Produced by Linda Cantoni, Bryan Ness, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Famous Prima Donnas [Illustration: EDNA MAY As Violet Grey in "The Belle of New York."] Famous Prima Donnas By Lewis C. Strang _Author of_ "_Famous Actors of the Day_," "_Famous Actresses of the Day_," "_Famous Stars of Light Opera_," "_Players and Plays of the Last Quarter Century_," _etc._ Illustrated L.C.PAGE.&.COMPANY BOSTON PUBLISHERS _Copyright 1900_ BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (INCORPORATED) _All rights reserved_ Third Impression, February, 1906 _COLONIAL PRESS_ _Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co._ _Boston, U. S. A._ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION ix I. ALICE NIELSEN 1 II. VIRGINIA EARLE 21 III. LILLIAN RUSSELL 30 IV. JOSEPHINE HALL 46 V. MABELLE GILMAN 56 VI. FAY TEMPLETON 67 VII. MADGE LESSING 81 VIII. JESSIE BARTLETT DAVIS 88 IX. EDNA WALLACE HOPPER 104 X. PAULA EDWARDES 113 XI. LULU GLASER 120 XII. MINNIE ASHLEY 134 XIII. EDNA MAY 147 XIV. MARIE CELESTE 156 XV. CHRISTIE MACDONALD 172 XVI. MARIE DRESSLER 181 XVII. DELLA FOX 192 XVIII. CAMILLE D'ARVILLE 208 XIX. MARIE TEMPEST 222 XX. MAUD RAYMOND 233 XXI. PAULINE HALL 239 XXII. HILDA CLARK 253 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE EDNA MAY as Violet Grey in "The Belle of New York" _Frontispiece_ ALICE NIELSEN in "The Fortune Teller" 7 VIRGINIA EARLE as Winnifred Grey in "A Runaway Girl" 21 LILLIAN RUSSELL as "The Queen of Brilliants" 42 MABELLE GILMAN in "The Casino Girl" 56 FAY TEMPLETON singing the "coon" song, "My Tiger Lily" 67