Existing comment:
Julia Marlowe and E.H. Sothern, Acting Duo
Julia Marlowe (1866-1950) and E. H. Sothern (1859-1933) were both English actors who made their careers in the United States. Marlowe was a successful actor in her own right, preferring classical plays such as Shakespeare's to the modern drama of Shaw and Ibsen. She then met E.H. Sothern and toured North America with him from 1904 through 1924, sharing direction of the plays, as well as managing and finances. They married in 1911.
Marlowe premiered as Juliet in New York in 1887, and when she and Sothern later took their production of Romeo and Juliet across the country, it became the standard rendition of the play for a generation. They performed Romeo and Juliet at the Belasco Theatre in Washington, DC in 1912. Here you see one of her Juliet costumes along with two photographs from the 1904 production. (1-3)
Marlowe and Sothern were invited to perform in the new film media, but they never made a Shakespeare movie. The Vitagraph Company was one of the earliest in the business. Because copyright law at the time had no provision for film format, the frames of early films such as Antony and Cleopatra, seen here, had to be printed on paper rolls which were then copyrighted. Thus a number of early short films are known to us today that would have been lost. (4) |