Birth Name: Blanche Galton.
Stage name: Mrs. Thomas Whiffen.
Actress & singer. Active on Broadway from 1868 - 1927.
". . .I was truly a natural daughter of the theater, my mother being one of the well-known Pyne sisters, of whom there were three, Mary Ann (my mother), Susan, and Louisa, all fine singers.
Louisa Pyne had the finest voice; was the youngest of the talented sisters and became the most famous. Often she was called the natural successor of Jenny Lind. Mother was the eldest of that interesting trio. She was not only a singer but an accomplished musician, a fine pianist and organist, and could play the most difficult music at sight.
Mother was married when she was eighteen to my father, Joseph West Galton, one of the secretaries in the London general post office, and as she was teaching piano when she was only thirteen, she was able to purchase all the linen and silver for her trousseau with her own earnings.
I was one of five children, three brothers and my sister, Susan, although one brother died when only an infant. I was born in the year 1844, just when Prince Albert was coming to the fore in the hearts of the English people, and Lord Melbourne's power with the Queen had waned. Queen Victoria was extremely popular with the whole nation, and the Victorian Age was in full swing. Prince Albert was just planning the Great Exhibition which made him more popular.
My father was a delicate man and passed away prematurely as the age of thirty-three, and I retain only one clear recollection of him. That was in the year 1851 at the exhibition at Sydenham, after Albert's Crystal Palace had been removed from Hyde Park. Sydenham, in those days, might have been compared to a guild or fair where all sorts of Victorian arts and crafts were exhibited. I remember that my mother was extremely gifted at making artificial wax flowers, much in vogue as house decorations then, under glass coverings, and a white rose tree she had made, standing nearly three feet high, was displayed at that time. . . I still can visualize my tall, good-looking father, patience personified, carrying me most of the time, for I was quite overcome by the heat of the Crystal Palace which was like a great hot-house, completely under the huge dome of glass. We seemed to walk for miles through all sorts of strange objects and bewildering arrays of food stuffs, until everything went black suddenly, and I awoke outside the building beneath a grateful shade tree, still in my father's arms. Some one said that I had fainted, and there was something dramatic and thrilling about it. . . I was glad to be the center of a crowd, although I shyly hid my head. And there the brief picture fades from my memory, with my father's white face bending over me, and his deep, blue-grey eyes searching my face, anxiously. He died that same year. . ."
"One of the grand old dames of the Broadway stage. Her career on Broadway began in 1868 and she remained in demand through the end of 1927. After her marriage to actor Thomas Whiffen (with whom she appeared in her first Broadway appearance) she adopted his name professionally and enjoyed a remarkable 59 year stage career.
A native Londoner who studied voice with her mother Mary, who was an opera singer, and later completed her education in France. She performed for a time in England before coming to America in 1868 with her aunt's opéra bouffe company. In 1879, she was the first New York Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore. Subsequently, she abandoned the musical stage and spent many seasons with the ensembles at the Madison Square Theatre, Daniel Frohman's Lyceum, and Charles Frohman's Empire Theatre. Among the roles Whiffen created at the Empire were Mrs. Mossop in Trelawny of the Wells (1898) and Mrs. Jinks in Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines (1901). After leaving Charles Frohman, she played opposite Mary Mannering, Eleanor Robson, Margaret Anglin, and Henry Miller, including the role of Mrs. Jordan in The Great Divide (1906). She continued to perform actively until she was well into her eighties, one of her last roles again being Mrs. Mossop in a 1928 revival."
"Keeping Off the Shelf", Autobiography by Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, 1928
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[Column] With the Women of Today by Mrs. Lilian Campbell
"There's no need to dread old age, my dear," is the cheering message of Mrs. Thomas Whiffen an actress. And Mrs. Whiffen surely knows what she is talking about for she is past 80 and is now appearing on the New York stage in a revival of "The Two Orphans" and getting the greatest applause of a notable cast.
For 63 years, Mrs. Whiffen has been on the stage. As Blanche Galton of London, she was the original "Buttercup" in "Pinafore" which is also playing in revival this season with Fay Templeton, returning to the stage in the part Mrs. Whiffen made.
