Gregory Kelly (March 16, 1892 – July 9, 1927) was an American stage actor, who began performing as a child. He was a Broadway attraction, starring in such long-running productions as Seventeen and The Butter and Egg Man. His early death precluded him from appearing in more than two films. He is remembered today as the first husband of Ruth Gordon, who credited him with teaching her acting.
Early years Gregory Kelly was born on March 16, 1892, in New York City,U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918 for Gregory Kelly, retrieved from Ancestry.com to Thomas J. Kelly, a letter carrier, and his wife Agnes J. Kelly.1900 United States Federal Census for Gregory Kelly, New York > New York > Manhattan > District 0348, retrieved from Ancestry.com His grandparents on both sides were immigrants to New York from Ireland. He was the youngest of three sons; his older brother Thomas J. Kelly Jr. would also become an actor.1910 United States Federal Census for Gregory F. Kelly, New York > New York > Manhattan Ward 12 > District 0593, retrieved from Ancestry.com When he was two, he had rheumatic fever, which Ruth Gordon later speculated may have damaged his heart.Gordon, p.79.
Career Early stage work Actress Grace Menken recalled that as a child Gregory Kelly went through Anna Taliaferro's theatrical agency with her and her sister Helen Menken. Kelly's first verifiable stage creditMany later anecdotes recount how Kelly started acting at age four with Joe Jefferson in a revival of Rip Van Winkle, but contemporaneous sources for this have not yet been found. came in January 1904 with a production of The Light That Lies in Woman's Eyes. He and his older brother Tommy were jointly billed as "Two Boys, sons of Red Head". The play starred Virginia Harned, whose then husband E. H. Sothern had written it for her. When the production went on tour in February, the Kelly brothers went with it.
Kelly next appeared in a touring production of After Midnight, starting in September 1904, in which he received his first critical notice: "Master Gregory Kelly... also comes in for a large share of the applause". This tour lasted through the end of February 1905, resumed in September 1905 with new producers and a new leading man, and finished up in February 1906.
During 1908 Kelly joined a touring vaudeville musical called School Days by Gus Edwards, who also produced. It played Broadway for a month starting in September 1908, resuming touring in late October. He stayed with this tour through April 1909.
Mrs. Fiske
The quality of plays he appeared in, and Kelly's professional skills, improved after he joined "The Manhattan Company" of Mrs. Fiske in 1910. He later attributed to her tutoring his success in stage acting, particularly in timing dialogue pause and response.Gordon, pp.82, 93, 177. Harrison Grey Fiske first cast Kelly as a thirteen-year-old boy in a revival of Ibsen's The Pillars of Society. The production would have a three-day tryout in Rochester, New York, followed by a two-week engagement on Broadway. The play was accorded only mild interest by the New-York Tribune reviewer, but they commended the acting of the entire company. Kelly "...spoke with understanding and carried himself modestly, disdaining the 'smartness' which is the usual fault of stage boys." Following Pillars, Kelly then spent two weeks in a more adult role for a one-act curtain-raiser to Mrs. Fiske's main feature, Hannele.
The Fiskes took their production of Pillars on tour across the country, Kelly accompanying. While on the road, the Fiskes tried out a revival of Langdon Mitchell's Becky Sharp, a dramatization of Vanity Fair. Mrs. Fiske had been the original producer and director of this 1899 work. Kelly played a minor role in Becky Sharp, so the Fiskes made him assistant stage manager. Kelly was still with the Fiskes when Becky Sharp finished a two-week engagement on Broadway in early April 1911.
Kismet By late November 1911, Kelly was reported to have joined the cast of Klaw and Erlanger's Kismet, to be directed by Harrison Grey Fiske. This spectacular productionIt was a year for spectacles on Broadway, with Liebler & Company's The Garden of Allah having opened two months earlier. had its US premiere at the Knickerbocker Theatre on December 25, 1911. The cast was so large that it was divided into three sections in newspapers for just the principals.
After its New York run ended in May 1912, the original production company went on tour, Kelly with them. Lost among the crowd of featured players, there was little about Kelly's performance to stick in reviewer's minds. As one critic said of the actors, "it was not at all easy to sort them out", being in fantastic garb and affecting a "Baghdad accent". Additional to his acting, Kelly was again an assistant, along with T. Tamamoto,The Japan-born actor was the only Asian on the legitimate stage (as opposed to vaudeville) in America at this time. He first performed on Broadway in a 1904 melodrama, The Heir to the Hoorah, during which he used jiu jitsu. to stage manager Henry B. Stillmann. Besides managing regular matinee and evening performances for the public, the trio conducted full rehearsals using just the Kismet understudies, to keep them sharp. By September 1914, while touring Canada, Kelly had been promoted to the supporting role of the Beggar Kasim, and his brother Thomas had joined the cast as Caliph Abdaliah.
