Frank Chanfrau
Encyclopedia
Francis "Frank" S. Chanfrau (1824 – 2 October 1884) was an American
actor
and theatre manager
in the 19th century. He began his career playing bit parts and doing impressions of star actors such as Edwin Forrest
and of ethnic groups. In 1848, he appeared as a Bowery b'hoy
named Mose in A Glance at New York. The play became a record-breaking hit, due largely to the Mose character, and Chanfrau spent most of the rest of his career playing that role. In later life, Chanfrau appeared regularly in Kit, the Arkansas Traveller and Sam. Chanfrau's wife, Henrietta Baker Chanfrau
, was a well-known actress who usually performed under the name Mrs. F. S. Chanfrau.
parents in New York City
; he grew up near Essex Market. As a boy, Chanfrau saw a performance by Edwin Forrest
and decided to become an actor himself. Various legends arose during his career to explain his later choice of roles. One, related by T. Allston Brown
, claims that in his youth Chanfrau frequented a small restaurant called the Broadway House on the corner of Grand Street, where he would order a daily plate of corned beef for six pence. One day, a printer at the New York Sun
named Mose Humphrey
sat down by him and yelled out his order: "Look a heah! gim me a sixpenny plate ev pork and beans, and don't stop to count dem beans, d'yr heah!" Chanfrau would later adopt this persona of the Irish
Bowery b'hoy and popularize it on stage.
Another version, related by A. E. Costello, says that Chanfrau witnessed Mose Humphreys in a street brawl:
Whatever the ultimate source of his fireboy impression, Chanfrau was a gifted impersonator from a young age. He took the stage as a young man doing an impersonation
of Forrest and a string of minor roles while touring from theatre to theatre with various companies. Brown says that he "played every dialect known to the stage, excepe the Welsh." Chanfrau became a member of the house company at Mitchell's Olympic Theatre in 1848. There, a friend and playwright named Benjamin A. Baker wrote A Glance at New York. The play is a collection of jokes, short skits, songs, and other scenes centered on a country bumpkin from Connecticut
who is guided through New York by Chanfrau's fireboy character. The two proposed it to Mitchell, the theatre manager
, but he rejected it.
. Brown relates that "Mitchell used to tell how he went on the stage that night just before the curtain was rung up, and seeing Chanfrau at the back, dressed for his part, was on the point of ordering him off, supposing he was one of the 'Centre Market loafers.'" When Chanfrau took the stage, the audience greeted him with silence.
The play was an immense hit, and Baker, Chanfrau, and Mitchell changed the name to New York as It Is and rewrote it to focus on Mose. It played to a full house for the next two weeks. Chanfrau's huge popularity as Mose prompted William Northall to lament that at the Olympic
W. Olgivie Ewen leased the larger Chatham Theatre
for Chanfrau to manage beginning 28 February 1848. Chanfrau changed the name to Chanfrau's National Theatre and allowed working-class patrons to sit in all sections of the playhouse, not just the pit as was customary. Chanfrau acted in a number of melodramas and burlesques with a concentration on Mose plays. Meanwhile, New York as It Is broke all records for New York theatre, playing for 47 nights straight and becoming the most popular play in the United States to that point. The New York Herald
reported that a performance on 26 April 1848 was so packed that the crowd rushed the stage, howling and laughing. The police and theatre staff had to remove the excess theatregoers, some of whom had to literally walk over members of the pit to get back to their seats. Chanfrau retained Chatham's lease until 8 July 1850.
Chanfrau began touring widely, starred as Mose at a number of working-class
theatres. The Mose series expanded to include Mose in China, Mose in California, The Mystery and Miseries of New York, and many others. David Renear estimates that Chanfrau appeared as Mose at least 385 times in seven plays between 15 April 1848 and 6 July 1860. Meanwhile, other actors tried to cash in on the Mose fad, and Bowery b'hoy dramas appeared on stages across the United States.