"You see, I haven't made any effort to keep young," Mrs. Whiffen said. "I've just gone along, enjoying every moment, taking all life had to offer me, too busy to notice the passing years. Age has its own happiness, quite as much as youth, and much less heartache."
Mrs. Whiffen can hear and see as well today as the average young woman of 25. She seldom wears glasses. She reads the latest novels and plays, and knows the latest joke. She cannot see that the new generation differs materially from the old, nor that the stage has degenerated. Fashions come and go, but people still reach to much the same things they did fifty years ago, she says. "We may all be a little frank," she states, "but after all, the things that have changed have been the more or less superficial things. So far as I can discover human nature hasn't changed materially in the last 6,000 years.
Mrs. Whiffen is a tiny person, weighing 94 pounds, and not much over five feet tall. She wears neat silk dresses, a black lace cap over her snowy white hair, and always a bit of fine old lace at the throat, and a cameo brooch.
Before her New York engagement, Mrs. Whiffen was on the road for 33 weeks in "The Goose Hangs High." She declares she loves traveling and sleeps just as well in a Pullman as at home in her own bed. In spite of her years on the stage she "still gets a great thrill out of the stage and the people and the applause. I like it as much as ever," she asserts.
Occasionally she goes to her Virginia farm, where she has a delightful time with her chickens and ducks and geese, her flowers and vegetables and fruit trees, to which she personally tends.
She married Thomas Whiffen when she was 22, both of them playing in "Buttercup." Later they were with the old Madison Square Company and with the early Frohman productions. Since 1897 she has been a widow. Her daughter, Peggy, accepts parts only in playing in which her mother has a part, so that it will not be necessary for the old woman to travel alone.
~ The Lancaster Daily Eagle (Ohio), Tues. Evening, 20 Apr 1926, pg. 3
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Death Ends Career of Stage Actress
MONTVALE, Va., Nov. 27 (AP)- Death has ended the eventful career of Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, for half a century a leading player on the American stage. She was 91. The "grand old lady of the stage" died Wednesday in the Blue Ridge Mountain home to which she retired a decade ago. It was understood the body would be taken to Washington for cremation and the ashes sent to her native England. She is survived by her daughter Peggy and her son Thomas, who lived with her. [The Modesto Bee (California), Sat., 28 Nov 1936]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Blanche Galton Whiffen was born on 12 Mar 1845 in London, England, and died from bronchial pneumonia due to influenza on 25 Nov 1936, in Lisbon, Bedford County, aged 91 years, 8 months, and 13 days. She was the widow of Thomas Whiffin. She worked as an actress for 68 years, last working in this profession in April 1928. Her late residence was in Bedford County where she had been a resident for 16 years. She had been residing in the USA for 68 years. She was the daughter of Joseph Galton and Mary Pyne, both of whom were born in London, England. The informant was Thomas Whiffen of Blue Ridge, Virginia. Burial, cremation or removal was to Washington, D. C., on 28 Nov 1936. The undertaker was W. R. Southall of Bedford, VA. [Virginia Death Certificate #27374]
Stage name: Mrs. Thomas Whiffen.
Actress & singer. Active on Broadway from 1868 - 1927.
". . .I was truly a natural daughter of the theater, my mother being one of the well-known Pyne sisters, of whom there were three, Mary Ann (my mother), Susan, and Louisa, all fine singers.
Louisa Pyne had the finest voice; was the youngest of the talented sisters and became the most famous. Often she was called the natural successor of Jenny Lind. Mother was the eldest of that interesting trio. She was not only a singer but an accomplished musician, a fine pianist and organist, and could play the most difficult music at sight.
Mother was married when she was eighteen to my father, Joseph West Galton, one of the secretaries in the London general post office, and as she was teaching piano when she was only thirteen, she was able to purchase all the linen and silver for her trousseau with her own earnings.
I was one of five children, three brothers and my sister, Susan, although one brother died when only an infant. I was born in the year 1844, just when Prince Albert was coming to the fore in the hearts of the English people, and Lord Melbourne's power with the Queen had waned. Queen Victoria was extremely popular with the whole nation, and the Victorian Age was in full swing. Prince Albert was just planning the Great Exhibition which made him more popular.
