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James Rice Cassidy
THE FAMOUS ROLLICKING, RACY ,IRISH ACTOR and COMEDIAN(1862-1927)BiographyThis
story is dedicated to a particular ancestor of mine James Rice Cassidy and his wife Lillian Clare. He was my father's uncle (grandfather's brother). My dad,
while he was alive, often spoke about him perhaps because he was such a colourful character! James Rice Cassidy was born in Selkirk on the 25th May 1862. He was the eldest son of my great grandparent's James and Ellen Cassidy (nee Rice). In his early 20's he made the decision that working, as a plasterer alongside his dad was not for him. He left Scotland in the late 1880's and headed for England to pursue a career in the entertainment business. It was clear from the start that he was born to perform. He was a gifted comedian, character actor, vocalist and dancer. His debut as a professional actor took place in the land of his forefathers when he appeared in the play "The Eviction" at Belfast's Theatre Royal on 23rd April 1888 when he was 24 years old.
The play was a great success and Cassidy went on to play the lead role of Dermot McMahon in Barnsley and Petersborough.
In the 1891 census he was living
in Rochdale and still working as an actor. In December of 1895 he married
a twenty one year old Yorkshire lass Lillian Clare Cheetham in St Anne's Church Leeds.
On their marriage certificate he gave his occupation as "Comedian". Lillian
was also an actor and together they formed their own theatre company. They were
a double act and she was most definitely an equal partner in the business. James and Lillian toured all
over Britain and Ireland performing in their own productions. Their careers seemed to be going from strength to strength. Rice Cassidy was the son of a poor Irish plasterer making a name for himself in show
business the classic rags to riches tale! One of their biggest successes
was "The God of War" by Charles Whitlock it was performed in theatres throughout Scotland and England from 1899
till 1909. The play was a satirical piece about the Cuban insurrection and Spanish American war of 1895. His character
was Dandy Donovan an Irish American servant to Dolly Daly an American heiress, played of course by Lillian. In
the play he sings his own composition called “The British Hero”. The Glasgow Evening Times 7th of April 1901 referred to it as a “Sensational Cuban
American Drama”. In 1909 The God of War played to a packed house at the Metropole Theatre in Stockwell Street.
The Glasgow Evening TImes on this ocassion refers to him as the "Famous Rollicking Racy Irish Comedian". "On Saturday 23rd of October 1909 it was standing room only at the Metropole Theatre in Stockwell
Street Glasgow". The Evening Times goes on to say that the Tuesday night performance was, "An all round excellent
production. Mr J Rice Cassidy's ditties and antics cause an abundance of merriment and he proves himself all over an
excellent actor! The piece is splendidly staged." The Professional Gazette and Advertiser had this to say about The God of War: "On Monday night Mr J.R. Cassidy and Company opened a six night engagement at the Greenock Theatre
Royal with what is described as the romantic Cuban-American Drama, entitled The God of War" This drama as its description
denotes, deals with the Cuban insurrection and is well portrayed by a strong company of capable artistes. Mr Cassidy
himself takes the part of Dandy Donovan and his eccentricities met with much approval by a good house. Miss Lillian
Clare as Dolly Daly, is also an excellent conception and these with the others assist to form a good nights entertainment."
The playbill below pertains
to this highly successful production of "The God of War" performed at the Theatre Royal Greenock.
In London Rice Cassidy had made a success of playing
the part of Timothy Boyle from the George A Birmingham play General John Regan. Initially
it was only intended that he replace the actor Mr Leonard Boyne who had been taken ill but this became a full time role for
James. He went on to play the character at the Hudson and Liberty Theatres,
Broadway, New York. This was a comedy play written by George A Birmingham. Dr. O'Grady, general practitioner of a small Irish village had convinced a visiting
American newspaper publisher that a resident of the village was General John Regan, liberator of Bolivia. This harmless prank
mushrooms into a major headache when the American spreads this so called fact to the rest of the world.
Whilst playing Timothy Doyle in New York he played
the character of old Hardcastle in the play She Stoops to Conquer for none other than Mr Charles Frohman of Peter Pan fame. In New York he also made his film debut appearing for the Thomas Edison Company in
five films the greatest of which was “The First Christmas” On his return from the USA he played Conn in the Shaughraun. The play is about a Fenian fugitive, Robert Ffolliott, fiancee of Arte O'Neil. A country
squire, Kinchela, his rival for Arte's hand, tries to hunt Robert down and arrest him, with the help of a police informer,
Harvey Duff. Robert escapes various melodramatic cliff-hanger situations with the help of Conn the Shaughran, an Irish word
which in English means wanderer or errant person. The
character of Conn a roguish but comedic poacher was tailor made for Cassidy. He was a contemporary of J.M. Barrie and his plays were performed in the same theatres as those of the famous Scottish Playwright. I do not know if he ever met
the man himself but Cassidy toured with Barrie's Peter Pan for three years from 1922 till 1925. He played Smee
with much verve and in his own indomitable fashion.
Smee is a comic character, a bumbling fool, played as an Irishman by the role's creator, George Shelton.
So again it was the perfect role for Cassidy who in his long career had already proved himself to be a brilliant comic actor.
James would probably carried
on playing Smee but for an accident that happened just after midnight on the 25th of March 1925 while travelling
on the train from Leeds to Dublin with the Peter Pan Company. He fell from the train. The emergency chain was pulled and the train ground to a halt. James
was found unconscious on the track. He was rushed to Chester Royal Infirmary
suffering from fractured ribs. When he regained consciousness he could not remember
anything at all about the accident. He made one more venture onto the big screen when in 1922
he took the role of Governor in the British movie "The Scarlet Letter" which starred Sybil Thorndike. Towards the end of his life he suffered from a
chronic kidney condition. This took its toll and he had to give up his beloved
theatrical career. Eventually he suffered cardiac failure and passed away
on the 11th May 1927 in St Pancreas hospital, London. His long
and distinguished career merited his obituaries in both the “Stage” and “Variety” newspapers as well
as a mention in both the “Who’s who” of both the British and American theatres.
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