# Pauline Hall
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{{short description|American actress}}
{{for|the Norwegian composer and music critic|Pauline Hall (composer)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Pauline Hall
| image = Pauline Hall.jpg
| image_size = 256
| birth_name = Pauline Fredrika Schmidgall
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1860|2|26|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [Cincinnati, Ohio](/source/Cincinnati%2C_Ohio)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1919|12|29|1860|2|26|mf=y}}
| death_place = [Yonkers, New York](/source/Yonkers%2C_New_York)
| years_active = 1875–1919
| occupation = Actress
| spouse = Edward R. White (div.)
George B. McClellan, Jr. (div.)
}}
'''Pauline Hall''' (born '''Pauline Fredrika Schmidgall''';[Browne, Walter and Frederick Arnold Austin. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=xIoXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA120 Who's who on the stage: the dramatic reference book and biographical dictionary of the theatre, Volume 1]'' (1906), p. 120.] February 26, 1860 – December 29, 1919) was an American stage actress and singer.
==Biography==
[[File:Pauline Hall, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes MET DP829546.jpg|alt=Standing woman|right|thumb|Pauline Hall, ca. 1888, [Burdick Collection](/source/Jefferson_Burdick), [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art)]]
One of the most popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century [light opera](/source/light_opera) [prima donna](/source/prima_donna)s in America,[{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/famousprimadonna00strarich/page/254/mode/2up|chapter=Pauline Hall|pages=239–252|title=Famous Prima Donnas|last=Strang|first= Lewis Clinton|year=1906|publisher=[L. C. Page & Co.](/source/Louis_Coues_Page)}}] Hall left school at the age of 14[[http://www.the-forum.com/posters/PAULINE.HTM "1880s Theater Poster of Actress Pauline Hall"]. ''the-forum.com''. Retrieved 2010-10-24. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202171436/http://the-forum.com/posters/PAULINE.HTM |date=2010-12-02 }}] and began her career as a dancer in her native [Cincinnati, Ohio](/source/Cincinnati%2C_Ohio), in 1875. Shortly thereafter, Hall joined the [Alice Oates Opera Company](/source/Alice_Oates), leaving it to spend time touring in straight plays with [Mary Anderson](/source/Mary_Anderson_(stage_actress)). By 1880 she was working for [Edward E. Rice](/source/Edward_E._Rice), who cast her in several of his musical productions, giving her, among others, the trouser role of the hero Gabriel in a revival that year of ''Evangeline''.{{Citation needed |date=August 2021}}
Hall continued to be a favorite in comic and light operas around the country until 1890. However, her greatest success came when she played the title role in the first American production of ''[Erminie](/source/Erminie)'' (1886–1888). She performed ''Erminie'' a record-breaking 800 times while on Broadway and touring around the United States, which made her a household name.[[http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Hansen&CISOPTR=88&CISOBOX=1&REC=7 "Cabinet Card photograph of Pauline Hall"]. ''uncg.edu''. Retrieved 2010-10-24.] Hall toured with her own companies from 1890 to 1896, and later entered [vaudeville](/source/vaudeville), reportedly earning as much as $600 a week by 1898.[[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/12/30/97712124.pdf "Pauline Hall Dies At Yonkers Home"]. ''The New York Times'', December 30, 1919.] and in [Ziegfeld](/source/Ziegfeld_Follies) productions near the end of her career.
Although popular as an actress and singer, Hall was never given good notices by reviewers, who thought she was mediocre. She had an alluring figure, however, and she maintained it until her death in 1919 while playing in [David Belasco](/source/David_Belasco)'s ''The Gold Diggers''.[[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/14/104956314.pdf "Back After Eight Years."] ''The New York Times'', December 14, 1910.]
Hall died of [bronchial pneumonia](/source/Bronchopneumonia), at the age of 59, in [Yonkers, New York](/source/Yonkers%2C_New_York).