Blanche Dayne
A white woman, standing, leaning against a chair; her hair is in a bouffant updo, and she is wearing a light-colored dress with a prominent lace overlay.
Blanche Dayne, from a 1910 publicity photo.
BornDecember 25, 1871
Troy, New York
DiedJune 27, 1944
Hackensack, New Jersey
Other namesBlanche Dayne Cressy
OccupationActress

Blanche M. Dayne (December 25, 1871 – June 27, 1944) was an American actress in vaudeville, often in a duo team with her husband, Will M. Cressy.

Early life

Dayne was born in Troy, New York on Christmas Day in 1871; she was on the stage from an early age.[1]

Career

She appeared in one Broadway show, A Village Lawyer (1908), and in one silent film, Fifty Dollars a Kiss (1915). Other stage credits were roles in vaudeville comedy sketches, including The Old Homestead, Grasping an Opportunity,[2] The Key of C, Bill Biffin's Baby, The New Depot, Town Hall To-night, and The Wyoming Whoop.[3][4] In 1898, she appeared with A. F. Fanshawe in the sketches A False Life, The Country Postmaster, An American Beauty, and Asa Jenkins.[5][6][7][8]

She and her husband were Cressy & Dayne, a popular vaudeville comedy act from the 1890s into the 1920s.[9][10] They were described as "among the highest-salaried players in vaudeville to-day" in a 1909 account.[11] The couple published Summer Days with Will Cressy and Blanche Dayne, a photo book of their summer travels, including their home in New Hampshire, their automobile tour through California, and photographs they took on a world driving tour in 1910.[12] They entertained troops in France during World War I,[13] with the Overseas Theater League, and were the first entertainers to enter Verdun after the Armistice.[14] Will Cressy's health was permanently damaged by exposure to chemical gas during their time in France.[15]

In 1921, Blanche Dayne Cressy was made "an honorary Rotarian" by the Rotary Club of Providence, Rhode Island (women were not admitted to Rotary membership at the time).[16]

Personal life

Dayne married Will M. Cressy, a writer and fellow vaudevillian, in 1890. He died in 1930. She died in 1944, at her sister's home in Hackensack, New Jersey, aged 72 years.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Psychology Press. pp. 279–280. ISBN 978-0-415-93853-2.
  2. ↑ "The Orpheum show : grasping an opportunity Will M. Cressy & Blanche Dayne" (1900), theatrical poster, Jay T. Last Collection, Huntington Library.
  3. ↑ "Cressy and Dayne in Harlem". New York Star. 2: 8. February 13, 1909.
  4. ↑ Briscoe, Johnson (1907). The Actors' Birthday Book: An Authoritative Insight Into the Lives of the Men and Women of the Stage Born Between January 1 and December 31. Moffat, Yard. p. 283.
  5. ↑ "The Dayne and Fanshawe (advertisement)". St. Albans Daily Messenger. 1898-09-02. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-11-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "The Dayne and Fanshawe (advertisement)". St. Albans Daily Messenger. 1898-08-25. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  7. ↑ "The Dayne and Fanshawe (advertisement)". St. Albans Daily Messenger. 1898-08-26. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-11-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "The Dayne and Fanshawe (advertisement)". St. Albans Daily Messenger. 1898-09-01. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-11-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Bryan, Mark Evans (2002). "Magnificent Barbarism": The Rube and the Performance of the Rural on the American Vaudeville Stage, 1875-1925 (Thesis). The Ohio State University.
  10. ↑ "Two Famous Figures in American Vaudeville". New York Star. 2: 20. December 26, 1908.
  11. ↑ "Last Two Weeks in Two Years". New York Star. 2: 28. April 10, 1909.
  12. ↑ Cressy, Will Martin. Summer days with Will Cressy and Blanche Dayne. New York: The McConnell Printing Co.
  13. ↑ "Title of Offering Very Appropriate". The Pittsburgh Press. 1919-05-11. p. 43. Retrieved 2020-11-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Sullivan, A. C. (1922-11-07). "Cressy and Dayne Have Real Message for Orpheum Fans". The Sacramento Star. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-11-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 "Blanche Cressy, 73, Was a Star in 'Homestead'". The Record. 1944-06-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-11-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "The History of Women in Rotary International" Rotary Club of San Jose East/Evergreen (June 13, 2012).
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