My father was a delicate man and passed away prematurely as the age of thirty-three, and I retain only one clear recollection of him. That was in the year 1851 at the exhibition at Sydenham, after Albert's Crystal Palace had been removed from Hyde Park. Sydenham, in those days, might have been compared to a guild or fair where all sorts of Victorian arts and crafts were exhibited. I remember that my mother was extremely gifted at making artificial wax flowers, much in vogue as house decorations then, under glass coverings, and a white rose tree she had made, standing nearly three feet high, was displayed at that time. . . I still can visualize my tall, good-looking father, patience personified, carrying me most of the time, for I was quite overcome by the heat of the Crystal Palace which was like a great hot-house, completely under the huge dome of glass. We seemed to walk for miles through all sorts of strange objects and bewildering arrays of food stuffs, until everything went black suddenly, and I awoke outside the building beneath a grateful shade tree, still in my father's arms. Some one said that I had fainted, and there was something dramatic and thrilling about it. . . I was glad to be the center of a crowd, although I shyly hid my head. And there the brief picture fades from my memory, with my father's white face bending over me, and his deep, blue-grey eyes searching my face, anxiously. He died that same year. . ."
"One of the grand old dames of the Broadway stage. Her career on Broadway began in 1868 and she remained in demand through the end of 1927. After her marriage to actor Thomas Whiffen (with whom she appeared in her first Broadway appearance) she adopted his name professionally and enjoyed a remarkable 59 year stage career.
A native Londoner who studied voice with her mother Mary, who was an opera singer, and later completed her education in France. She performed for a time in England before coming to America in 1868 with her aunt's opéra bouffe company. In 1879, she was the first New York Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore. Subsequently, she abandoned the musical stage and spent many seasons with the ensembles at the Madison Square Theatre, Daniel Frohman's Lyceum, and Charles Frohman's Empire Theatre. Among the roles Whiffen created at the Empire were Mrs. Mossop in Trelawny of the Wells (1898) and Mrs. Jinks in Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines (1901). After leaving Charles Frohman, she played opposite Mary Mannering, Eleanor Robson, Margaret Anglin, and Henry Miller, including the role of Mrs. Jordan in The Great Divide (1906). She continued to perform actively until she was well into her eighties, one of her last roles again being Mrs. Mossop in a 1928 revival."
"Keeping Off the Shelf", Autobiography by Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, 1928
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[Column] With the Women of Today by Mrs. Lilian Campbell
"There's no need to dread old age, my dear," is the cheering message of Mrs. Thomas Whiffen an actress. And Mrs. Whiffen surely knows what she is talking about for she is past 80 and is now appearing on the New York stage in a revival of "The Two Orphans" and getting the greatest applause of a notable cast.
For 63 years, Mrs. Whiffen has been on the stage. As Blanche Galton of London, she was the original "Buttercup" in "Pinafore" which is also playing in revival this season with Fay Templeton, returning to the stage in the part Mrs. Whiffen made.
"You see, I haven't made any effort to keep young," Mrs. Whiffen said. "I've just gone along, enjoying every moment, taking all life had to offer me, too busy to notice the passing years. Age has its own happiness, quite as much as youth, and much less heartache."
Mrs. Whiffen can hear and see as well today as the average young woman of 25. She seldom wears glasses. She reads the latest novels and plays, and knows the latest joke. She cannot see that the new generation differs materially from the old, nor that the stage has degenerated. Fashions come and go, but people still reach to much the same things they did fifty years ago, she says. "We may all be a little frank," she states, "but after all, the things that have changed have been the more or less superficial things. So far as I can discover human nature hasn't changed materially in the last 6,000 years.
Mrs. Whiffen is a tiny person, weighing 94 pounds, and not much over five feet tall. She wears neat silk dresses, a black lace cap over her snowy white hair, and always a bit of fine old lace at the throat, and a cameo brooch.
