Stage and Screen Stars Among Us
A brief history of William H. Wright’s; Broadway Players/Wright Players 5-year engagement in Grand Rapids, Michigan, most of the time they called Powers Theatre home. 1923–28, 1932–33.
William H. Wright’s Wright Players, Grand Rapids Oct 1926
Pictured from left to right; Bertha Creighton, Baker Moore, Barbara King, Earl D. Dwire, Helen Gould Peck, Alexis “Lex” B. Luce, Margaret Fitch, George Westlake, Susan Freeman, David Munro, Allen H Moore, John Lyon.
The photo appeared in The Grand Rapids Herald, Sunday 24 October 1926, taken at the back entrance of The Morton Hotel on Ionia Avenue N.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan. William H. Wright’s Stock Company returned for the Fall/Winter 1926–27 season at Powers’ Theatre, introduced under the new name; Wright Players.
Over the 5 years billed as “Grand Rapids Own Stock Company” some of the actors included the following;
The Men
Spencer Tracy, Dean Jagger, Walter Vaughn, William Laveau, Halliam Bosworth, Alex B. Luce, George Westlake, Earl D. Dwire, Allen H Moore, Baker Moore, Frank E. Jamison, John Lyon, David Munro, Porter Hall.
The man far left is Baker Moore who often played lead. Alex B. Luce, in center, was leading man while with the Wright Players at Powers Theatre.
Walter Vaughn went on to Broadway but is best remebered for his voice on radio broadcasts. He is the father of Robert Vaughn; The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and actor in his own right.
Dean Jagger, a young 24 year old joins the group later in the 1926–27 season for a two year run with the Wright Players. Dean recounts in his early years it was difficult to play a believable 20-something because of his premature balding. He was often laughed off the stage. When he first appears on the movie scene in the early–1930s Hollywood right away makes him wear a toupé to cover up the bald and make him look years younger. There have even been scenes left in film where his toupé falls off and is adjusted. It has been written that Dean was to replace Spencer Tracy who left for Broadway in 1926, when Spencer returns to Wright Players he joins the stock company in Ohio.
The Women
Maude Fealy, Margaret Fealy, Selena Royle, Betty Hanna, Marion Lypps, Susan Freeman, Bertha Creighton, Beth Maddeaux, Margaret Fitch, Helen Gould Peck, Barbara King
The mother-daughter team of Margaret and Maude Fealy were acting coaches for The Fealy School of Dramatic Expression in Grand Rapids, Michigan 1926–1928. They operated out of their home as well as rented facilities located downtown.
The Children
Lucille Cunningham, Barbara Lee, John Coffee Jr., John Stoutjesdyke, Louella Stoutjesdyke
It has been said that Lucille Cunningham was invited to join Spencer Tracy on a film project in Hollywood in late 1920s. Even more likely would be an invitation by Margaret and Maude Fealy, Lucille’s acting coaches who had moved to Hollywood in 1928. Lucille and Barbara Lee would be lifelong friends.
John Coffee Jr. hails from a pioneer family from early Grand Rapids. He was also a student at The Fealy School of Dramatic Expression and performed in a number of plays at Buchanan Elementary School under the direction of of both Maude and Margaret Fealy. It has been said that he and little Lucille Cunningham were “two clever children” while performing in Alias Jimmy Valentine.
