John Craig (June 1866 – August 23, 1932) was an American actor, director, and producer. During his forty-four years on the stage he performed in and directed dozens of Broadway productions. He managed the Castle Square Theatre stock company in Boston for many years, sponsoring an annual prize for the best play written for Professor Baker's drama courses at Harvard University and Radcliffe College. Two of these plays, Believe Me, Xantippe and Common Clay became successes on Broadway after being produced at the Castle Square Theatre. He took many neophyte actors into his company who would later become well-known performers, such as Donald Meek, Mabel Colcord, Peggy Wood, William Powell, and Charles Bickford. Craig also developed new talent, giving Alfred Lunt his first acting job. Shortly before his death he performed onscreen for the first time in an early talkie, Silence.
Early years John Richard CraigLondon, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940, for John Richard Craig, Camden > St. Giles in the Fields > Holborn: St. Giles High St., 1887-1899, retrieved from Ancestry.com was born during June 1866, in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee.Six Years, pp.27-28 His family moved to Texas when he was young, and he grew up on ranches there. He was a clerk in a Galveston, Texas store when he saw his first play at age 18. He went to New Orleans and tried to join a stock company but found no takers. Around age twenty, with $125 in savings, he left for New York to become an actor. He sustained himself at a variety of jobs until he was taken on as a supernumerary in a stock company.
Augustin Daly's Company
Craig's first known credit was with producer Augustin Daly's organization in late 1891. By this time he had spent three years in stock companies. He and Tyrone Power Sr. were new members of Daly's company in The Taming of the Shrew, at Daly's Theatre on November 25, 1891. Ada Rehan, who managed the troupe for Daly, played Katherina Minola, while John Drew portrayed Petruchio. Tyrone Power's Christopher Sly was praised highly by a reviewer, while Craig's Lucentio "was satisfactory". After a month, the company switched to As You Like It, Rehan and Drew taking on Rosalind and Orlando de Boys respectively, while Craig played Oliver de Boys.
The Foresters, in its American and Broadway premiere, was Craig's third play for Daly's Company, starting March 17, 1892. Ada Rehan and John Drew played the leads (Maid Marian and Robin Hood), while Craig had the part of Prince John Lackland. He continued to play supporting roles, such as in The Last Word during May 1892, but had little chance for a lead while John Drew remained with the company.
When The Foresters was performed on tour in Boston, there was a new cast member, credited as May Young, though her birthname was Mary. Primarily a dancer, she was a twelve-year-old discovery of Augustin Daly.Six Years, pp.69-70. Both Craig and Young accompanied Daly's company as it played Chicago and finished its tour in San Francisco during July 1892. They went to England with the company in June 1893, to open the new Daly's Theatre in London.
Still in London during January 1894, Craig played Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night opposite Ada Rehan as Viola. This was his first time as her leading man. Craig was said to perform "with polish and dignity", while Ada Rehan was criticized for slowing down her part. The reviewer also expressed surprise at the insertion of an "elaborate Oriental dance"; though uncredited, the dancer was May Young. That Young was there in London is known from when she and Craig secretly married at St Giles in the Fields on March 17, 1894, with her mother and a church warden as witnesses. The marriage needed to be kept secret for Augustin Daly had a firm rule that husbands and wives could not perform together in his troupe.
The production of Twelfth Night was a marked success, reaching an unprecedented 100th consecutive performance on April 19, 1894, with members of the Royal family in the audience. Craig was saluted by a critic for his excellent elucidation of Shakespeare's words. Daly's Company closed its London engagement in early May 1894 with a week-long revival of As You Like It, Craig playing Orlando to Ada Rehan's Rosalind. The Times reviewer said "A new Orlando of unusual merit appears in John Craig". In a letter from London to the Boston Evening Transcript, correspondent Marie de Mensiaux claimed "Mr. Craig is, without exception, the best Orsino and the best Orlando I have yet seen".
Craig continued as Ada Rehan's leading man at the season opening in Boston during September 1894, but when the company came to New York in December 1894, Craig told Augustin Daly about the marriage. Daly at first replaced Craig in Twelfth Night, but decided he was more valuable, and so dismissed Young. Though unreported by newspapers, the driver behind Craig's admission would become apparent with the birth of Harmon Bushnell Craig six months later.Harmon Bushnell Craig in the New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909, retrieved from Ancestry.com Daly later relented on his policy, allowing May Young to play Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream alongside her husband as Lysander. The couple's second and last child, John Richard Craig Jr. was born in August 1896.U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925, for John Richard Craig, retrieved from Ancestry.com Craig remained with Daly's company until April 1898, when he left for a stock company in Philadelphia. He then spent a year with Mrs. Fiske, before joining the Castle Square Theatre stock company in September 1899.Six Years, p.245.
