James William Wallack

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Wallack, James William (1794–1864), actor and manager. The younger brother of Henry Wallack, he was slated for the navy but chose to continue his family's acting tradition. He had played opposite Edmund Kean and other leading figures before making his American debut at the Park Theatre in 1818 as Macbeth, followed by his Rolla, Coriolanus, Romeo, Hamlet, and Richard III. For the next thirty‐three years he shuttled between America and England, often appearing at Philadelphia's Arch Street Theatre and New York's National Theatre, which he managed for a time. It was at the latter that he offered the premiere of Tortesa, the Usurer (1839). George Odell has written that during these seasons, “Wallack really first showed New York what was meant by perfect stage‐management, with an eye to every detail, however slight.” He settled permanently in New York in 1851 and the following year opened his theatre and organized the company that was a leading American ensemble for the next thirty‐five years, first under him, then under his son Lester Wallack. Although his repertory covered a full range of classic and modern, tragic and comic, his forte was comedy. With rare exceptions, he ignored native works, preferring the safety of English and Continental writing. Wallack retired from acting in 1859 but continued to operate his theatre (including a new one built in 1861) until shortly before his death. His contemporary, James H. Hackett, described him thus: “His figure and bearing . . . were very distingué; his eye was sparkling; his hair dark, curly, and luxuriant; his facial features finely chiselled; and, together with the natural conformation of his head, throat, and chest, Mr. Wallack presented a remarkable specimen of manly beauty.” Biography: A Sketch of the Life of James William Wallack, Anonymous, 1865.