Among the stellar catalog of performers who have graced the Music Hall stage is Maude Ewing Adams Kiskaadden (1872-1953). Better known as Maude Adams, raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Adams is best known today for her association with playwright J.M. Barrie. Adams acted in many of Barrie’s plays, but achieved superstardom in 1,500 performances in the title role of “Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.” As the first person to play the acrobatic Peter Pan onstage, she set the standard for every portrayal since.
A Mormon, gay, female actor in what could be a very difficult business, Maude Adams reportedly earned up to a million dollars annually at the peak of her fame. She first appeared at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH, the year it opened at age six. She returned years later in her signature role as Peter Pan. Among her wide-ranging roles, she starred onstage with a horse as Joan of Arc, as the son of Napoleon Bonaparte in the play “L’aiglon”, and as a rooster in the all-barnyard play “Chantecler.”
Adams retired in 1918 due to illness. She went on to work with engineers at General Electric to develop better theater lighting and with Eastman Kodak to develop improved color photography. While occasionally returning to the stage, she also taught acting at Stephens College in Missouri. Her only movie experience was a 12-minute screen test for a film role she did not get.
(c) J. Dennis Robinson, SeacoastHistory.com
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