George Kunkel (actor)

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George Kunkel in 1908.

George Kunkel (December 29, 1866 – November 8, 1937) was an American character actor[1] and operatic baritone.[2] The son of two well known 19th century actors, he should not be confused with his father; the theatre manager, minstrel show performer, and songwriter George Kunkel (1823–1885).

Kunkel began his stage career performing alongside his mother, the actress Ada Proctor, in 1887. By 1896 he began appearing with professional light opera companies as a comedian and baritone; touring throughout North America and to Hawaii over the next six years. From 1901-1905 he was active as both an opera singer and an actor in dramatic and comedic plays in Australia and New Zealand. He was a member of the San Francisco Opera Company from 1905-1908, and briefly returned to the company in 1909. He was a member of the Aborn Opera Company in 1908 and 1911. In 1911-1912 he starred in numerous plays at the Orpheum Theatre in Cincinnati.

Kunkel transition away from his stage career and became a star of the silent film era from 1913-1921. He briefly returned to stage performances in California in 1927-1928. He died in Los Angeles in 1937.


Early life, family, and stage debut[edit]

George's father, George Kunkel, Sr.

George Kunkel Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 29, 1866.[3] He was the son of theatre manager, actor, and singer George Kunkel and his wife Addie Kunkel.[4] His mother was an actress who was known on the stage as Ada Proctor.[5] His sister was the soprano Mamie Kunkel;[6] known on the concert and oratorio stage after her marriage to the composer and choral conductor Edward M. Zimmerman (1859-1922)[7] as both Marie Kunkel Zimmerman and Marie Zimmerman.[8][9]

Kunkel's mother was born in Montreal, Canada, and her first marriage was to John Proctor, theatre manager of the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. She married George Kunkel after her first husband's death. She had a son from her first marriage, the actor John Proctor, who was George Kunkel Jr.'s half brother. She died at her son John's home in Philadelphia in 1892.[10]

Kunkel's father was a well known blackface minstrel show performer and theatre manager of the 19th century who became famous for his portrayal of Uncle Tom in a stage adaptation of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin on stages in the United State and England. His father died in 1885.[5] George Kunkel Jr.'s career as an actor began with a revival of this play that was staged by theatrical producer and actor J. Newton Gotthold in 1887 at the Harris Theater in Cincinnati. Like his father, he was known on the stage as George Kunkel. Kunkel portrayed the role of Phineas with the actress Sallie Partington as Topsy and his mother, then billed as Mrs. Kunkel, as Ophelia.[11] He reprised that role at the same theater in 1888.[12]

Career[edit]

George Kunkel in 1907.

Early career[edit]

By 1896 Kunkel had joined Charles L. Young's touring Columbian Comic Opera Company for performances in the United States and Canada.[13][14] His repertoire with the company that year included the roles of Beppo in Fra Diavolo[13] and Hackenback, magistrate of Trautenfeld, in Carl Millöcker's The Black Hussar.[15] He continued to portray leading comic roles with the company on tour in 1897 to cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Winnipeg, Denver, Dallas, and Olympia, Washington;[16] starring in performances of Scott Marble and Richard Stahl's Said Pasha and Edmond Audran's La mascotte.[17][18][19][16] He portrayed Rocco in the latter opera the following year with the Merrie Bell Opera Company.[20]

In early 1899 Kunkel became the leading male actor in Rose Stillman's company which was then performing in Albuquerque, New Mexico. With that troupe he starred in several comedic plays, among them Charles Reade's Nance Oldfield,[21] and a stage adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Edith's Burgler.[22] He then became a member of the Boston Lyric Opera Company (BLOC), making his debut with the company in June 1899 in Still Pasha.[23] He portrayed the part of Hadad in that opera on tour with BLOC to the Hawaiian Opera House in Honolulu later that year.[24] When the company staged a production of La belle Hélène in 1899 it interpolated a new song written by Kunkel, "The Ice Man", into the production.[25]

