Death Wakes The Echoes Of Aged Actress' Fame.
Death Wakes The Echoes
Of Aged Actress' Fame.

Death Wakes The Echoes Of Aged Actress' Fame

Kate Estelle, Once a Famous Queen of Tragedy, Passes Away,
Almost Forgotten.

Died In Her Brooklyn Home.

Was One of the Old School Exponents of Theatrical Art, and in Her Prime Played Many parts - Bowery Favorite in the Sixties.

    Kate Estelle, as she was well and popularly known to the theatregoers of this country up to and for many years preceding the late seventies - an actress who, in her time, ranked favorably with the best-known women players of heavy character parts the American stage has ever known, was buried on Sunday last, unnoticed by the public prints, which in years gone by had repeatedly sung her praises in their stage columns, from her home at 977 Herkimer street, this borough, and her remains were followed to their final resting place by the members of her family and a few close friends, who alone seemed to retain any recollection of the once favorite stage celebrity. The silver plate on the casket of the deceased bore the inscription, "Catherine S. Wynkoop, aged 72 years." Wynkoop was her marriage name. She had lived in retirement with her daughter, Mai Estelle, the present leading woman of Yale's "David's Auction" company, for the past quarter of a century and except the members of the players' colony, at St. James, L. I., where she had passed the summer months in recent years, her surviving professional associates had seemingly long ago forgotten her.
    Miss Estelle, as she was known for many years after her marriage, and up to her retirement, was contemporaneous with all the big stars of tragedy and comedy, who interested American theatregoers from the early sixties to her retirement in 1878. She was at one time the main female support of Edwin Booth, Charlotte Cushman and other great exponents of tragedy parts, and her Lady Macbeth was looked upon by the critics as one of the best impersonations of that character this country has ever seen.
    The recently deceased actress was born, Catherine Sinclaire Carmichiel, in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1832. She came to this country with her parents in her fourteenth year, and settled in New York City. Shortly afterwards her family removed to Baltimore, where, as a child, she made her stage debut in the character of a fairy at the old Front Street Theatre, with Leon Espinosa's ballet troupe. At that time Espinosa had just come to this country, and was attracting great attention with his company of comely and graceful dancers. It was his want to add to his troupe young girls who were attractive, and who could dance, in the various cities that he visited. In this way Miss Estelle joined him in Baltimore. Her first stage name was Catherine McGregor. The production in which she made her debut was an elaborate presentation of the pantomime "Gizelle."
    After one season with Espinosa, Miss Estelle joined the famous Ravel family, with which she remained several seasons. Then she concluded that she would transfer her efforts to speaking parts and accepted an offer from William H. Crisp, an English actor, and the father of Harry Crisp, who was years subsequently an acknowledged New York stage favorite, to appear with him in Shakespearean parts. She was leading lady for the elder Crisp for two seasons. Her next engagement was with the Boston Museum Stock Company, which theatre was recently torn down, and she was contemporaneous there with Warren, and the other artists who made that old playhouse famous in the annals of the American stage. It was an interesting fact that might be incidentally mentioned here, that the front door of the Boston Museum, when the building was recently razed, was purchased by Willie Collier, the comedian, and is intended to be used as the front door of his projected playhouse at St. James, L. I. Mrs. Wynkoop saw it last summer on Collier's property at St. James, and affectionately recalled that she had often, in the early days of the museum's prime, passed through it. When she joined the Museum Stock Company she changed her name to Kate Estelle - Estelle being the middle name of one of the Wynkoops, into which family she had married.
    During Miss Estelle's connection with the Boston Museum, Clifton Tayleur had dramatized for Lucille Western, the novel, "East Lynne," and produced it at the Holiday Street Theatre, Baltimore. It became a great success and Manager Henderson, of the Boston Museum, had another version prepared for the stage and produced it in Boston with Miss Estelle in Miss Western's dual character of Lady Isabel and Mme. Vine. Later Tayleur, after some disagreement with Miss Western, made another version under the title of "Lady Isabel," for Mrs. D. P. Bowers, and a number of court actions between Tayleur and Henderson, over the rights of the play, resulted and well advertised the piece. Miss Estelle played "East Lynne" with success for several seasons.
    About at the breaking out of the war, Miss Estelle joined the stock company of the old Richmond, (Virginia) Theatre as leading lady and remained there throughout the internecine struggle. It was there that she played Romeo to Charlotte Cushman's Juliet and Lady Macbeth to Edwin Booth's Macbeth. At the close of Miss Cushman's engagement in Richmond, "Romeo and Juliet" was continued with Miss Estelle and Ida Vernon - the latter is recalled in later years as one of the most able members of Shook & Palmer's New York Union Square Theatre Company, and the original Sister Genevieve, Matron of Salpetriere in the "Two Orphans," in this country - alternately in the title characters. During her professional career in this country, Miss Estelle played pretty much all of Shakespeare's leading female characters in the support of the greatest male exponents of tragedy at that time.
    At the close of the war Miss Estelle came to New York and played leading parts with Charles Dillon, an English actor, who, on his return visit to New York in 1866 was very successful in tragedy parts at Niblo's Garden. On Dillon's return to England, Miss Estelle joined the Bowery Theatre Company, where among other characters, she attracted very favorable notice as Cynthia, the gypsy queen in "The Flowers of the Forest," the character in which she is represented in the picture here reproduced.

