Editing Lester Wallack

{{Short description|American actor (1820–1888)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name          = Lester Wallack
| image         = Lester Wallack - National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (NPG.81.M1585).jpg
| imagesize     = 
| caption       = J. Lester Wallack
| birth_name    = John Johnstone Wallack
| birth_date    =  {{Birth date|1820|01|01}}
| birth_place   = [[New York, New York]]
| death_date    =  {{Death date and age|1888 |09|06|1820|01|01}} 
| death_place   = [[Stamford, Connecticut]]
| resting_place = [[Green-Wood Cemetery]], Brooklyn, NY
| occupation    = Actor * Manager
| spouse        = Emily Mary Millais
| known_for     = Co-Founder [[Actors Fund|The Actors Fund]]
| office        = Shepherd of [[The Lambs]] 
| term_start    = 1878-82
| term_end      = 1884-88
| predecessor   = [[Henry James Montague]]
| successor     = [[Harry Beckett (actor)|Harry Beckett]]
| signature=Appletons' Wallack James Wilson John Lester signature.jpg 
}}
'''John Johnstone Wallack''' (January 1, 1820, New York City – September 6, 1888, [[Stamford, Connecticut]]), was an American [[actor-manager]] and son of [[James William Wallack]] and [[Susan Johnstone]].{{sfn|Matthews|Hutton|1900|pp=283–300}} He used the stage name '''John Lester''' until October 5, 1858, when he first acted under the name '''Lester Wallack''', which he retained the rest of his career.<ref name=NAME/>

==Biography==
He was born in New York and relocated at an early age to his parents' home in London where he was reared and educated.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=279}} His mother was actress [[Susan Johnstone]] and his father was [[James William Wallack]], a theatre producer.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle= Johnstone, John Henry |volume= 30 |last= Middleton |first= Louisa Mary |author-link= |page= 82 |short= 1}}</ref> 

He chose a military career but became discouraged and went to [[Dublin]] where he began performed on stage. He remained for two seasons and then went to [[Edinburgh]]. Then in 1846, he appeared in London at the [[Haymarket Theatre]] under [[Benjamin Nottingham Webster|Benjamin Webster]]'s management. There he was seen by George H. Barrett, who had come to London to engage actors for the [[Old Broadway Theatre|Broadway Theatre]], in New York.{{sfn|Matthews|Hutton|1900|pp=283–300}}

He made his American debut there in 1847, under the name of John Lester, appearing as Sir Charles Coldstream in [[Dion Boucicault|Boucicault]]'s adaptation of ''Used Up''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=279}} His father's brother, Henry Wallack, the father of James William Wallack Jr. (1818–1873),<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqmveZd4jD8C&pg=PA131 |title=Players and Plays of the Last Quarter Century |volume=I |first=Lewis C. |last=Strang |location=Boston |publisher=L. C. Page & Company |year=1903 |page=131}}</ref> was also in the Broadway Theatre's company. His second appearance was as Viscount de Ligny in ''Captain of the Guard'' by [[James Planché]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=279}}{{sfn|Matthews|Hutton|1900|pp=283–300}}

Subsequently, he performed at the [[Bowery Theatre]], [[Burton's Theatre]], [[Niblo's Garden]] and the first [[Wallack's Theatre]]. His first appearance at the Bowery Theatre was in 1849 as ''Don Caesar de Bazan'' by [[Adolphe d'Ennery]] and [[Philippe Dumanoir]].{{sfn|Matthews|Hutton|1900|pp=283–300}}

He managed the second Wallack's Theatre from 1861 (demolished in 1901), and in 1882 he opened the third at 30th Street and [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] (demolished in 1915).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=279}} Among the productions staged at the latter was [[Margaret Mather]]'s ill-fated production of ''[[Cymbeline]]'' in 1897. Another Wallack's Theatre, at 254 West 42nd Street in New York, was named for him in 1924. 