In 1900 Kunkel toured with the BLOC for performances in Los Angeles.[26] His repertoire with that company included the title role in J. Cheever Goodwin's Wang which he first performed on tour to the Metropolitan Opera House in Saint Paul, Minnesota.[27] Other roles with the BLOC included Captain De Merimac in Les noces d'Olivette;[28] Lotteringhi, the cooper, in Boccaccio,[29] Méphistophélès in Faust,[30] Gaspard in The Chimes of Normandy,[31] and the title role in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.[32]

Australia and New Zealand[edit]

In 1901 Kunkel became the leading male comic opera star of the Josephine Stanton Opera Company;[33] an organization with who he toured Australia, and New Zealand.[2] He had a particular triumph at the Criterion Theatre in Sydney as Goodwin's Wang.[34] In 1902 he was engaged at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide as Doc Smikfins in J. C. Williamson's musical A Runaway Girl.[35] In 1903 he became the stage manager as well as an actor with Lyceum Stock Company in Honolulu with whom he starred in both comedic and dramatic plays.[36] His repertoire with that company included the title role in the farce The Private Secretary[37] and Bean in William Gillette's drama Held by the Enemy.[38]

Kunkel left Hawaii in December 1903 to return to New Zealand where he joined the theatre company Sanford's American Players (SAP).[39] With that company he portrayed the blackface role of Nimrod in Scott Marble's The Sidewalks of New York,[40] Simon Legree in Uncle Tom's Cabin,[41] and was the villain Mark Sarley in Bland Holt's melodrama The Power of Gold.[42] He portrayed another blackface role with the company in George Hoey's melodrama The Pace that Kills at the Royal Lyceum, Sydney in October 1904.[43] He was still working in Australia as late as June 1905 performing the role of the villain McClosky in Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon at the Bijou Theatre, Melbourne.[44] He returned to Hawaii from Australia in July 1905.[45]

San Francisco[edit]

For the 1905-1906 season Kunkel was engaged as a member of the San Francisco Opera Company (SFOC; no relation to the current San Francisco Opera which was note yet established) at the Tivoli Opera House in San Francisco where he was starred in productions of Reginald De Koven's operetta The Highwayman[46] Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld,[47] and Paul Schindler and Ben Jerome and Paul Schindler's The Isle of Spice.[48] When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake occurred on April 18, 1906, the Tivoli Opera House was one of several buildings destroyed in related fires.[49] Kunkel was one of many people displaced during the event, and was officially listed as missing in a report published in the San Francisco Call on May 10, 1906.[50] An August 12, 1906 newspaper report in the Oakland Tribune states that he spent eight weeks performing with the SFOC on tour to the Grand Opera House in Seattle in the summer of 1906.[51]

After the destruction of the Tivoli Opera House, the SFOC built the American Theater on Market Street as a new venue for the company. Kunkel was one of the performers participating in the grand opening of the theater on January 21, 1907.[49] He continued to perform with the SFOC in the succeeding years. Other works he performed with the SFOC included Ludwig Engländer's The Strollers (1907 and 1909),[52][53] Harry Lawson Heartz and Richard Carle's The Tenderfoot (1907, as Professor Pettibone),[54] De Koven's Robin Hood (1907, as Friar Tuck),[55] Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange's Dolly Varden (1907, as Jack Fairfax)[56] Victor Herbert's The Singing Girl (1907),[57] Herbert's The Idol's Eye (1907, as Jaamie McSnuffy)[58] Bryceson Treharne's The Toymaker (1907, as Johannus Guggenheimer, aka "The Toymaker"),[59] Raymond Hubbell's Fantana (1907 and 1908),[60][61] Henry Grattan Donnelly and Fred Miller's Ships Ahoy! (1908, as Mapleson Mulberry)[62] and Herbert's Babette (1908, as Van Tympel).[63]

Later stage career, film career, and death[edit]

George's sister, the soprano Marie Kunkel Zimmerman (1864-1953)