Before her New York engagement, Mrs. Whiffen was on the road for 33 weeks in "The Goose Hangs High." She declares she loves traveling and sleeps just as well in a Pullman as at home in her own bed. In spite of her years on the stage she "still gets a great thrill out of the stage and the people and the applause. I like it as much as ever," she asserts.
Occasionally she goes to her Virginia farm, where she has a delightful time with her chickens and ducks and geese, her flowers and vegetables and fruit trees, to which she personally tends.
She married Thomas Whiffen when she was 22, both of them playing in "Buttercup." Later they were with the old Madison Square Company and with the early Frohman productions. Since 1897 she has been a widow. Her daughter, Peggy, accepts parts only in playing in which her mother has a part, so that it will not be necessary for the old woman to travel alone.
~ The Lancaster Daily Eagle (Ohio), Tues. Evening, 20 Apr 1926, pg. 3
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Death Ends Career of Stage Actress
MONTVALE, Va., Nov. 27 (AP)- Death has ended the eventful career of Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, for half a century a leading player on the American stage. She was 91. The "grand old lady of the stage" died Wednesday in the Blue Ridge Mountain home to which she retired a decade ago. It was understood the body would be taken to Washington for cremation and the ashes sent to her native England. She is survived by her daughter Peggy and her son Thomas, who lived with her. [The Modesto Bee (California), Sat., 28 Nov 1936]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Blanche Galton Whiffen was born on 12 Mar 1845 in London, England, and died from bronchial pneumonia due to influenza on 25 Nov 1936, in Lisbon, Bedford County, aged 91 years, 8 months, and 13 days. She was the widow of Thomas Whiffin. She worked as an actress for 68 years, last working in this profession in April 1928. Her late residence was in Bedford County where she had been a resident for 16 years. She had been residing in the USA for 68 years. She was the daughter of Joseph Galton and Mary Pyne, both of whom were born in London, England. The informant was Thomas Whiffen of Blue Ridge, Virginia. Burial, cremation or removal was to Washington, D. C., on 28 Nov 1936. The undertaker was W. R. Southall of Bedford, VA. [Virginia Death Certificate #27374]
Birth Name: Blanche Galton.
Stage name: Mrs. Thomas Whiffen.
Actress & singer. Active on Broadway from 1868 - 1927.
". . .I was truly a natural daughter of the theater, my mother being one of the well-known Pyne sisters, of whom there were three, Mary Ann (my mother), Susan, and Louisa, all fine singers.
Louisa Pyne had the finest voice; was the youngest of the talented sisters and became the most famous. Often she was called the natural successor of Jenny Lind. Mother was the eldest of that interesting trio. She was not only a singer but an accomplished musician, a fine pianist and organist, and could play the most difficult music at sight.
Mother was married when she was eighteen to my father, Joseph West Galton, one of the secretaries in the London general post office, and as she was teaching piano when she was only thirteen, she was able to purchase all the linen and silver for her trousseau with her own earnings.
I was one of five children, three brothers and my sister, Susan, although one brother died when only an infant. I was born in the year 1844, just when Prince Albert was coming to the fore in the hearts of the English people, and Lord Melbourne's power with the Queen had waned. Queen Victoria was extremely popular with the whole nation, and the Victorian Age was in full swing. Prince Albert was just planning the Great Exhibition which made him more popular.
My father was a delicate man and passed away prematurely as the age of thirty-three, and I retain only one clear recollection of him. That was in the year 1851 at the exhibition at Sydenham, after Albert's Crystal Palace had been removed from Hyde Park. Sydenham, in those days, might have been compared to a guild or fair where all sorts of Victorian arts and crafts were exhibited. I remember that my mother was extremely gifted at making artificial wax flowers, much in vogue as house decorations then, under glass coverings, and a white rose tree she had made, standing nearly three feet high, was displayed at that time. . . I still can visualize my tall, good-looking father, patience personified, carrying me most of the time, for I was quite overcome by the heat of the Crystal Palace which was like a great hot-house, completely under the huge dome of glass. We seemed to walk for miles through all sorts of strange objects and bewildering arrays of food stuffs, until everything went black suddenly, and I awoke outside the building beneath a grateful shade tree, still in my father's arms. Some one said that I had fainted, and there was something dramatic and thrilling about it. . . I was glad to be the center of a crowd, although I shyly hid my head. And there the brief picture fades from my memory, with my father's white face bending over me, and his deep, blue-grey eyes searching my face, anxiously. He died that same year. . ."
