James O’Neill (1897)

James O’Neill, father of playwright Eugene O’Neill, appeared as the leading man at the Historic Elitch Theatre for the 1897 summer season.

Born in Ireland on October 14, 1845 (some sources say 1847), James emigrated with his family to Buffalo, New York, at age 9. His family settled in Cincinnati and his father Edward abandoned them to return to Ireland, where he soon died. [source]

James O’Neill’s brother-in-law offered him a job in his business selling military uniforms during the Civil War. He also paid for a tutor for James, who introduced the young man to the theater. Later, O’Neill tried to establish several small businesses, all of which failed. When he was 21, he took a small role in a production in Cincinnati. “I began the thing as a lark,” O’Neill recalled, “but the stage manager prevailed on me to remain.” While still in his 20s, O’Neill earned a compliment from the greatest American actor of the day, Edwin Booth, who saluted O’Neill for the way he mastered his Shakespearean roles. [source]

The actor first met Ella Quinlan in the home of her father, a businessman in Cleveland, where O’Neill was performing at the time. He was 26; she was 15. O’Neill fell in love with Ella several years later and overcame the opposition of her mother to marry her. He also overcame a lawsuit from a former lover, Nettie Walsh, who contended that she had already married O’Neill (a judge determined there was insufficient evidence to prove the prior marriage). James and Ella had three children: James Jr., Edmund, who died of the measles while a toddler, and Eugene. Soon after Eugene was born, O’Neill took his infant son on tour with him while he played the role that would dominate his career. [source]

James O’Neill debuted as the lead in the melodrama The Count of Monte Cristo on February 12, 1883. The public adored him. The critics did not. As the box office success compelled O’Neill to continue playing the part, one critic wrote, “He is reaping the pecuniary profit of his business sagacity, but it is at the cost of art.” Another noted, “The Count’s irresistible monetary fascination is fast smothering O’Neill’s versatility.” Nevertheless, O’Neill followed the public demand, giving more than 6,000 performances and earning more than $800,000 from the role over the course of his career. [source]

O’Neill opened at the theatre as the lead in Helene on May 30th, 1897, but this was not his first time at the Elitch’s Zoological Gardens (the original name of the park). In 1890 O’Neill, a friend of John Elitch, attended opening day of the Elitch’s Zoological Gardens and told John, “I’ll come back and put a play on that stage whenever you’re ready for me.” [Caroline Lawrence Dier, Lady of the Gardens, p. 22]