Wallack joined [[The Lambs]] in 1875, which frequently met at Wallack's Theater. He served as its Shepherd (president): 1878-82, 1884-88,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.the-lambs.org/board.htm |title=Governance of the Lambs ® |accessdate=2015-10-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150131220915/http://www.the-lambs.org/board.htm |archivedate=2015-01-31 }}</ref> and was one of the founders of the [[Actors' Fund of America]].

His greatest successes were as [[The School for Scandal|Charles Surface]], as [[Much Ado About Nothing|Benedick]], and especially as Elliot Grey in his own play ''Rosedale'', and similar light comedy and romantic parts, for which his fascinating manners and handsome person well fitted him. He married a sister (d. 1909) of [[John Everett Millais|Sir John Millais]]. He wrote his own ''Memories of Fifty Years''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=279}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=NAME>See:
*{{cite news |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030213/1858-06-14/ed-1/seq-1/ |newspaper=[[New-York Tribune|New-York Daily Tribune]] |date=June 14, 1858 |page=1, column 6, advertisement |title=Wallack's Theater |quote=Benefit of Mr. Lester}}
*{{cite news |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030213/1858-09-27/ed-1/seq-2/ |newspaper=New-York Daily Tribune |date=September 27, 1858 |title=Wallack's Theater |page=2, column 1, advertisement |quote=John Lester Wallack, Stage Manager}}
*{{cite news |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030213/1858-10-04/ed-1/seq-2/ |newspaper=New-York Daily Tribune |date=October 4, 1858 |page=2, column 1, advertisement (for tomorrow) |title=Wallack's Theater |quote=Stage Manager, Mr. Lester Wallack. The company will consist of…Mr. Lester Wallack.…}}</ref>
}}

==References==
*{{cite book |editor-last=Matthews |editor-first=Brander |authorlink=Brander Matthews |editor2-last=Hutton |editor2-first=Laurence | editor2-link=Laurence Hutton |year=1900 |url=https://archive.org/stream/lifeartofedwinbo00huttuoft#page/n7/mode/2up |title=Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States |volume =5: Edwin Booth and His Contemporaries |edition=New Illustrated |publisher=L.C. Page & Co. |location=Boston |pages=283–300}}

'''Attribution:'''
*{{EB1911 |wstitle=Wallack, James William |volume=28 |page=279}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last=Burnham |first=Charles |date=1915 |url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id%3Dhe9DAQAAIAAJ |title=The Passing of Wallack's |journal=The Theatre |volume=21 |number=168 |page=72}}
*{{cite NIE |title=Wallack, John Lester |volume=20 |url=https://archive.org/stream/newinternational20gilm#page/264/mode/2up}}
*[[William J. Florence|Florence, W. J.]] (1888-10). “Lester Wallack”. ''The North American Review,'' Vol. 147 No. 383, pp.&nbsp;453–459. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25101635 Online at JSTOR.]
*[[Montrose Jonas Moses|Moses, Montrose J.]] (1906). ''Famous Actor-Families in America.'' Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, New York, pp.&nbsp;195–224. [https://archive.org/stream/famousactorfamil00mose#page/n271/mode/2up Online at Internet Archive.]
*Wallack, Lester and [[Laurence Hutton|Hutton, Laurence]] (1889). [https://archive.org/details/memoriesfiftyye00wallgoog ''Memories of Fifty Years.''] Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York
*[[William Winter (author)|Winter, William]] (1889). [https://books.google.com/books?id%3DagYuAAAAYAAJ ''Brief Chronicles, Part I.''] Publications of the Dunlap Society, No. 7, New York, pp.&nbsp;313–23

==External links==
{{Commons category|Lester Wallack}}
*{{find a Grave|32230817}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Lester Wallack}}
* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01434 Theater Arts Manuscripts:] An Inventory of the Collection at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallack, Lester}}
[[Category:1820 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:Male actors from New York City]]
[[Category:19th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:American male stage actors]]
[[Category:The Lambs presidents]]
[[Category:Members of The Lambs Club]]
[[Category:Actor-managers]]