maggie Fielding.<ref>"Notes Of The Week", ''New York Times'', January 10, 1897, pg. 11.</ref> *She was leading her own theatrical troupe when ''A Romance of Coon Hollow'' was presented before an audience at the Grand Opera House in 1896,<ref name=house>"Notes of the Stage", ''New York Times'', April 19, 1896, pg. 10.</ref> 23rd Street (8th Avenue), Manhattan,<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/venue.aspx?id=1549 IBDB Grand Opera House.] Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref> in April 1896.<ref name=house/> Set in the mountains of Tennessee, two quartets and twelve African-American plantation singers embellished the performance.<ref>"Notes of the Stage", ''New York Times'', April 21, 1896, pg. 5.</ref> *In July 1897 she was in a show with Phyllis Rankin and George Thatcher at Keith's New Union Square Theatre,<ref>(display ad—no title), ''New York Times'', July 18, 1897, pg. 8.</ref> 50 East 14th Street (Manhattan).<ref>[http://cinematreasures.org/theater/12399/ Cinema Treasures, Union Square Theatre.] Retrieved 12-24-07.</ref> Evans returned to the Pleasure Palace in ''A Strange Catastrophe'' with Harry Mills in August.<ref>"Theatres", ''New York Times'', August 22, 1897, pg. 8.</ref> *She performed in a comedy entitled ''A Gay Deceiver'' at the Harlem Opera House,<ref name=bills/> 211 West 125th Street,<ref>[http://cinematreasures.org/theater/533/ Cinema Treasures, Harlem Opera House.] Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref> in February 1898.<ref name=bills>"This Week's New Bills", February 20, 1898, pg. 5.</ref> In December 1899 Mills joined Evans in the comedietta, ''Two Girls and One Man'', at Proctor's Theatre.<ref>"Notes Of The Week", ''New York Times'', December 3, 1899, pg. 18.</ref> *She performed a sketch with Mills at the Union Square Theatre in July 1902.<ref>"Vaudeville and Concerts", ''New York Times'', July 27, 1902, pg. 10.</ref> In June 1903 Evans was part of a bill at Hurtig & Seamon's<ref>(display ad 9—no title), ''New York Times'', June 2, 1903, pg. 10.</ref> (Apollo Theater), West 125th Street, Harlem.<ref>[http://www.newyork-visit.com/New-York-Apollo-Theater.html NewYorkvisit.com Apollo Theatre.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026121007/http://www.newyork-visit.com/New-York-Apollo-Theater.html |date=October 26, 2012 }} Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref> The travelling troupe was directed by Florenz Ziegfeld and William A. Brady.<ref>"Harlem Opera House", ''New York Times'', February 22, 1898, pg. 6.</ref> *She played a "comic servant" who bore the worst part of the comic relief in a production of ''Two Little Sailor Boys'' at the Academy of Music, in May 1904. Described as English melodrama, Evans depicted "Lucy Wilson" in the play.<ref>''Two Little Sailor Boys'', ''New York Times'', May 4, 1904, pg. 5.</ref> *In September 1906 she appeared at the Metropolis Theatre, 142nd Street and 3rd Avenue<ref name=again/> and Alexander Avenue,<ref>"The Real Estate Field", ''New York Times'', Friday, October 3, 1913, pg. 17.</ref> in a presentation of ''When Knighthood Was In Flower''. The show had enjoyed success in a previous staging at the Criterion Theatre,<ref name=again>(display ad 12—no title), ''New York Times'', September 16, 1906, pg. SM9.</ref> 1514 Broadway.<ref>[http://cinematreasures.org/theater/528/ Cinema Treasures, Criterion Theatre.] Retrieved on 12-24-07.</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120207010918/http://www.neiu.edu/~rghiggin/ephem/Evans,Lizzie.jpg Lizzie Evans Photo] from the early 20th century (Wayback Machine) *[https://books.google.com/books?id=KlE3AAAAIAAJ&q=lizzie+evans+mills The Players Blue Book, Edited by A.D. Storms, 1901, p. 268] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110615065011/http://www.rainfall.com/posters/closerLook.asp?img=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rainfall.com%2Fposters%2Fimages%2FTheatrical%2F0715r.jpg Poster of Coon Hollow] *[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/04/21/106849747.pdf Romance of Coon Hollow with Lizzie Evans, Announcement in the NY Times, 1896] *[https://archive.today/20130131180604/http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/23432860530899306_2MtlcAmr_b.jpg Lizzie Evans appearance notice c. 1893 front] *[https://archive.today/20130131115253/http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/23432860530899308_Od9ZQBP6_b.jpg Lizzie Evans appearance notice c. 1893 back]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Lizzie}} Category:American vaudeville performers Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:19th-century American actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Year of death missing Category:1860s births