James Young papers

1904-1948

James Young (1872?-1948) was active on stage and in motion pictures as an actor, director, and writer. Born on New Year's Day 1872 (some sources say 1878), in Baltimore, Md., James Young was appearing onstage by the 1890s. Eventually, his theatrical career would encompass playwriting, producing, directing, and management, as well as nationwide lecturing on Shakespeare. Mr. Young began acting in motion pictures in 1909 and writing and directing them three years later; he had appeared in some 35 films by 1917, including Maurice Tourneur's TRILBY (1915) opposite his then-wife Clara Kimball Young, when he gave up acting to focus on directing his own scripts. With F. Richard Jones he co-directed MICKEY (1918) starring Mabel Normand. He directed a number of literary adaptations, including BEAU BRUMMELL (1913), OLIVER TWIST (1916), and a remake of TRILBY (1923). Among his last films was THE BELLS (1926) starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff. James Young's film career ended with the coming of talking pictures. After several years of poor health he died in New York City on June 9, 1948. The James Young papers consist of nine folders of material and includes personal correspondence, financial documents, newspaper clippings, and ephemera, most of it from the last three years of Mr. Young's life. The early period of James Young's career is represented by a booklet of testimonials praising his lectures on Hamlet and Shylock, and by clippings from the New York Times and the Baltimore American, both dated July 1896, which describe James Young's collection of theatrical portraits, especially of the Booth family, which he donated to the Players Club in New York. Much of the material from Mr. Young's last years details the deterioration of his health.