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Katharine Cooke

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki


Katharine Cooke
Kit Cooke.jpg Kit Cooke.jpg
Kit Cooke from the scrapbook Wild Animals I Have Met
BornKatharine Ignacia Cooke
(1900-01-17)January 17, 1900
Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.
💀Died15 July 1971(1971-07-15) (aged 71)
San Diego, California, U.S.15 July 1971(1971-07-15) (aged 71)
💼 Occupation
Actress, stage manager
📆 Years active  1911-1926
👩 Spouse(s)

Katharine Cooke (January 17, 1900 – July 15, 1971), also known at Kit Cooke,[1] was an American actress and stage manager. She is best known for being the daughter of writer Grace MacGowan Cooke and for her leading roles at the Forest Theater in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. She began her acting career at a young age, securing a role in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.[2][1]

Early life[edit]

Cooke was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on January 17, 1900. Her father was William Benjamin Cooke and her mother was writer Grace MacGowan Cooke, the niece of writer Alice MacGowan. Cooke had an older sister, Helen MacGowan Cooke, who married writer Harry Leon Wilson on June 4, 1912.[3][4][5][6][1] In 1906, Katherine, Helen, and their mother moved to Helicon Home Colony, an experimental community formed by author Upton Sinclair in Englewood, New Jersey. Her mother, Grace, had left her husband at this time.[7]

In December 1908, Katherine, Helen, and their mother moved to the art colony at Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.[8] The same year, they moved into a large, Tudor-style two-story house on 13th Avenue, one of the first homes constructed in southwest Carmel.[9][10][11]

Career[edit]

Cooke in the play Pygmalion and Galatea (1918)

During the early 1910s, Cooke followed her older sister, Helen MacGowan Cooke into acting at a young age. She went onto the stage of the outdoor Forest Theater, performing in plays of the time.[12] In her first theatrical appearance at the Forest Theater, on July 4, 1911, Cooke, age 11, played an Indian child in Herbert Heron's historical The Pageant of Carmel Mission, a commemorative of the founding of the Carmel Mission.[13] This was followed by a lead role in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, in July 1912 at the Forest Theater.[14] In May 1913, Cooke played Princess Buddir al Buddoor in the Arabian Night's story of Aladdin and the Lamp, arranged by Perry Newberry and Elizabeth Field Christy.[15][12] In August 1914, The Arrow Maker was produced by Mary Hunter Austin at the Forest Theater. Cooke played Yavi, an Indian boy and her sister, Helen Cooke Wilson played and Indian woman.[12][16] On July 2–3 and 5, 1915, at age 15, Cooke played "Herald" in the play Junípero Serra, A Pageant of the Padres by Perry Newberry at the sixth annual production of the Forest Theater.[17][12] That same month, she played the fairy queen, Titania, in A Midsummer Night's Dream.[18]

In 1916, she performed at the Carmel Arts and Crafts Hall, in two one-act plays on January 7, Just As Well by playwright J. Hartley Manners and Alias Trixie Kix by Gordon Davis.[19] On July 1–3, 1916, Cooke played Yolanda in Yolanda of Cyprus, by Cale Young Rice at the Forest Theater.[12][20] That same month, she played the foreign woman Veronika in new version of The Piper, by poet Josephine Preston Peabody under the direction of Perry Newberry.[21] On August 5, 1916, she played in Charley's Aunt at the Forest Theater.[22] On August 23, She played Phyllis Faraday in the play Green Stockings a comedy by A. E. W. Mason.[19]

Katherine Cooke in A Thousand Years Ago (1917)

On February 18, 1917, she appeared two one-act plays, Overtones, by playwright Alice Gerstenberg, and The Gift by playwright Charles King Van Riper.[19] In July 1917, Cooke played the role of Lavinia in the performance of Androcles and the Lion at the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club.[12][23] That same year she played in Percy MacKaye's A Thousand Years Ago as Turandot, Pricess of Pekin, and as Tylette, the Cat in The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck.[24][25]

In June 1918, Cooke had the role of Galatea in the mythological comedy play Pygmalion and Galatea by W. S. Gilbert, at the Forest Theater.[2] On August 16–17, 1918, Cooke was in the play The Cat And The Cherub, by writer and playwright Chester Bailey Fernald, and produced by the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club.[26]

In June 1921, Cooke directed and oversaw the stagecraft for the British play Pomander Walk, by Louis N. Parker, at the Forest Theater. She was helped on the play by her sister, Helen Cooke Wilson in the role of Madame Lucie Lachesnais.[27][28]

In December 1922, Cooke was in the marionette play The Rented Ranch, as Santa Anna, written and produced by playwright Ira Mallory Remsen at the Carmel Arts and Crafts Hall.[19] On November 28–29, 1923, Cooke played Gloria Pakrs in Doubling in Brass by writer Charles Caldwell Dobie.[19][29]

During the performances on May 2–3, 1924, at the Carmel Arts and Crafts Theater, In act 7, titled "The Spanish Shawls," Cooke portrayed the character of the "Black Shawls," while her sister, Helen Wilson, took on the role of the "Soft Shawls." In act 9, known as "Captain Flapjack," Cooke depicted "His Little Daughter," and in act 11, titled "The Villain," she embodied "The Adventuress." Lastly, in act 13, called "White Shadows in the South Sea," Cooke delivered a performance as the "Tahitian Dancer."[19] In August 1924, Cooke produced the play Prunella, based on Prunella, or, Love in a Dutch Garden by Granville Barker and Laurence Housman.[30]

