Jean Hosmer

Under the stage name "Miss Jennie Stanley,"[6] Hosmer began her career in Buffalo doing ballet at the age of 15.[5][2][6] At the age of 16, under the tutelage of actor Barton Hill, she gained her first speaking role at the Metropolitan Theatre and was soon promoted to member of the theater's stock company.[5] In 1860, while a leading actress, the young Hosmer was noticed by McVicker's Theater in Chicago and was recruited by the playhouse for its company. She performed with the company there under the name "Miss Jean Stanley"[6][1] for two years supporting the Booth brothers.[1][3]

After leaving McVicker's, Hosmer moved on her own to Philadelphia to star at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,[2] under her own name.[6] In 1863, she made her mark at the Chestnut playing strong, tragic female characters in plays such as Macbeth, Camille, and Romeo and Juliet.[6][1] The death of one of her sisters in that same year prompted Hosmer to take a break from acting, but after two years reappeared for her starring tour. On May 29, 1865, she opened in New York at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway as Camille in Camille to glowing reviews,[5][6] and stayed in New York until July 7.[7] In announcing her farewell week there, the Spirit of the Times wrote:

The current is the sixth and positively last week of the brilliantly successful engagement of Miss Hosmer at this house. I say brilliant both in an artistic and financial point of view, for rarely, if ever, has an artiste achieved a more legitimate and well-merited artistic success or been rewarded with a more substantial one as soon as her unqestionable genius became known to the play-going public. I regard Miss Hosmer's engagement as one of the most extraordinary in every way that has been played in this city for many years. She came among us unheralded and unpuffed; content, it would seem, to rely on her own intrinsic merits, and stand or fall by the freely-expressed opinion of her auditors and the critical acumen of the press. To triumph over the former was an easy task; to win the good opinion of the latter, one of great difficulty.[1]

Following the close of the New York show in 1865, Hosmer's career began to decline. In 1866, she returned to Philadelphia to play at Arch Street Theatre with McKee Rankin, but left after a short while.[8] Bad personal habits began to affect her work,[3] and she likely suffered from alcoholism which became more noticeable in her acting as she aged. This was noted by English theater critic Clement Scott during an 1878 production of Lucrezia Borgia:

There were moments when I felt almost paralyzed by her acting. I never saw the spirit of such intense tragedy in a woman. But as the performance wore on she became indistinct, reckless and uncertain, and when the curtain went down she was thoroughly drunk.[1]

During the 1870s and 1880s, Hosmer was considered semi-retired from the stage[4] and now taught acting and elocution.[5] However, in order to further sustain herself, she continued to irregularly act in productions with small-town and amateur companies across the country.[3][1]

At McVicker's, Hosmer appeared in supporting roles to John Wilkes Booth and his brother Edwin. Of John, Hosmer later remarked:

I consider him a greater actor than his brother. He better represented the genius of his father, the first Junius Brutus Booth, and he played with such fire and vigor that he made us in his company actually fear him. But he did not have the refinement, grace, and crystal clearness of elocution possessed by Edwin.[1]

While supporting Wilkes Booth, Hosmer kept a lock of his hair and held onto it following her departure from Chicago. Following his death, Hosmer sent the lock of hair to his mother, Mary Ann Holmes Booth.[1][3]