Description: |
One typed page including two portraits; biography of rose Melville, screen celebrity and originator of a new theater genre. ABASH VALLEY WP R O F I L E SA series of tributes to hometown heroes who have made a difference.Rose Melvilleor the first two decades of the 20th century, Terre Haute native Rose Melville was among America's elite stage and screen celebrities and originator of a new theater genre. Born Jan. 30, 1873, at the St. Clair House at 202 Wabash Ave., the youngest daughter of Rev. Jacob and Caroline (Puett) Smock was christened "Rosa." Brothers Jasper and Alexander were adults on their own by the time she was born. Rev. Smock, a Baptist missionary from Parke County, and his family then moved to 403 Willow St. Soon after Caroline Smock died in 1879, Rose's sisters Josephine, Ida and Maud adopted stage names and founded "The Melville Sisters Stock Company" while Rosa was attending Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and Franklin College. During 1889, she visited her sisters on tour in Zanesville, Ohio, and replaced an ailing actor. Her aptitude was evident and she joined the company as "Rose Melville." By 1891 Maud had married and moved to Wisconsin, and Josephine -- known as "Pearl Melville" -- wed actor Walter Baldwin and launched the Baldwin-Melville Theater Company in California. Ida and Rose remained together, touring in Zeb, a comedy written by Ida's husband, Samuel M. Young Jr., a Terre Haute native, about a southern Indiana hillbilly family. Among the characters created in Zeb was "Sis Hopkins," an unsophisticated teenager. The company was managed by Harry Hardy, who Rose would marry; however, the marriage was short-lived. In 1894 celebrated composer and playwright Edward Everett Rice booked the sisters at New York's Garden Theater for $150 a week as "The Two Jays from Indiana." Ida returned to Terre Haute in 1895 during her father's last illness and Rose, dubbed "The Artistic Comedienne," was on her own. Eventually, Young assigned all of his rights in Zeb to Rose. In 1900 playwright Carroll Flemming wrote a three-act musical comedy, Sis Hopkins, which became a Broadway hit. Sis's lament, "There ain't no sense in doin' nuthin' for nobody what won't do nuthin' for you," was among the most quoted stage lines for a decade. At least two humor magazines, Sis Hopkins and Foolish Humor, capitalized on its popularity and a novel was written based upon the play. The Sis Hopkins doll, with wired braided pigtails, became a collectible. On June 12, 1910, Melville wed songwriter Frank Minzey, her onstage co-star. Minzey was introduced to Terre Haute audiences at the Grand Opera House in October 1905. For a few years the Minzeys resided in South Bend, where Rose invested in real estate. In 1916 she portrayed Sis on the silent screen in She Came, She Saw, She Conquered and in at least 19 "shorts." The popularity of the Sis Hopkins character inspired Motion Picture magazine to feature Rose on its May 1916 cover. The following year she retired to the Minzeys' elegant estate, Highwood, overlooking Lake George, N.Y., having appeared in the same role more than 5,000 times before more than five million people. It is a record still unmatched. Rose spurned the chance to appear in the 1919 movie Sis Hopkins, serving instead as adviser to star Mable Nomand. Comedienne Judy Canova was Sis in the revamped 1941 "talkie." Rose died at Highwood on Oct. 8, 1946, at age 73. Frank died Nov. 12, 1949. The couple is buried at Buzzard Bay, Mass. Rose's parents are buried at Terre Haute's Woodlawn Cemetery.FTERRE HAUTE(812) 238-6000NATIONAL BANKAlways Close to HomeDate Published: Sept. 13, 2001Filename: Melville, Rose profile |
---|---|
Origin: | 2001-10-26 |
Created By: |
McCormick, Mike |
Publisher: |
Terre Haute Tribune-Star |
Source: |
http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/vchs/id/561 |
Collection: |
Vigo County Historical Society |
Rights: | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/ |
Copyright: |
Copyright Undetermined |
Subjects: |
Melville, Rose, 1873-1946 Actors Actresses Social Life People Famous Hoosiers |
Further information on this record can be found at its source.