(at that time known as Brougham's Bowery Theatre). By this time, the popularity of the Mose character was waning, so Chanfrau turned to other parts. He did satires of Edwin Forrest, Shakespeare, and a version of Dan Rice
's circus. In late June, he moved to the theatre at 585 Broadway
(previously home to Buckley's Serenaders
) and renamed it the New Olympic Theatre. He played there until August, mostly concentrating on nostalgic pieces from the 1840s and early 1850s.
Chanfrau eventually had a minor hit as the title character of Kit, the Arkansas Traveller, which he played 360 times. Later he played in Sam by Thomas de Walden 783 times. For the remainder of his career, he played these parts, Mose, and other roles from his early life as an actor.
Brown left this description:
Frank Chanfrau died at Taylor's Hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey
, on 2 October 1884.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and theatre manager
Theatre direction
A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production by unifying various endeavours and aspects of production...
in the 19th century. He began his career playing bit parts and doing impressions of star actors such as Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest was an American actor.-Early life:Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of Scottish and German descent. His father died and he was brought up by his mother, a German woman of humble origins. He was educated at the common schools in Philadelphia, and early evinced a taste...
and of ethnic groups. In 1848, he appeared as a Bowery b'hoy
B'hoy and g'hal
B'hoy and g'hal were the prevailing slang words used to describe the young men and women of the rough-and-tumble working class culture of Lower Manhattan in the late 1840s and into the period of the American Civil War...
named Mose in A Glance at New York. The play became a record-breaking hit, due largely to the Mose character, and Chanfrau spent most of the rest of his career playing that role. In later life, Chanfrau appeared regularly in Kit, the Arkansas Traveller and Sam. Chanfrau's wife, Henrietta Baker Chanfrau
Henrietta Baker Chanfrau
Henrietta Baker Chanfrau was an American stage actress.-Career:Before her marriage, her stage name was Jeannette Davis....
, was a well-known actress who usually performed under the name Mrs. F. S. Chanfrau.
Early life and career
Chanfrau was born to FrenchFrench people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
parents in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; he grew up near Essex Market. As a boy, Chanfrau saw a performance by Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest was an American actor.-Early life:Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of Scottish and German descent. His father died and he was brought up by his mother, a German woman of humble origins. He was educated at the common schools in Philadelphia, and early evinced a taste...
and decided to become an actor himself. Various legends arose during his career to explain his later choice of roles. One, related by T. Allston Brown
T. Allston Brown
Thomas Allston Brown was an American theater critic, newspaper editor, talent agent and manager, and theater historian, best known for his History of the American Stage, published in 1872. Brown was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts...
, claims that in his youth Chanfrau frequented a small restaurant called the Broadway House on the corner of Grand Street, where he would order a daily plate of corned beef for six pence. One day, a printer at the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
named Mose Humphrey
Mose Humphrey
Mose Humphrey was a printer at the New York Sun and member of Fire Company 40. A parishioner of St. Andrew's Church, he inspired an urban folklore character of Big Mose . He was said to have a height of and hands as big as Virginia hams, able to lift trolley cars over his head and rescue babies...
sat down by him and yelled out his order: "Look a heah! gim me a sixpenny plate ev pork and beans, and don't stop to count dem beans, d'yr heah!" Chanfrau would later adopt this persona of the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
Bowery b'hoy and popularize it on stage.
Another version, related by A. E. Costello, says that Chanfrau witnessed Mose Humphreys in a street brawl:
Whatever the ultimate source of his fireboy impression, Chanfrau was a gifted impersonator from a young age. He took the stage as a young man doing an impersonation
Impersonator
An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for someone to be an impersonator, some common ones being as follows:...
of Forrest and a string of minor roles while touring from theatre to theatre with various companies. Brown says that he "played every dialect known to the stage, excepe the Welsh." Chanfrau became a member of the house company at Mitchell's Olympic Theatre in 1848. There, a friend and playwright named Benjamin A. Baker wrote A Glance at New York. The play is a collection of jokes, short skits, songs, and other scenes centered on a country bumpkin from Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
who is guided through New York by Chanfrau's fireboy character. The two proposed it to Mitchell, the theatre manager
Theatre direction
A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production by unifying various endeavours and aspects of production...