"One of the grand old dames of the Broadway stage. Her career on Broadway began in 1868 and she remained in demand through the end of 1927. After her marriage to actor Thomas Whiffen (with whom she appeared in her first Broadway appearance) she adopted his name professionally and enjoyed a remarkable 59 year stage career.
A native Londoner who studied voice with her mother Mary, who was an opera singer, and later completed her education in France. She performed for a time in England before coming to America in 1868 with her aunt's opéra bouffe company. In 1879, she was the first New York Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore. Subsequently, she abandoned the musical stage and spent many seasons with the ensembles at the Madison Square Theatre, Daniel Frohman's Lyceum, and Charles Frohman's Empire Theatre. Among the roles Whiffen created at the Empire were Mrs. Mossop in Trelawny of the Wells (1898) and Mrs. Jinks in Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines (1901). After leaving Charles Frohman, she played opposite Mary Mannering, Eleanor Robson, Margaret Anglin, and Henry Miller, including the role of Mrs. Jordan in The Great Divide (1906). She continued to perform actively until she was well into her eighties, one of her last roles again being Mrs. Mossop in a 1928 revival."
"Keeping Off the Shelf", Autobiography by Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, 1928
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[Column] With the Women of Today by Mrs. Lilian Campbell
"There's no need to dread old age, my dear," is the cheering message of Mrs. Thomas Whiffen an actress. And Mrs. Whiffen surely knows what she is talking about for she is past 80 and is now appearing on the New York stage in a revival of "The Two Orphans" and getting the greatest applause of a notable cast.
For 63 years, Mrs. Whiffen has been on the stage. As Blanche Galton of London, she was the original "Buttercup" in "Pinafore" which is also playing in revival this season with Fay Templeton, returning to the stage in the part Mrs. Whiffen made.
"You see, I haven't made any effort to keep young," Mrs. Whiffen said. "I've just gone along, enjoying every moment, taking all life had to offer me, too busy to notice the passing years. Age has its own happiness, quite as much as youth, and much less heartache."
Mrs. Whiffen can hear and see as well today as the average young woman of 25. She seldom wears glasses. She reads the latest novels and plays, and knows the latest joke. She cannot see that the new generation differs materially from the old, nor that the stage has degenerated. Fashions come and go, but people still reach to much the same things they did fifty years ago, she says. "We may all be a little frank," she states, "but after all, the things that have changed have been the more or less superficial things. So far as I can discover human nature hasn't changed materially in the last 6,000 years.
Mrs. Whiffen is a tiny person, weighing 94 pounds, and not much over five feet tall. She wears neat silk dresses, a black lace cap over her snowy white hair, and always a bit of fine old lace at the throat, and a cameo brooch.
Before her New York engagement, Mrs. Whiffen was on the road for 33 weeks in "The Goose Hangs High." She declares she loves traveling and sleeps just as well in a Pullman as at home in her own bed. In spite of her years on the stage she "still gets a great thrill out of the stage and the people and the applause. I like it as much as ever," she asserts.
Occasionally she goes to her Virginia farm, where she has a delightful time with her chickens and ducks and geese, her flowers and vegetables and fruit trees, to which she personally tends.
She married Thomas Whiffen when she was 22, both of them playing in "Buttercup." Later they were with the old Madison Square Company and with the early Frohman productions. Since 1897 she has been a widow. Her daughter, Peggy, accepts parts only in playing in which her mother has a part, so that it will not be necessary for the old woman to travel alone.