Kate Estelle.

Kate Estelle.

    Dollie Bidwell, about the same time was playing this character in the South and the two interpretations of it were much discussed in theatrical circles. Among Miss Estelle's associates in the Bowery Theatre were Mary Mitchell, older sister of Maggie Mitchell of "Fanchon" fame and wife of James Collier, whom she divorced and then married John W. Albaugh. Mme. Ponisi, years later one of Wallack's company; Julie Dean, Mathilda Heroiz, Thomas E. Morris, Mrs. W. G. Jones, Helen Osgood and many others that long since have been almost forgotten.
    One of the last characters in which Miss Estelle appeared was Mme. Frochard, in the "Two Orphans." She was especially engaged for this part in one of the traveling companies that were arranged while the play was in the midst of its long run at the Union Square Theatre in New York. Her interpretation of the character was pronounced fully equal to that of Marie Wilkins, who played it in the Union Square production.
    Toward the latter part of her stage career Miss Estelle appeared in Chicago with Frank Aikens's all-star cast of "Little Emily" (David Copperfield). The cast, as memory recalls it now, was about as follows: Micawber, Stuart Robson; Uriah Heep, McKee Rankin; Little Emily, Ada Gilman; Dora, Kitty Blanchard and Martha, Kate Estelle.
    Throughout her career, Miss Estelle devoted herself principally to the study of Shakespearean roles, the most elaborate of which was, of course, Lady Macbeth. By Edwin Booth, she was considered the best Emelia, in "Othello," of her time. One of her most favorite parts was Parthenia.
    She incidentally managed during her career the Baltimore Museum, the New Bowery Theatre, and a number of other playhouses throughout the country.


Source:

Unknown, "Death Wakes The Echoes Of Aged Actress' Fame," from an unidentified Brooklyn newspaper, dated Sunday, 10 April, 1904, p. 2 (12?).


Notes:

    "Kate Estelle", featured in the above article, is Catharine Sinclair Carmichael, the wife of Ned Wynkoop's older brother, Charles Shippen Wynkoop. She was an respected actress who trod the boards under the stage name of Katie Estelle, taking her name from the middle name of Charlie and Ned's older brother, John Estill Wynkoop. She retired from the stage later in 1878, living out the rest of her life in Brooklyn, New York.

    Richard Wynkoop, in the 1904 edition of the Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States of America, has this to say about her and her husband, on page 188:

    1222. Charles Shippen Wynkoop, (John W. 722, Dr. Nicholas 393, Judge Henry 157, Nicholas 46, Gerret 5, Cornelius 1,) born in 1828: died in August, 1864, in Petersburg, Va.: married Catharine Carmichael.
    He went upon the stage, under the name of Charles McKenzie. His southern residence led him to sympathize with the rebellion, and he became Lieutenant Colonel of the 14th Reg. of Alabama. He was wounded, while in command of the regiment, after the explosion, July 30, 1864, of a mine under the rebel defenses of Petersburg, and underwent an amputation, from the effects of which he died.

    Child of Charles S. and Catharine Wynkoop:
1604. May: b. in 1858.

    Richard added the following information to the 1906 Supplement to the Wynkoop Genealogy, on page 23:

    1222. Charles Shippen Wynkoop. His wife, Catharine Sinclair Carmichael, was born Dec., 21, 1833; d. Mch., 30, 1904, in Brooklyn, N. Y., at the residence of her daughter, Mai Twiggs (1604), Mrs. Wm. Wolcott Marks. She had some celebrity as an actress. Children:-
          i. Catharine (1603A), b. abt., 1856;
         ii. Mai Twiggs (1604), b. May 19, 1859.

    Unfortunately, a lot of the information Richard wrote about Charles Shippen Wynkoop is wrong. I've been researching his history for some time now and with Gerard Wynkoop's help we may have soon have something reliable to write about in the near future.

    Chris

Created February 17, 2004; Revised February 17, 2004
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