Emily Wakeman Hartley

Emily Wakeman Hartley (1872 – February 20, 1935) was an American actress and theatrical manager, founder of the Stamford Theatre in Stamford, Connecticut.

Emily Wakeman Hartley at her desk, from a 1914 publication.

A postcard featuring the Stamford Theatre, from 1919

Early life

Emily I. Wakeman was born in New York, the daughter of Thaddeus B. Wakeman and Emily Ludlam Wakeman. Her father was a lawyer and writer interested in philosophy. Her mother was a clubwoman, active in working for women's suffrage.^[1] Emily Wakeman attended Friends Seminary and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.^[2]

Career

Emily Wakeman was an actress as a young woman, usually playing comic or character roles, including Broadway appearances in Caleb West (1900), Lover's Lane (1901), Marta of the Lowlands (1903), A Case of Frenzied Finance (1905), The Firm of Cunningham (1905), The House of Mirth (1906),^[3] The Three Daughters of Monsieur Dupont (1910), and The Runaway (1911).^[4]

Emily Wakeman Hartley was the founder, fundraiser, and manager of the Stamford Theatre,^[5] which opened in 1914.^[6] It became a popular venue for touring performers and for new shows, before they debuted in New York.^[7][8] She also lectured on creativity, saying "One of the great faults of the present generation is that too few make use of their gray matter; I mean that they do not seem to realize that they have something within themselves, and do not need to depend wholly upon outside matters for amusement. And a person who always has to be amused or entertained cannot be happy, for he hasn't the creative spirit."^[9]

Emily Wakeman Hartley ran unsuccessfully for the Connecticut state senate in 1922.^[10] She retired from managing the theatre in 1927.^[11]

Personal life and legacy

In 1902, Emily Wakeman married Randolph Hartley, a librettist, publicist, and opera critic; his grandfather was poet and editor Rufus Wilmot Griswold.^[12] They had a son, Randolph Wakeman Hartley (born in 1909, when Emily was 37 years old). They lived in Cos Cob, Connecticut. Emily Wakeman Hartley was widowed in 1931^[13] and died in 1935, from a heart attack, aged 62 years.^[10]

In 1987, an Emily Wakeman Hartley Theater Series began in Stamford, named in her memory.^[14]