Kelly's involvement with 'Kismet' finally came to an end in October 1914, when he was included in an announced cast for The Young Idea. This was a vehicle for Lydia Lopokova, to be produced by Harrison Grey Fiske. It had been renamed Just Herself by the time it premiered on Broadway on December 23, 1914. Unfortunately, the play was shut down just six days later when producer Fiske entered voluntary bankruptcy.
Stuart Walker
Gregory Kelly had been with the Fiskes since 1910, but the bankruptcy ended this association. By April 1915, he was listed among the company of the Ben Greet Woodland Players, of which his brother Thomas was also a member. The Woodland Players' repertoire included several Shakespeare comedies. Though they used costumes, Ben GreetGreet himself did not perform with the troupe nor accompany it, leaving it to a hired manager. eschewed scenery and props for his Woodland Players, preferring to perform outside on grass where possible. He also favored "complete text" performances, forgoing any cuts to the plays.
Kelly had joined Stuart Walker's Portmanteau Theatre company by February 1916, when he took part in benefit performances for Friendship House in Washington, D. C., attended by first lady Edith Wilson. Walker directed the Portmanteau Theatre, working with producers Russell Janney and Maximillian Elser Jr. The repertoire consisted of Walker's own one-act plays, and the 16th Century anonymous Gammer Gurton's Needle.
Besides performing, Kelly acted as stage manager for the troupe. Walker, who occasionally did small roles, got along well with Kelly, despite disparite backgrounds. Walker was a "well bred Kentuckian", and a bit prim,Gordon, p.85. while Kelly was not.Gordon, pp.61–62. Gordon's memoir is frank about Kelly's affairs with female cast members before their marriage. Walker acquired American rights to perform three plays by Lord Dunsany in August 1916. These plays were performed on Broadway during November and December 1916, along with nine other works from the Portmanteau Theater repertoire. They were given as matinees on weekdays at the 39th Street Theatre and the Princess Theatre. They brought Kelly to the notice of Alexander Woollcott, who recognized his promise but felt his voice still limited him. The Dunsany plays, in which Kelly figured little, were not met with much enthusiasm by New York reviewers. The plays that drew most praise were two in which Kelly had the lead: Six Who Pass While the Lentils Boil and The Birthday of the Infanta.
The Portmanteau Theatre kept offering the Dunsany plays with its other reporatory works during Winter and Spring 1917. At St. Louis, one reviewer reported "The more versatile of the Portmanteau players do not seem to find Walker an easy boss. Gregory Kelly, the youthful stage manager, was kept on the stage nearly all the time, appearing in all three plays, and having the leading roles in the first two". During June 1917, Kelly registered with the U.S. Draft, and was classified 4-F, due to a heart murmur.
Seventeen
The Portmanteau Theatre settled into Indianapolis, Indiana for the summer season of 1917, where Walker hoped to tryout some new plays. Chief of these was Seventeen, based on Booth Tarkington's best selling novel. For this production Walker used a full-sized stage. The tryout in June showed the play needed cutting and female lead Aggie Rogers wasn't right for the part. When the summer tryouts ended, the company returned to Manhattan, where Walker began recasting the play. Kelly sat in on the auditions, and persuaded Walker to accept his choice for the female lead. This was Ruth Gordon, whom Walker initially didn't like.Gordon, pp.55–58.
The shortened and recast play had immediate success in its opening tour, playing an extended run in Chicago from October 1, 1917, through mid-December. It premiered on Broadway during January 1918, where it ran for over 250 performances. Kelly drew good reviews from most critics, though one decried a lack of spontaneity in his playing.
While most of the production company went on tour in September 1918, Walker assigned Kelly to the lead of Jonathan Makes a Wish, which debuted on Broadway that same month. This was a Walker written fantasy in three acts, which fell down badly in the second, according to Heywood Broun. Broun said the principal character Jonathan, played "sympathetically" by Kelly, aroused little interest compared to supporting roles performed by Edgar Stehli and George Gaul. The play was withdrawn after twelve days, and Kelly resumed his lead in the touring Seventeen.
Kelly and Ruth Gordon were back in New York City with the Seventeen tour when they got married on December 23, 1918.Gregory Kelly in the New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907–2018, Number 34418, retrieved from Ancestry.comGordon, pp.76–77. They continued with Seventeen until the tour finally ended in Spring 1919, after which they spent two months resting in Christmas Cove, Maine. They did some summer season plays for what was now called The Stuart Walker Company, then resumed touring with Seventeen until November 1919.
Clarence and Dulcy Kelly and Gordon had stuck with Stuart Walker throughout the long run of Seventeen, but Walker's next production was a rare miss by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, based on the latter's novel Piccadilly Jim. The play stumbled through some dismal tryouts, and as word spread of its weak appeal, Walker found the Shubert's were booking them into less desirable theaters in small markets. Trying to boost the play's appeal, Walker hired a well-known character actor for $400 a week, angering Kelly, whose top pay had been $250 during Seventeen.Gordon, pp.84–90.