~ The Lancaster Daily Eagle (Ohio), Tues. Evening, 20 Apr 1926, pg. 3
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Death Ends Career of Stage Actress
MONTVALE, Va., Nov. 27 (AP)- Death has ended the eventful career of Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, for half a century a leading player on the American stage. She was 91. The "grand old lady of the stage" died Wednesday in the Blue Ridge Mountain home to which she retired a decade ago. It was understood the body would be taken to Washington for cremation and the ashes sent to her native England. She is survived by her daughter Peggy and her son Thomas, who lived with her. [The Modesto Bee (California), Sat., 28 Nov 1936]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Blanche Galton Whiffen was born on 12 Mar 1845 in London, England, and died from bronchial pneumonia due to influenza on 25 Nov 1936, in Lisbon, Bedford County, aged 91 years, 8 months, and 13 days. She was the widow of Thomas Whiffin. She worked as an actress for 68 years, last working in this profession in April 1928. Her late residence was in Bedford County where she had been a resident for 16 years. She had been residing in the USA for 68 years. She was the daughter of Joseph Galton and Mary Pyne, both of whom were born in London, England. The informant was Thomas Whiffen of Blue Ridge, Virginia. Burial, cremation or removal was to Washington, D. C., on 28 Nov 1936. The undertaker was W. R. Southall of Bedford, VA. [Virginia Death Certificate #27374]
Stage name: Mrs. Thomas Whiffen.
Actress & singer. Active on Broadway from 1868 - 1927.
". . .I was truly a natural daughter of the theater, my mother being one of the well-known Pyne sisters, of whom there were three, Mary Ann (my mother), Susan, and Louisa, all fine singers.
Louisa Pyne had the finest voice; was the youngest of the talented sisters and became the most famous. Often she was called the natural successor of Jenny Lind. Mother was the eldest of that interesting trio. She was not only a singer but an accomplished musician, a fine pianist and organist, and could play the most difficult music at sight.
Mother was married when she was eighteen to my father, Joseph West Galton, one of the secretaries in the London general post office, and as she was teaching piano when she was only thirteen, she was able to purchase all the linen and silver for her trousseau with her own earnings.
I was one of five children, three brothers and my sister, Susan, although one brother died when only an infant. I was born in the year 1844, just when Prince Albert was coming to the fore in the hearts of the English people, and Lord Melbourne's power with the Queen had waned. Queen Victoria was extremely popular with the whole nation, and the Victorian Age was in full swing. Prince Albert was just planning the Great Exhibition which made him more popular.
My father was a delicate man and passed away prematurely as the age of thirty-three, and I retain only one clear recollection of him. That was in the year 1851 at the exhibition at Sydenham, after Albert's Crystal Palace had been removed from Hyde Park. Sydenham, in those days, might have been compared to a guild or fair where all sorts of Victorian arts and crafts were exhibited. I remember that my mother was extremely gifted at making artificial wax flowers, much in vogue as house decorations then, under glass coverings, and a white rose tree she had made, standing nearly three feet high, was displayed at that time. . . I still can visualize my tall, good-looking father, patience personified, carrying me most of the time, for I was quite overcome by the heat of the Crystal Palace which was like a great hot-house, completely under the huge dome of glass. We seemed to walk for miles through all sorts of strange objects and bewildering arrays of food stuffs, until everything went black suddenly, and I awoke outside the building beneath a grateful shade tree, still in my father's arms. Some one said that I had fainted, and there was something dramatic and thrilling about it. . . I was glad to be the center of a crowd, although I shyly hid my head. And there the brief picture fades from my memory, with my father's white face bending over me, and his deep, blue-grey eyes searching my face, anxiously. He died that same year. . ."
"One of the grand old dames of the Broadway stage. Her career on Broadway began in 1868 and she remained in demand through the end of 1927. After her marriage to actor Thomas Whiffen (with whom she appeared in her first Broadway appearance) she adopted his name professionally and enjoyed a remarkable 59 year stage career.
A native Londoner who studied voice with her mother Mary, who was an opera singer, and later completed her education in France. She performed for a time in England before coming to America in 1868 with her aunt's opéra bouffe company. In 1879, she was the first New York Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore. Subsequently, she abandoned the musical stage and spent many seasons with the ensembles at the Madison Square Theatre, Daniel Frohman's Lyceum, and Charles Frohman's Empire Theatre. Among the roles Whiffen created at the Empire were Mrs. Mossop in Trelawny of the Wells (1898) and Mrs. Jinks in Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines (1901). After leaving Charles Frohman, she played opposite Mary Mannering, Eleanor Robson, Margaret Anglin, and Henry Miller, including the role of Mrs. Jordan in The Great Divide (1906). She continued to perform actively until she was well into her eighties, one of her last roles again being Mrs. Mossop in a 1928 revival."
