Minna Gale (September 26, 1865 – March 4, 1944), also credited as Minna K. Gale and Minna Gale Haynes, was an American actress.
Early life Minna Kathalina Gale was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the daughter of James and Cornelia K. Gale; after her father's death, she lived in Europe and studied music and theatre in Paris and Frankfurt."Our Gallery of Players: Minna K. Gale" The Illustrated American (April 16, 1892): 420. "She speaks two languages besides English sufficiently well to play in either of them," noted one reviewer in 1886.Alfred Ayres, "Mr. Lawrence Barrett: A Study" The Theatre (October 11, 1886): 78–79.
Career Minna Gale was known for Shakespearean roles in her early career.Charles Harlen Shattuck, Shakespeare on the American Stage: From Booth and Barrett to Sothern and Marlowe (Associated University Presses 1976): 45. Paige Martin Reynolds, Performing Shakespeare's Women: Playing Dead (Bloomsbury 2018): 27. In 1885, at age nineteen, Gale was cast as Queen Gertrude, in Lawrence Barrett's production of Hamlet (Barrett, playing her son in the title role, was 47 years old). She stayed with Barrett's company for six seasons, sometimes as a rival to Helena Modjeska."Pittsburg Prefers Minna Gale" New York Times (October 1, 1889): 4. Later, she played Ophelia to Edwin Booth's last performance as Hamlet."Minna Gale Tells How She Toured with Edwin Booth" Chicago Tribune (March 7, 1909): 17. via Newspapers.com Her beauty was often mentioned in reviews."Minna Gale-Haynes" New York Times (January 27, 1893): 4. "If there is a young lady in this land who wishes to look when mad, she must assiduously cultivate the Minna Gale pout," remarked one theatre writer in 1892.Samuel Curry, "The Minna Gale Pout" The Theatre Magazine (January 1892): 39. She formed her own company after Barrett's death,"Minna Gale-Haynes" New York Times (December 25, 1892): 13. and briefly retired from the stage in 1893, after her marriage."Chestnut St. Opera House" Philadelphia Inquirer (March 5, 1893): 10. via Newspapers.com
In 1903 Gale-Haynes returned to acting as Rosalind in a production of As You Like It, given as a benefit for Vassar College on Shakespeare's birthday."Notes of the Theatres" New York Times (March 27, 1903): 9. ."Topics of the Theatres" New York Times (April 24, 1903): 5. Broadway appearances by Gale included roles in The Triumph of Love (1904), The White Sister (1909, written by Francis Marion Crawford and starring Viola Allen),"Viola Allen in The White Sister" New York Times (September 28, 1909): 9. A Celebrated Case (1915), The Pride of Race (1916),"Peculiar Theme in 'Pride of Race'" Hartford Courant (November 24, 1915): 6. via Newspapers.com A Tailor-Made Man (1917), The Outrageous Mrs. Palmer (1920), Tarzan of the Apes (1921), Golden Days (1921), and The Rubicon (1922).
Gale appeared in several silent films, including The Prisoner of Zenda (1913), Clothes (1914), The Port of Missing Men (1914), The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch (1914), The Dancing Girl (1915), and A Fool There Was (1915, with Theda Bara).
Personal life Minna K. Gale married insurance executive Archibald Cushman Haynes in 1892, as his second wife;"Minna Gale Married" San Francisco Morning Call (September 9, 1892): 2. via California Digital Newspaper Collection"Yesterday's Weddings: Haynes-Gale" New York Times (September 9, 1892): 4. she was widowed when he died in 1912. She died at home in Riverside, Connecticut in 1944, aged 74 years, survived by an adopted daughter, Dorothy Haynes Vollmer."The Final Curtain" Billboard (March 18, 1944): 33.
References
External links
An undated photograph of Minna Gale, from scrapbook "Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett, 1887–1888 Season", in the Owen Fawcett Theatre Collection, University of Tennessee Knoxville. An 1892 photograph of Minna Gale in costume, in the Macauley's Theatre Collection, University of Louisville Photographic Archives.