Ben Teal

Benjamin Moses Teal (January 19, 1857 – April 20, 1917) was an American actor, theater director, and playwright. He directed over 30 plays on Broadway between 1897 and 1916, and was widely known for his strict, often brusque stage direction. Born in Eugene, Oregon, Teal spent his formative years in San Francisco, where he began performing as a child actor in theatrical productions.

Ben Teal
Teal in 1910
Born	(1857-01-19)January 19, 1857 Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
Died	April 20, 1917(1917-04-20) (aged 59) New York City, U.S.
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery
Occupation(s)	Actor, theater director
Spouses	Mary Blackburn ​ (m. 1887)​ Elinor Gilman ​ (m. 1906)​

As an adult, Teal began his career as a stage director in San Francisco before relocating to New York City in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Among his directorial credits include the original Broadway production of Ben-Hur (1899), in which he staged the play's elaborate chariot race sequence onstage.

Life and career

Teal was born January 19, 1857, in Eugene, Oregon.^[1][a] He spent his early life in San Francisco, and made his first stage appearance at four or five years old.^[3] As an adult, Teal began his career as a stage director in California, before relocating to New York City in the latter part of the century.^[3]

He married Mary Blackburn, a native of Sacramento, California, in New York City on June 27, 1887.^[4] He later remarried to Portland, Oregon, native Elinor Toomey Gilman in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 9, 1906.^[5]

Teal gained notoriety for his directing of the original Broadway production of Ben-Hur (1899–1900), in which he successfully arranged an elaborate chariot race sequence on stage.^[6] He staged over thirty plays on Broadway between 1897 and 1916.^[7] Teal was known for his brusque stage direction and interaction with cast members, though he was noted for being "without peer in his ability to move large numbers of extras around onstage."^[8] Writer Edward Jewett Luce noted in 1910: "Ben Teal—the very mention of whose name suggest stage management with a vengeance—is known all over the world as the strictest, yet the most conscientious of stage directors."^[9]

Death

Teal died in a New York City sanitarium of an unspecified disease on April 20, 1917.^[10] He is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.^[11]

Stage credits

Year	Title	Location	Notes	Ref.
1887	Clito	Baldwin Theatre, San Francisco		[12]
1899	A Reign of Error	Victoria Theater		[7]
1899	In Gay Paree	Casino Theatre		[7]
1899–1900	Ben-Hur	Broadway Theatre		[7]
1900	Chris and the Wonderful Lamp	Victoria Theater		[7]
1900–1901	The Rogers Brothers in Central Park	Victoria Theatre; Grand Opera House		[7]
1900	Foxy Quiller (In Corsica)	Broadway Theatre		[7]
1900	Star and Garter	Victoria Theater		[7]
1900–1901	Sweet Nell of Old Drury	Knickerbocker Theatre		[7]
1901	The Rogers Brothers in Washington	Knickerbocker Theatre		[7]
1901–1902	The Sleeping Beauty and the Beast	Broadway Theatre		[7]
1902	The Rogers Brothers in Harvard	Knickerbocker Theatre		[7]
1904	Whoop-Dee-Doo	Weber and Fields' Music Hall; New Amsterdam Theatre		[7]
1904	An English Daisy	Casino Theatre		[7]
1905–1906	The Rollicking Girl	Herald Square Theatre; New York Theatre		[7]
1905	The Catch of the Season	Daly's Theatre		[7]
1906	The Mountain Climber	Criterion Theatre		[7]
1906	The American Lord	Hudson Theatre		[7]
1906	The Little Father of the Wilderness / The Mountain Climber	Criterion Theatre		[7]
1906–1907	The Little Cherub	Criterion Theatre; Grand Opera House		[7]
1906–1907	The Rich Mr. Hoggenheimer	Wallack's Theatre		[7]
1907	The Rogers Brothers in Panama	Broadway Theatre; Liberty Theater		[7]
1907–1908	The Hoyden	Knickerbocker Theatre; Wallack's Theatre; Grand Opera House		[7]
1908	Fluffy Ruffles	Criterion Theatre		[7]
1910	The Old Town	The Globe Theatre		[7]
1910	A Skylark	New York Theatre		[7]
1912	The Man from Cook's	New Amsterdam Theatre		[7]
1913–1914	Adele	Longacre Theatre; Harris Theatre		[7]
1913–1914	Iole	Longacre Theatre	Also wrote book and lyrics	[7]
1914	The Midnight Girl	44th Street Theatre		[7]
1914	The Red Canary	Lyric Theatre		[7]
1915	The Girl Who Smiles	Lyric Theatre; Longacre Theatre		[7]
1916	Broadway and Buttermilk	Maxine Elliott's Theatre		[7]

Notes

1. A childhood photograph of Teal in the Oregon Historical Society's Cartes-de-Visite collection has the inscription: "Ben Teal, son of Joseph Teal, in his boyhood. Born in Eugene, Jan. 19, 1857."^[2]

References

1. Luce 1910, p. 167.
2. "Teal, Ben". Oregon Historical Society. Archived from the original on March 13, 2020.
3. "Ben Teal, Famous Stage Manager, Dead". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. April 20, 1917. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940" (February 10, 2018). Ben Teal and Mary Blackburn, 27 Jun 1887; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,571,005.
5. "Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915" (May 25, 2018). Ben Teal and Elinor M Toomey Gilman, 9 Oct 1906; citing Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,315,298.
6. "Death of Man Who Staged Chariot Race in "Ben-Hur"". The Leavenworth Times. Leavenworth, Kansas. April 24, 1917. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Ben Teal". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020.
8. Wilmeth & Bigsby 1998, p. 524.
9. Luce 1910, p. 166.
10. "Broadway Mourns Dave Montgomery". The Sandusky Star-Journal. Sandusky, Ohio. April 21, 1917. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949" (February 10, 2018). Benjamin Teal, 20 Apr 1917; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,407.
12. "Baldwin Theatre advertisement". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. September 25, 1887. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.

Sources

• Luce, Edward Jewett (1910). "IX: In the Amusement World". The Mechanics Lien Law of New Jersey. Soney and Sage. pp. 164–188.
• Wilmeth, Don B.; Bigsby, Christopher, eds. (1998). The Cambridge History of American Theatre. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65179-0.

Further reading

• Shelton, Lewis E. (2005). "Ben Teal and the Authoritarian Perspective of Directing". Ideas of Theatre: The Five Directorial Perspectives of the American Stage. Bethesda, Maryland: Academica Press. ISBN 978-1-933-14604-1.

External links

• Ben Teal at the Internet Broadway Database