"Keeping Off the Shelf", Autobiography by Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, 1928
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[Column] With the Women of Today by Mrs. Lilian Campbell
"There's no need to dread old age, my dear," is the cheering message of Mrs. Thomas Whiffen an actress. And Mrs. Whiffen surely knows what she is talking about for she is past 80 and is now appearing on the New York stage in a revival of "The Two Orphans" and getting the greatest applause of a notable cast.
For 63 years, Mrs. Whiffen has been on the stage. As Blanche Galton of London, she was the original "Buttercup" in "Pinafore" which is also playing in revival this season with Fay Templeton, returning to the stage in the part Mrs. Whiffen made.
"You see, I haven't made any effort to keep young," Mrs. Whiffen said. "I've just gone along, enjoying every moment, taking all life had to offer me, too busy to notice the passing years. Age has its own happiness, quite as much as youth, and much less heartache."
Mrs. Whiffen can hear and see as well today as the average young woman of 25. She seldom wears glasses. She reads the latest novels and plays, and knows the latest joke. She cannot see that the new generation differs materially from the old, nor that the stage has degenerated. Fashions come and go, but people still reach to much the same things they did fifty years ago, she says. "We may all be a little frank," she states, "but after all, the things that have changed have been the more or less superficial things. So far as I can discover human nature hasn't changed materially in the last 6,000 years.
Mrs. Whiffen is a tiny person, weighing 94 pounds, and not much over five feet tall. She wears neat silk dresses, a black lace cap over her snowy white hair, and always a bit of fine old lace at the throat, and a cameo brooch.
Before her New York engagement, Mrs. Whiffen was on the road for 33 weeks in "The Goose Hangs High." She declares she loves traveling and sleeps just as well in a Pullman as at home in her own bed. In spite of her years on the stage she "still gets a great thrill out of the stage and the people and the applause. I like it as much as ever," she asserts.
Occasionally she goes to her Virginia farm, where she has a delightful time with her chickens and ducks and geese, her flowers and vegetables and fruit trees, to which she personally tends.
She married Thomas Whiffen when she was 22, both of them playing in "Buttercup." Later they were with the old Madison Square Company and with the early Frohman productions. Since 1897 she has been a widow. Her daughter, Peggy, accepts parts only in playing in which her mother has a part, so that it will not be necessary for the old woman to travel alone.
~ The Lancaster Daily Eagle (Ohio), Tues. Evening, 20 Apr 1926, pg. 3
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Death Ends Career of Stage Actress
MONTVALE, Va., Nov. 27 (AP)- Death has ended the eventful career of Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, for half a century a leading player on the American stage. She was 91. The "grand old lady of the stage" died Wednesday in the Blue Ridge Mountain home to which she retired a decade ago. It was understood the body would be taken to Washington for cremation and the ashes sent to her native England. She is survived by her daughter Peggy and her son Thomas, who lived with her. [The Modesto Bee (California), Sat., 28 Nov 1936]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Blanche Galton Whiffen was born on 12 Mar 1845 in London, England, and died from bronchial pneumonia due to influenza on 25 Nov 1936, in Lisbon, Bedford County, aged 91 years, 8 months, and 13 days. She was the widow of Thomas Whiffin. She worked as an actress for 68 years, last working in this profession in April 1928. Her late residence was in Bedford County where she had been a resident for 16 years. She had been residing in the USA for 68 years. She was the daughter of Joseph Galton and Mary Pyne, both of whom were born in London, England. The informant was Thomas Whiffen of Blue Ridge, Virginia. Burial, cremation or removal was to Washington, D. C., on 28 Nov 1936. The undertaker was W. R. Southall of Bedford, VA. [Virginia Death Certificate #27374]
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