Little Tuesday

This article is about the U.S. child actress. For the U.S. election event, see Little Tuesday primaries.
Little Tuesday

Charlotte Selina Wood, aka Little Tuesday, circa 1890
Born c. 1887
Spouse(s) George T. Zimmerman

Little Tuesday (1887–?), born as Charlotte Selina Wood, was an American child actress and niece of playwright Joseph Arthur who had a period of novelty popularity in the early 1890s.

Biography

Charlotte Selina Wood was allegedly born on a Tuesday morning (circa 1887) to Annetta Cobb and Harold George Wood, in Long Branch, New Jersey.[1] Tuesday's uncle was playwright and actor Joseph Arthur, best known for his melodramatic plays such as Blue Jeans and The Still Alarm. The nickname "Little Tuesday" was reportedly given to her by Arthur because her parents could not immediately decide on a name for her.[2][3][4]

She made her stage debut (playing a baby) in Helen's Inheritance at the Madison Square Theatre in late 1889.[3] She also appeared a few times in Pine Meadow at the Fourteenth Street Theatre. On May 18, 1890, a benefit was held in her honor at the Star Theatre, reportedly earning several hundred dollars for her "maintenance and education."[5] By the end of 1890, The New York Times was referring to her as a "remarkably clever child actress" and "a child of the most refreshing unconsciousness of her marvelous ability to entertain."[5][6][7] She would not appear regularly in shows, but would put on private performances for the elite of New York, including the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Whitneys, and would also appear in charity performances.[1]

From 1892-93, she joined a traveling production of The Still Alarm, and her appearances were warmly welcomed.[2][8][9][10] She reportedly even visited the White House during this time. In New York, the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children occasionally tried to interfere with her planned performances.

Tuesday's appearances, which had never been very frequent, dwindled after 1893 because she was going to school.[11] In 1896 she debuted a one-act play called Beware, the Dog written by her uncle,[12] and was reported to have "retired" from the stage later that year.[13]

After her "retirement", Little Tuesday faded from public memory. She graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart school in New York City in 1903,[14] and married New York businessman George T. Zimmerman in 1915.[15] In the late 1920s, she was reported to be serving as president of a women's club founded by her mother called "Theoria" which supported the theater.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 (13 October 1893). Little Tuesday: Interesting History of a Famous Child Actress, Spokane Review
  2. 1 2 (27 September 1892). A Captivating Tot, Saint Paul Daily Globe
  3. 1 2 (March 22, 1891). Here's Little Tuesday: An Infant Phenomenon in Parlor Entertainments, The Sun (New York), p. 25 cols. 1-3. (lengthy article on Little Tuesday)
  4. ↑ (6 January 1890). Heard In the Greenroom, The Evening World, p. 3, col. 3 (Alternate name theory: This article reports in January 1890 that her parents called her "Tootsie" as a child, but she declared her name to be "Tuesday" when she could speak.)
  5. 1 2 (19 May 1890). Applauding "Little Tuesday." The Baby Actress Makes a Pronounced Hit At the Star Theatre, The New York Times
  6. ↑ (25 December 1890). Theatrical Gossip, The New York Times ("that remarkably clever child actress" distributed toys from stage of the Fourteenth Street Theatre the prior night)
  7. ↑ (29 December 1890). A Merry Xmas Festival,The New York Times ("Little Tuesday, a child of the most refreshing unconsciousness of her marvelous ability to entertain. Tuesday gave several recitations in her inimitable style and exploited a new dance that caused the old actors and actresses to shout with delight.")
  8. ↑ (14 October 1892). Children on the Stage, Little Tuesday Is One of Many Bright Little Tots, Spokane Daily Chronicle
  9. ↑ Little Tuesday's Loving Welcome, Baltimore American, p. 3 col.4
  10. ↑ Chronology - THE NATIONAL THEATRE - 1835 - Present, website for National Theatre (Washington, D.C.) lists The Still Alarm playing from March 20–25, 1893, "introducing the child actor, Little Tuesday"
  11. ↑ (3 November 1895). This is Little Tuesday: The Child Actress In Her Brooklyn Home], Brooklyn Eagle (available via http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/, full article on Tuesday's career)
  12. ↑ (19 March 1896). [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2249&dat=18960319&id=cPozAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MiMIAAAAIBAJ&pg=3136,1644948 The Drama Here In Boston[, Boston Evening Transcript
  13. ↑ (16 August 1896). Dramatic Notes, The Morning Times (Washington, D.C.)("Little Tuesday is so called because she was born on Tuesday morning. She is ten years old, is retired from the stage and goes to school.")
  14. ↑ Ford, Alexander Hume (September 1903). Children of the Stage, Everybody's Magazine, p. 352
  15. ↑ (9 June 1915). Marry in Avenue of Oaks: Miss Charlotte S. Wood weds G.T. Zimmerman at Pelham Manor, The New York Times
  16. ↑ Article (1929?), Theatre Magazine ("Joseph Arthur, who wrote Blue Jeans, The Still Alarm, Lost River and The Cherry Pickers, carries on through his niece, Charlotte Wood Zimmerman. Mrs. Zimmerman is the president of the women's club, "Theoria," which lends its patronage to plays it deems worthy and discourages others by absence and silence. Mrs. Arnetta Wood, the author's sister-in-law, founded the club, and since her death early this year her daughter, Mrs. Zimmerman, has been its president. ...")
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