James William Wallack

For more information on James William Wallack, visit Britannica.com.

Wallack, James William (1794–1864), actor and manager. The younger brother of Henry Wallack, he was slated for the navy but chose to continue his family's acting tradition. He had played opposite Edmund Kean and other leading figures before making his American debut at the Park Theatre in 1818 as Macbeth, followed by his Rolla, Coriolanus, Romeo, Hamlet, and Richard III. For the next thirty‐three years he shuttled between America and England, often appearing at Philadelphia's Arch Street Theatre and New York's National Theatre, which he managed for a time. It was at the latter that he offered the premiere of Tortesa, the Usurer (1839). George Odell has written that during these seasons, “Wallack really first showed New York what was meant by perfect stage‐management, with an eye to every detail, however slight.” He settled permanently in New York in 1851 and the following year opened his theatre and organized the company that was a leading American ensemble for the next thirty‐five years, first under him, then under his son Lester Wallack. Although his repertory covered a full range of classic and modern, tragic and comic, his forte was comedy. With rare exceptions, he ignored native works, preferring the safety of English and Continental writing. Wallack retired from acting in 1859 but continued to operate his theatre (including a new one built in 1861) until shortly before his death. His contemporary, James H. Hackett, described him thus: “His figure and bearing . . . were very distingué; his eye was sparkling; his hair dark, curly, and luxuriant; his facial features finely chiselled; and, together with the natural conformation of his head, throat, and chest, Mr. Wallack presented a remarkable specimen of manly beauty.” Biography: A Sketch of the Life of James William Wallack, Anonymous, 1865.

John and James Wallack

James William Wallack (c. 1794–1864) was an Anglo-American actor and manager, born in London.

He was of a theatrical family, his parents being actors. He made his first stage appearance at Drury Lane in 1807. After three years in Dublin, he was again at Drury Lane until he went to the United States in 1818, appearing as Macbeth at the Park Theatre, New York. He settled permanently in New York City in 1852. The first Wallack's theatre was an old one, renamed, at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway. The second, at 13th Street and Broadway, he built himself. His son opened the third and last Wallack's Theatre in 1882.

Wallack was an actor of the old school. Thackeray praised his performance as Shylock, and Joseph Jefferson his Don Caesar de Bazan. He married the daughter of John Henry Johnstone (1749-1828), a popular tenor and stage Irishman; she died in 1851. Their son, John Lester Wallack was also a famous actor.

Literature

• A Sketch of the Life of James William Wallack, Late Actor and Manager (New York, 1865)
• Lester Wallack, Memories of Fifty Years (New York, 1889)
• William Winter, The Wallet of Time, volume i. (New York, 1913)

References

 "Wallack, James William". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)