Elizabeth Crocker Bowers

Elizabeth Crocker Bowers (March 12, 1830 – November 6, 1895) [1] was an American stage actress and theatrical manager.[2][3] She was also known professionally as Mrs. D. P. Bowers.

Elizabeth Crocker Bowers
Mrs. D. P. Bowers
Born(1830-03-12)March 12, 1830
Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedNovember 6, 1895(1895-11-06) (aged 65)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting placeRock Creek Cemetery
Washington, D.C., U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1846–1895
Spouse(s)
David P. Bowers
​
​
(m. 1847; died 1857)​

Dr. Brown (circa 1860–1867, his death)
J. C. McCollom

Early life

Elizabeth Crocker Bowers was born March 12, 1830, in Stamford, Connecticut,[4] the daughter of an Episcopal clergyman[1] and sister of actress Sarah Crocker Conway (also known as Mrs. F. B. Conway).[4]

Career and marriages

In 1846, she appeared in the character of Amanthis[1] at the Park Theatre in New York City, New York.[3]

On March 4, 1847,[1][4] she married actor David P. Bowers,[3] and moved to Philadelphia. She appeared as Donna Victoria in A Bold Stroke for a Husband at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. She became very popular at the Arch Street Theatre, and made Philadelphia her home until her husband's death in 1857.[4]

In December 1857, after a period of retirement from the stage, she leased the Walnut Street Theatre and retained its management until 1859. She then leased the Philadelphia Academy of Music for a short dramatic season.[1]

She married Dr. Brown of Baltimore in 1861.[3] and traveled to London. She made a great success as "Julia" in The Hunchback at the Sadler's Wells Theatre and "Geraldine D'Arcy" in Woman at the Lyceum Theatre in London.[3]

Returning to New York City in 1863, she played for a time at the Winter Garden (now demolished). Among her favorite roles were Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Marie Antoinette, and Lady Audley.[3]

After the death of Dr. Brown in 1867, she toured extensively with James "J.C." McCollum whom she later married. With J. C. McCollom,[4] she repeated many of her popular roles.[3] Mrs. Bowers first toured the West in 1868 playing for over two months in Thomas Maguire's San Francisco theaters, then spending 20 days in Virginia City, Nv at Piper's Opera House. Returning in 1875, Mrs. Bowers followed Katherine Rogers at the California Theatre with the first presentation in America of Rose Michel; Bowers “more triumphant” every time she “comes to California.”[5] She was the last legitimate player at the California Theatre before its demise in 1888.[6]

Her subsequent retirement in Philadelphia was interrupted by a return to the stage in October 1886 for several years.[3] She organized a new dramatic company, and visited the principal cities of the U.S., playing many of her old and favorite characters. Under A. M. Palmer's management she appeared in Lady Windermere's Fan (1893), and later she was a supporting actress for Rose Coghlan and Olga Nethersole.[1]

Bowers died of pneumonia and heart failure [4] on November 6, 1895[3] in at the home of her son-in-law, Frank Bennett, in Washington D.C. She was survived by a daughter, Mrs. F. V.(May) Bennett and two sons, Harry C. Bowers of Portland, OR and Walter Bowers of New York City.[7] She was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.[8]

References
  1. "Bowers, Elizabeth Crocker" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. I. 1900. p. 337.
  2. Barnhart, Clarence L., ed. (1954). "Bowers, Elizabeth Crocker". New Century Cyclopedia of Names, Volume One, A – Emin Pasha. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. p. 607.
  3. Gilman, Daniel Coit (1905). The New International Encyclopedia. New York: Dodd, Mead. p. 381.
  4. "Mrs. D. P. Bowers, A Footlight Favorite, Passes Quietly Away". The Norfolk Virginian. November 7, 1895. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  5. Eichin, Carolyn G., From San Francisco Eastward: Victorian Theater in the American West, (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2020), 168-170, (ISBN 9781948908382)
  6. Eichin, From San Francisco Eastward, 169.
  7. "Mrs. D. P. Bowers Dead". The San Francisco Call. November 7, 1895. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  8. "Famous Actress is Dead". The Morning Times (Washington, D. C.). November 7, 1895. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
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