Hallett Thompson (1871?-1938) was an actor and playwright, active from the late nineteenth century until well into the twentieth. While based in his hometown of Gloucester, Mass., during 1898-1900, Thompson was touring the Eastern United States...
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Hallett Thompson (1871?-1938) was an actor and playwright, active from the late nineteenth century until well into the twentieth. While based in his hometown of Gloucester, Mass., during 1898-1900, Thompson was touring the Eastern United States with a repertory company, and he later toured the Vaudeville circuit in one-act plays. His Broadway acting credits include MISTRESS NELL (1900), directed by and starring Henrietta Crosman, EXTRA (1923) with Chester Morris, and MOVE ON (1926). Hallett Thompson also tried his hand as a playwright, and his works include A CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY and THE HOUSE OF RENAUD (1905). Hallett Thompson committed suicide in his New York apartment on Aug. 13, 1938, at the age of 67. Thompson's widow Irma La Pierre (1880-1951) was an actress who later rented out apartments in New York City. The Hallett Thompson papers consist of some correspondence, holiday cards, and two tablets of hand-written drafts of untitled plays, presumably by Hallett Thompson. It is unclear whether these drafts were ever completed or staged. One tablet is dated March 1906, but neither play is identified. There is a small address book which belonged to Hallett Thompson while he lived in Gloucester, Mass., and a date-book covering the theatrical seasons of 1898-99 and 1899-1900, with titles of plays in which Thompson's troupe performed, cities visited, etc. Thompson also used the book as a checking account ledger. There are a number of holiday cards to Thompson from his daughter Helen. Most of the correspondence dates from 1949-50, and pertains to Mrs. Irma Thompson's occupation as landlady of a building at 255 West 108th Street in Manhattan. Copies of two leases are included.
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