, but he rejected it.
Chanfrau as Mose
In 1848, Baker had a benefit at Mitchell's Olympic and asked Chanfrau to do his part from A Glance at New York in the afterpieceAfterpiece
An afterpiece is a short, usually humorous one-act playlet or musical work following the main attraction, the full-length play, and concluding the theatrical evening. This short comedy, farce, opera or pantomime was a popular theatrical form in the 18th and 19th centuries...
. Brown relates that "Mitchell used to tell how he went on the stage that night just before the curtain was rung up, and seeing Chanfrau at the back, dressed for his part, was on the point of ordering him off, supposing he was one of the 'Centre Market loafers.'" When Chanfrau took the stage, the audience greeted him with silence.
The play was an immense hit, and Baker, Chanfrau, and Mitchell changed the name to New York as It Is and rewrote it to focus on Mose. It played to a full house for the next two weeks. Chanfrau's huge popularity as Mose prompted William Northall to lament that at the Olympic
W. Olgivie Ewen leased the larger Chatham Theatre
Chatham Theatre
The Chatham Theatre or Chatham Street Theatre was a playhouse on the east side of Chatham Street in New York City. It was located between Roosevelt and James streets, a few blocks south of the Bowery. At its opening in 1839, the Chatham was a neighborhood establishment, which featured big-name...
for Chanfrau to manage beginning 28 February 1848. Chanfrau changed the name to Chanfrau's National Theatre and allowed working-class patrons to sit in all sections of the playhouse, not just the pit as was customary. Chanfrau acted in a number of melodramas and burlesques with a concentration on Mose plays. Meanwhile, New York as It Is broke all records for New York theatre, playing for 47 nights straight and becoming the most popular play in the United States to that point. The New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
reported that a performance on 26 April 1848 was so packed that the crowd rushed the stage, howling and laughing. The police and theatre staff had to remove the excess theatregoers, some of whom had to literally walk over members of the pit to get back to their seats. Chanfrau retained Chatham's lease until 8 July 1850.
Chanfrau began touring widely, starred as Mose at a number of working-class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
theatres. The Mose series expanded to include Mose in China, Mose in California, The Mystery and Miseries of New York, and many others. David Renear estimates that Chanfrau appeared as Mose at least 385 times in seven plays between 15 April 1848 and 6 July 1860. Meanwhile, other actors tried to cash in on the Mose fad, and Bowery b'hoy dramas appeared on stages across the United States.
Later career
In the spring of 1857, Chanfrau became the manager of the Bowery TheatreBowery Theatre
The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populist, pro-American management of Thomas Hamblin in the 1830s and 1840s...
(at that time known as Brougham's Bowery Theatre). By this time, the popularity of the Mose character was waning, so Chanfrau turned to other parts. He did satires of Edwin Forrest, Shakespeare, and a version of Dan Rice
Dan Rice
Dan Rice , was an American entertainer of many talents, most famously as a clown, who was pre-eminent before the American Civil War. During the height of his career, Rice was a household name...
's circus. In late June, he moved to the theatre at 585 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
(previously home to Buckley's Serenaders
Buckley's Serenaders
Buckley's Serenaders was an American blackface minstrel troupe, headed by James Buckley. They were an influential troupe in the United States; while they toured England from 1846 to 1848, their absence allowed Edwin Christy's troupe to gain popularity and influence the development of the minstrel...
) and renamed it the New Olympic Theatre. He played there until August, mostly concentrating on nostalgic pieces from the 1840s and early 1850s.
Chanfrau eventually had a minor hit as the title character of Kit, the Arkansas Traveller, which he played 360 times. Later he played in Sam by Thomas de Walden 783 times. For the remainder of his career, he played these parts, Mose, and other roles from his early life as an actor.
Brown left this description:
Frank Chanfrau died at Taylor's Hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
, on 2 October 1884.