Johnstone Bennett (1870 – April 14, 1906) was an American actress and vaudeville performer.
Early life Walenton (or Valentine) Cronise was possibly born in France, or Spain,"The Theatre" Evening Star (January 26, 1901): 22. via Newspapers.com or at sea (sources tell various stories), and was adopted as an infant by Mrs. Mary Bennett in the United States."Our Gallery of Players" The Illustrated American (November 5, 1892): 434. When Bennett died, she was adopted again, by actress Sibyl Johnstone. She called herself "Johnstone Bennett" after the two women who raised her.
Career Johnstone Bennett was with a small touring company when she was discovered by Richard Mansfield and cast in Monsieur (1887) in Madison Square Theatre.Untitled theatrical news item, New York Times (July 17, 1887): 12. via Newspapers.com Still with Mansfield's company, she appeared in Prince Karl (1887), Lesbia (1888), A Parisian Romance (1888), and Beau Brummell (1890). She also appeared in Honor Bright (1888), All the Comforts of a Home, A Noble Son (1889), The Story of Rodion (1895), and in starring roles of Jane (1891),"Jane" The Illustrated American (October 31, 1891): 501–502. The Amazon, Fanny,"The Stage" Munsey's Magazine (October 1893): 100. and A Female Drummer (1898). In vaudeville she performed in sketched titled A Quiet Evening at Home and American Types.A. D. Storms, "Johnstone Bennett" The Players' Blue Book (Sutherland & Storms 1901): 260–261."The Stage" Munsey's Magazine (December 1892): 339.Thomas Allston Brown, 'A History of the New York Stage (Dodd Mead 1903): 182, 340, 425, 428, 429, 432, 436."Johnstone Bennett" Los Angeles Times (May 6, 1906): 73. via Newspapers.com
Bennett wore masculine clothing and short hair, both on and off the stage. She collected cuff buttons and shirt studs,Untitled opinion item, Detroit Free Press (April 22, 1892): 14. via Newspapers.com and had her skirts made with trouser-style pockets."Has Her Valet" The Tennessean (October 18, 1896): 21. via Newspapers.com She hired a male valet instead of a maid or press agent,"Lime Light Flashes" The Capital (June 24, 1899): 10. and she lent her name to a haberdashery company in New York."Metropolitan" Profitable Advertising (February 15, 1898): 351. In 1899 she caught a mouse in her dressing room, and planned to keep it for a pet."Vanquishes a Mouse; Johnstone Bennett's Trousers Stood Her in Good Stead" Los Angeles Herald (June 23, 1899): 3. via California Digital Newspaper Collection
Novelist Willa Cather described her as "jovial, natty Johnnie Bennett, a hail-fellow-well-met, and the trimmest tailor-made New Woman of them all. She is another one who has learned how to cheat time: her cheeks are just as ruddy and her big gray eyes as frank and frolicsome and boyish as they were in the days of Jane, eight or nine years ago."Willa Cather, "The Player's Rubiyat" (February 4, 1899), reprinted in William J. Curtin, ed., The World and the Parish: Willa Cather's Articles and Reviews 1893–1902, Volume 2 (University of Nebraska Press 1970): 543. Theatrical manager Robert Grau remembered Bennett as "distinctly without an equal in her time."Robert Grau, Forty Years Observation of Music and the Drama (Broadway Publishing Company 1909): 96.
Personal life Johnstone Bennett was destitute in her last years and survived with assistance from the Actors' Fund. She tried moving to California for her health,"A Noted Actress Ill and In Want" San Francisco Chronicle (August 16, 1905): 3. via Newspapers.com but it did not improve and she returned to New Jersey. She died from tuberculosis in 1906, aged 36 years, in Bloomfield, New Jersey."Johnstone Bennett Ill" New York Times (March 24, 1906): 9. "Johnstone Bennett Dead" New York Times (April 15, 1906): 9. "Miss Johnstone Bennett Dead" Chicago Tribune (April 15, 1906): 6. via Newspapers.com
References
External links
Johnstone Bennet photographs and clippings, at Queer Music Heritage.