By March 1908 Kunkel had left California and joined the touring Aborn Opera Company.[64] Roles he performed with that company on a national tour during that year included Cheops and King Ptolemy in The Wizard of the Nile,[65][66][67] Friar Tuck in Robin Hood,[64] Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore,[68] Ravennes in Erminie,[69] and the title role in Wang.[70] He returned to the Aborn Opera Company in 1911, beginning with a production of The Red Mill at Palisades Amusement Park in the summer of that year.[71] In December 1911 he joined the group of resident actors at the Orpheum Theatre in Cincinnati, making his debut with the company as Sergeant Keller in Augustus Thomas's drama Arizona.[72] Some of his other roles with that company included Matt Donovan in George Broadhurst and George V. Hobart's Wildfire (1911),[73] Sir Charles in Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer (1911),[74] Judge Harlan in Langdon McCormick's Out of the Fold (1912),[75] Sam Robinson in James Montgomery's The Aviator (1912),[76] and the blackface part of the barber George Washington White in William Collier Sr.'s Caught in the Rain (1912).[77][78]

Kunkel married Frances A Heintz on 23 August 1913.[79] He transitioned away from the stage and into film beginning that year. He started his film career appearing in one to three reel short films[1] from 1913 to 1916.[3] He then starred as a character actor in fourteen feature-length films from 1914 to 1921; most of which were Westerns.[1] He portrayed the mountaineer Robert Maitland in Vitagraph Studios's The Chalice of Courage (1915);[80] notably the first film in the history of cinema to depict an assisted suicide.[81]

In 1927 Kunkel returned to the stage, portraying the Sheriff of Nottingham in De Koven's Robin Hood at the Hollywood Bowl.[82] In 1928 he starred in a production of Jerome Kern's musical Sally at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.[83]

George Kunkel died at the age of 70 in Los Angeles.[84] He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[3] Kunkel was survived by his wife Frances, his sister Marie Kunkel Zimmerman, and his son, Herbert Kunkel.[85] Herbert's death certificate lists George Kunkel as his father and Grace Davis as his mother, and that he was born in Pennsylvania on December 2, 1890 and died on March 1, 1943 in Philadelphia.[86] With the exception of his place of birth, this information is identical in Herbert Gresham Kunkel's U.S., World War I Draft Registration Card. It states he was born in Buffalo, New York on December 2, 1890.[87]