Castle Square Theatre The Castle Square Theatre was an 1800-seat venue located in Boston, Massachusetts.A Year of Opera, pp.5-8. Opened on November 12, 1894, it housed a stock theatre company, with comic opera for the summer seasons. The theatre was modern for its time, equipped with an electrical plant, ice-powered cooling system, and an elevator to the balconies. It was well-ventilated, said to be fireproof, with broad aisles and accessways, and possessed perfect acoustics.A Year of Opera, pp.9-10.
Leading man
Craig's first performance at Castle Square Theatre came during September 1899, in The Wife, an 1887 four-act comedy by David Belasco and Henry Churchill de Mille. Craig was the new leading man for the stock company, co-starring with Lillian Lawrence. The following week they starred in Sue, an 1896 comedy by Bret Harte and T. Edgar Pemberton. These two plays, like the others performed during the remainder of 1899, were revivals, standard stock company repertoire. On January 1, 1900, however, the first American production of With Flying Colors was mounted at Castle Square Theatre. This five-act naval melodrama by Seymour Hicks and Fred G. Latham had recently finished its original run in London. The Boston cast included Mary YoungFrom this point on in her career, she was credited by her birthname rather than "May Young". making her Castle Square Theatre debut.
The Castle Square Theatre continued presenting plays early July 1900, closing its season with What Happened to Jones, a three-act farce by George Broadhurst, with Craig in the title role. After a summer break, Castle Square Theatre opened its fourth season in September with Divorce, a five-act society drama by Augustin Daly. Craig and Lillian Lawrence were again paired as that season's leads. By April 1901, Craig had convinced the management to produce the first Shakespeare ever presented at Castle Square, in place of the regular melodramas. He played Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, with Lillian Lawrence as Portia. After five seasons as leading lady, Lillian Lawrence left the Castle Square company with A Night Off in May 1901.
Having agreed to stay another season as leading man, Craig went off to Texas to look over "his extensive oil and cattle properties", after which he returned to Winthrop Beach for the 1901 summer break. He joined the new leading lady, Eva Taylor, in presenting The School for Scandal as the opening work for the new season. The Belle of Richmond, the first play by Sidney Toler, had its Boston debut in November 1901, with Craig as a modern-day lawyer who solves a bank embezzlement. As in the previous year, Craig was able to get another Shakespeare play scheduled in April 1902. Hamlet was produced, according to a reviewer, following Edwin Booth's version of the work. Craig played the title role, with Eva Taylor as Ophelia. The Boston Post critic said Craig was "to be commended for a thoroughly intelligent presentation".
Bringing Shakespeare to Castle Square
At the request of Mrs. Fiske, Craig reprised his role in her revival of Tess of the d'Urbervilles during May 1902. The two-week engagement on Broadway meant yielding his position temporarily with the Castle Square company; Eva Taylor left at the same time. By June 1902, the Boston Post reported Craig had signed to play leading roles at Castle Square for the next season, with Lillian Lawrence returning as leading lady. While sitting out the summer season he took on a one-week engagement for the GAR, playing the lead in The Drummer Boy of Shiloh at their Boston encampment.
The fall and winter season of 1902-1903 was opened with As You Like It, Craig and Lillian Lawrence playing Orlando and Rosalind. This was followed by The Importance of Being Earnest, The Taming of the Shrew, and Richard III. The talent of Craig and Lillian Lawrence, and the recent acquisition of John Sainpolis to the stock company, were driving the production schedule towards more challenging works than the usual melodramas, despite a mishap during a stage sword fight with Sainpolis that took Craig off the boards for a while in January 1903.
Craig played the lead in Othello during February 1903, with John Sainpolis as Iago and Lillian Lawrence as Desdemona. The critic for the Boston Evening Transcript noted the packed audience, as usual when the Castle Square played Shakespeare, but was harsh with the company's weakness at blank verse. Even Craig came in for criticism for interpolating words and not following the metrical rhythm.
In April 1903, Craig started his own company, which began touring when the Castle Square season ended. Mary Young, known in Boston as Craig's wife, returned to the stage after several years absence to play the female lead. Craig chose the comedy Prince Karl for the tour, opening at the Bijou Theatre in Boston, starting May 4, 1903. The production was well received, with Craig and Young both praised by reviewers, the latter especially for an original song she performed in the third act, Just a Little Wink, which was encored several times. After a week in Boston, the company toured nearby towns in New England for short runs.
Vaudeville and San Francisco Craig signed to become leading man for Mary Mannering during the 1903–1904 season in New York. They opened with an original tragedy called Judith, which one reviewer described as "Camille without a 'past'". But by December 1903, Craig was back in Boston, having left the tour with reports his popularity eclipsed the star and the play. He decided to spend time with the Keith vaudeville circuit, performing an excerpt from The Taming of the Shrew with Mary Young at Keith's Theatre. In January 1904, he again played Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night, supporting Viola Allen in her Boston and New York City engagements.
In April 1904 Craig, Mary Young, and Lillian Lawrence joined Frank Losee and William H. Turner in the E. F. Albee stock company at Keith's Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island. They performed together through the summer of 1904, with Lawrence and Craig playing a week-long Boston engagement in September.