A STRAIGHT TIP ...who is who?

 

This photo has been sitting on my desktop for a fortnight

OK. This 130 year-old musical comedy, A Straight Tip, was a decided success and ran, round and round the country for several years, but I rather think this photo is from early days. Who, I wondered, were these actors.

I am fairly sure that no2 is the star of the show, Jimmy T Powers. But he is playing the role of 'Dick Dasher, something of a masher, who longs to be a hero'. When he wasn't doing his pantomime imitations or getting into a frock and burlesquing dancer Carmencita. But there aren't many nutcracker jaws around like his ...

Now, the piece only had limited forces. Outside Powers there were only eight men in the cast list. I think. Because the 'famous Clipper quartette' were billed. But the members of the said quartette seemed to double in named parts ...

I jumped to the initial conclusion that the 'quartette' pictured were these gentlemen. But if that IS Powers ...

So, back to the drawing board.

Right. We can eliminate Pete Dailey from our candidates, since he is mentioned above as being alongside the quartette and anyway he looked like this

I can make a pretty fair stab at the tall young gent. That is surely Albert WARD as 'A Talltout, well known on the racetrack'. And yes, Mr Ward was the bass singer of the Clipper Quartette.

Hmmmm. Well, he joined the Quartette in 1887 and yes he was still there for The Dazzler in 1894 ... Born December 1866, eh? Strange. Is he not then the tall Al Hart from Liverpool who became a notable character man in movies and died in 1940?? Various websites and his gravestone affirm that that gentleman was born in December 1875.  So is hardly likely to have run away to America aged five! So have we two different men, or one big liar?

Our one, I see in 1885 with Lester and Allen with William Kellogg, Mr Sinclair and ah! Robert McIntyre. McIntyre was an original Clipper ...  anyway, our Albert went on to play in comic opera (I see him in 1915 playing Dick Deadeye!) and in 1918 he started working in films (Judge the Judge) ...  hmmmm ...

Also in the cast we have John Patrick CURRAN (b London 1 June 1859; d Atlantic City 20 November 1930)  'of St Louis', teamster turned tenor, formerly of Haverley's Minstrels was cast here as Bill Katchon 'a bunco and 3 card monte man' as was Howard GRAHAM as Jim Fleese ... I reckon that they could be men 3 and 4. Graham went on to become a theatre manager in Albany.

But. That omits the most important member of the Clippers. Frank T[almadge] WARD (b New York 1849; d NYC 30 April 1921). 'Old Pop Ward'. Baritone. Son of Brigadier J Hobart Ward. Here cast as A Hardupp Beerbohm. I see him with the Clippers as early as 1880 and playing in Little Jack Sheppard, Adonis, The Seven Ages of Man and later The Dazzler with the group. He and Curran ('Ward and Curran') later became a double act, and Ward worked up to the last day of his life. 

So, you see, I have four candidates for three parts. Goldarnit.

Oh, the left overs are an Irish comedian (Dennis Dolan), a soubret (Abner Hawkins) and a third bunco man (Lank Lean). 

Well, what do you think? Who is who?