Selected filmography[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Katchmer, p. 194-195
  2. ^ a b Simpson, p. 152
  3. ^ a b c Wilson, p. p. 418
  4. ^ 1880 United States Federal Census for George Kunkel, Maryland, Baltimore (Independent City), Baltimore, 059, 17-296J., C274, page number 7, Supervisor's District Number 1
  5. ^ a b "An Old Time Minstrel Dead". Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. January 29, 1885. p. 7.
  6. ^ "Amusements, Music, Etc.; At Other Theatres". Philadelphia Inquirer. January 27, 1885. p. 4.
  7. ^ "E. M. Zimmerman; Was Known Here as Choirmaster, Teacher, and Composer". Philadelphia Inquirer. December 7, 1922. p. 27.
  8. ^ "Music and Art". The Herald and Presbyter: 34. May 21, 1902.
  9. ^ American Guild of Organists (April 1905). "Marie Kunkel Zimmerman". The New Music Review and Church Music Review. Vol. IV, no. 41. Novello, Ewer & Co. p. 221.
  10. ^ "Death of Mrs. Addie Kunkel Proctor". Baltimore Sun. September 7, 1892. p. 8.
  11. ^ "Harris Theatre". Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. September 26, 1887. p. 4.
  12. ^ "Harris' Theater". Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. March 29, 1888. p. 8.
  13. ^ a b "Amusements". Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette. May 12, 1896. p. 15.
  14. ^ "Musical and Dramatic; Columbian Opera Company". Winnipeg Tribune. December 26, 1896. p. 5.
  15. ^ "Amusements: The Columbian Opera Company". Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette. May 15, 1896. p. 3.
  16. ^ a b "Columbia Opera Company". Hutchinson News Newspaper. December 14, 1897. p. 6.
  17. ^ "Musical Column". Los Angeles Herald. March 7, 1897. p. 11.
  18. ^ "The News In Brief". Olympia Washington Standard. February 19, 1897. p. 3.
  19. ^ "Said Pasha on Tuesday Night". Nelson Tribune. April 24, 1897. p. 1.
  20. ^ "Amusements". Lincoln Nebraska State Journal. October 21, 1898. p. 3.
  21. ^ "Elk's Night Performances". Albuquerque Daily Citizen. May 23, 1899. p. 5.
  22. ^ "Popular Rose Stillman". Albuquerque Daily Citizen. May 19, 1899. p. 1.
  23. ^ "Boston Lyric Opera". The Saint Paul Globe. June 11, 1899. p. 28.
  24. ^ "Boston Lyrics Have Won". Honolulu Evening Bulletin. November 1, 1899. p. 1.
  25. ^ "Her Kisses The Real Thing: Good Music and Clever Comedy in "La Belle Helene"". Montana Helena Independent. September 2, 1899. p. 8.
  26. ^ "Boston Lyric Opera Company". The Capital. XL (7). Los Angeles: The Capital Publishing Company: 3. February 10, 1900.
  27. ^ "Dramatic; Metropolitan". The Saint Paul Globe. July 3, 1899. p. 4.
  28. ^ "An Evening of Pure Fun: "Olivette" Played with Zest and Dash". The Hawaiian Star. November 12, 1899. p. 6.
  29. ^ "Was A Success: Boccaccio Finely Rendered By the Lyric Last Night". Honolulu Pacific Commercial Advertiser. November 22, 1899. p. 7.
  30. ^ "Lyrics in Faust". Honolulu Pacific Commercial Advertiser. December 16, 1899. p. 7.
  31. ^ "With The Lyric". Honolulu Hawaiian Gazette. December 1, 1899. p. 8.
  32. ^ "The Mikado". The Hawaiian Star. November 14, 1899. p. 1.
  33. ^ "Amusements: Stanton Opera Company". Auckland Star. June 1, 1901. p. 4.
  34. ^ Gänzl, p. 2163
  35. ^ "Amusements: Theatre Royal". Adelaide Express And Telegraph. July 2, 1902. p. 2.
  36. ^ "Lyceum Stock Company Opens". Honolulu Pacific Commercial Advertiser. June 18, 1903. p. 8.
  37. ^ "The Private Secretary". Honolulu Pacific Commercial Advertiser. June 19, 1903. p. 5.
  38. ^ "The Drama". The Hawaiian Star. July 20, 1903. p. 3.
  39. ^ "New in a Nutshell". The Hawaiian Star Newspaper. December 11, 1903. p. 8.
  40. ^ "The Sidewalks of New York". Auckland Star Newspaper. February 22, 1904. p. 5.
  41. ^ "Sydney Shows". Melbourne Punch. August 25, 1904. p. 31.
  42. ^ "Walter Sanford's American Players". Ashburton Guardian. April 6, 1904. p. 2.
  43. ^ "Amusements: The Pace That Kills at the Lyceum". Sydney Evening News. October 3, 1904. p. 3.
  44. ^ "Bijou Theatre". Melbourne Age. June 5, 1905. p. 9.
  45. ^ "Sierra Made Port Today". The Hawaiian Star. July 4, 1905. p. 8.
