Pixley, Annie

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

Pixley, Annie [née Annie Shea] (1858–98), actress. The dark‐haired, plump but gamin performer was born in Brooklyn and raised in California, where she took her stepfather's name when she began a stage career. She scored successes in The Danites and in the title role of an 1876 version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs called Snowflake. Coming to the attention of Joseph Jefferson, she played opposite him in Rip Van Winkle before enjoying her most memorable hit as the hoydenish waif who was the title figure of M'liss. Pixley bleached her hair blonde to fight off villains in two vehicles Fred Marsden wrote for her, Zara (1883) and Eily (1885). Later successes included the stage‐struck heroine of A. C. Gunter's The Deacon's Daughter (1887) and the girl who helps her sweetheart fight in the Civil War, the title part in Kate (1890). Most of her vehicles offered her an opportunity to sing and dance, so many critics saw her as an imitator of Charlotte Crabtree. However, as one obituary noted, “There has been no greater favorite with American play‐goers.”

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Pixley, Annie." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Pixley, Annie." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-PixleyAnnie.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Pixley, Annie." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-PixleyAnnie.html

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