  46. ^ "With the Players and the Music Folk". San Francisco Call. November 19, 1905. p. 19.
  47. ^ "Tivoli Opera House". Oakland Tribune. December 30, 1905. p. 18.
  48. ^ "Tivoli Show Well Staged". San Francisco Call. February 21, 1906. p. 7.
  49. ^ a b "American is Fine Theater". Oakland Tribune. January 22, 1907. p. 4.
  50. ^ "Hundreds of Names Are Still Listed As Missing: Many Anxious Persons Seeking News of Friends and Relatives". San Francisco Call. May 10, 1906. p. 5.
  51. ^ "Opera in North". Oakland Tribune. August 12, 1906. p. 35.
  52. ^ "Amusements". Seattle Star. January 23, 1909. p. 3.
  53. ^ "Some Other Attractions". San Francisco Call. January 13, 1907. p. 34.
  54. ^ Crawford, James (April 15, 1907). ""The Tenderfoot" Given Excellent Treatment At the American". San Francisco Call. p. 7.
  55. ^ "Good Musical Attractions". San Francisco Call. April 28, 1907. p. 26.
  56. ^ "Opera At MacDonough". Oakland Tribune. August 20, 1907. p. 3.
  57. ^ "Amusements: MacDonough Theater". Oakland Tribune. August 23, 1907. p. 15.
  58. ^ "Present the Idol's Eye: San Francisco Opera Company At Its Best". Los Angeles Herald. October 7, 1907. p. 3.
  59. ^ "The Toymaker". Bakersfield Californian. December 27, 1907. p. 4.
  60. ^ "Light Opera and Vaudeville". San Francisco Call. March 31, 1907. p. 26.
  61. ^ "Coming Attractions". Los Angeles Herald. February 2, 1908. p. 20.
  62. ^ "Coming Attractions". Los Angeles Herald. January 12, 1908. p. 14.
  63. ^ "Coming Attractions: Los Angeles". Los Angeles Herald. January 26, 1908. p. 14.
  64. ^ a b "Bastable—Aborn Opera Company". March 29, 1908. p. 13.
  65. ^ "At the Parks and the Theatres". Newark Evening Star. June 20, 1908. p. 19.
  66. ^ "Theatre Notes". Baltimore Daily Record. April 27, 1908. p. 2.
  67. ^ "Miss Dietrich Prima Donna". Baltimore Sun. April 17, 1908. p. 14.
  68. ^ "Aborn English Opera Company". Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. May 8, 1908. p. 15.
  69. ^ "At the National". Washington Herald. June 21, 1908. p. 19.
  70. ^ "To Give "Wang" This Week". Baltimore Sun. May 3, 1908. p. 15.
  71. ^ "Summer Amusements". The New York Times. June 11, 1911. p. 65.
  72. ^ "Arizona at Orpheum". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. December 3, 1911. p. 19.
  73. ^ "Brownie Burke and the Orpheum Company in "Wildfire"". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. December 11, 1911. p. 3.
  74. ^ "Goldsmith's Comedy, "She Stoops To Conquer". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. December 21, 1911. p. 3.
  75. ^ "Out of the Fold To Be Given At the Orpheum". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. February 15, 1912. p. 5.
  76. ^ ""The Aviator" To Be Seen At the Orpheum Sunday". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. February 22, 1912. p. 3.
  77. ^ "Collier Comedy at Orpheum". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. February 11, 1912. p. 25.
  78. ^ "Caught In the Rain Packs the Orpheum". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. February 12, 1912. p. 3.
  79. ^ Frances A Heintz in the California, U.S., County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849-1980
  80. ^ Mark. (July 30, 1915). "Film Reviews: The Chalice of Courage". Variety. XXXIX (9): 19.
  81. ^ Stack & Bowman, p. 99
  82. ^ "I Am Thief Sheriff Says to Accusers In De Koven's Comic Opera "Robin Hood"". Oxnard Daily Courier. June 20, 1927. p. 2.
  83. ^ "Sally Scores at Shrine". Los Angeles Daily Trojan. February 24, 1928. p. 4.
  84. ^ "Deaths Last Night; George Kunkel, 70, Pioneering Film Actor". Racine Journal Times. November 9, 1937. p. 15.
  85. ^ "Obituaries: George Kunkel". Variety. November 10, 1937. p. 62.
  86. ^ Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1970 for Herbert Kunkel, 1943, 020901-023300
  87. ^ U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 for Herbert G Kunkel
  88. ^ Goble, p. 52
  89. ^ Rhodes & Hogan, p. 19-20
  90. ^ Braff, p. 506
  91. ^ Goble, p. 102

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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