In August 1926, Cooke joined forces with Fenton Foster to produce "King Dodo" the musical comedy by Frank S. Pixley and Gustav Luders at the Forest Theater.[31][32]

Personal[edit]

Cooke's sister, Helen, was diagnosed with cancer.In July 1945, at the age of 49, she passed away at Walter Reed General Hospital.[33][34]

Cooke had a romantic relationship with actor Ernest Schweninger.[1] Shortly after her sister's death, on August 3, 1945, she married John William Ryan at St. Mary's Catholic church in Los Gatos, California. Ryan was a construction engineer.[35]

Death[edit]

Cooke died on July 15, 1971, in San Diego, California.[36]

Gallery[edit]

  • Kit Cooke holding bowl

    Kit Cooke holding bowl

  • Cooke in Alice in Wonderland

    Cooke in Alice in Wonderland

  • Cooke in Androcles and the Lion

    Cooke in Androcles and the Lion

  • Cooke in Yolanda of Cyprus

    Cooke in Yolanda of Cyprus

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Baking bread and playing roles" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. July 2, 2021. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Pygmalion and Galatea at the Forest Theatre". Monterey Daily Cypress and Monterey American. Monterey, California. June 22, 1918. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  3. ↑ Cooke, Katharine (January 17, 1900). "United States Census, 1900" (Database). The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
  4. ↑ Cooke, Katharine (July 15, 1971). "United States Social Security Death Index" (Database). U.S. Social Security Administration.
  5. ↑ "Cooke-MacGowan. The Marriage of Wm. B. Cooke and Miss Grace MacGowan". The Chattanooga Commercial. Chattanooga, Tennessee. 18 Feb 1887. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  6. ↑ "Grace MacGowan Cooke dies at Los Gatos". The Peninsula Times Tribune. Palo Alto, California. June 26, 1944. p. 83. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  7. ↑ "Home Colony Planned By Upton Sinclair". The Rock Island Argus. June 22, 1906. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  8. ↑ Edwards, Robert W. (2012). "Chapter Two – Western Frontiers: Birth of the Carmel Art Colony (1896-1909)". Jennie V. Cannon: The Untold History of the Carmel and Berkeley Art Colonies (PDF). Oakland, California: East Bay Heritage Project. p. 39. ISBN 978-1467545679. Retrieved April 7, 2023. Search this book on
  9. ↑ Dramov, Alissandra (2016). Historic Homes and Inns of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Arcadia. p. 40. ISBN 9781439656747. Retrieved 2023-04-08. Search this book on
  10. ↑ "Carmel Historic Inventory" (PDF). ci.carmel.ca.us. Carmel, California. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  11. ↑ Dramov, Alissandra (2022). Past & Present Carmel-By-The-Sea. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 9781467108980. Retrieved 2023-03-08. Search this book on
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 "Forest Theater Plays". Harrison Memorial Library. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. 1910. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  13. ↑ "Carmel Is Scene Of A Pageant". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. July 5, 1911. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  14. ↑ "Happy Carmel Fok Plan Third Outdoor Pageant". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. June 2, 1912. p. 23. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  15. ↑ "Carmel Smiling With New Victory". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. May 2, 1913. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  16. ↑ "'The Arrow-Maker' Produced At Carmel". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. July 26, 1914. p. 33. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  17. ↑ "Forest Theater Plays". Harrison Memorial Library. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. July 9, 1910. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  18. ↑ "Sumer Productions Offerings of the Western Dram Society" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. July 14, 1915. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 "Arts and Crafts Club Scrapbook". Harrison Memorial Library. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. 1912. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  20. ↑ "The Overland Monthly". Samuel Carson. 1916. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  21. ↑ ""The Piper" Closes a Successful Season" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. August 16, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  22. ↑ ""Charlie's Aunt" Is Coming to Town" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. August 25, 1917. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  23. ↑ "Two Nights of Shaw Staged by Newberry" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. August 2, 1917. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  24. ↑ "Those Taking Part in The Week's Plays, and the Character Assumed" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. July 5, 1917. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  25. ↑ MacKaye, Percy (1914). A Thousand Years Ago: A Romance of the Orient. Doubleday. Percy MacKaye. Search this book on
  26. ↑ "Arts and Crafts Club Scrapbook". Harrison Memorial Library. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. 1912. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  27. ↑ "Carmel To Give Pomander Walk". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. June 26, 1921. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  28. ↑ "Carmel Rows Over Forest Theater Play". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. September 16, 1921. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  29. ↑ Charles Caldwell Dobie (1928). "Doubling in Brass A Melodramatic Comedy in Three Acts". Banner Play Bureau. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  30. ↑ "Charming Drama Charmingly Done". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. August 8, 1924. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  31. ↑ "Exits And Entrances". The Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. June 17, 1926. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  32. ↑ Barbara Manners (August 20, 1926), "King Dodo" Pronounced Success At Forst Theatre, Pavilla Setting High Mark
  33. ↑ "Mrs. Peabody Rites Held At Walter Reed Chapel". Evening Star. Washington, District of Columbia. July 16, 1945. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  34. ↑ "Mrs. Paul Peabody". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. September 9, 1945. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  35. ↑ "Katharine Cooke, John W. Ryan Are Wed In Los Gatos". Los Gatos Times-Saratoga Observer. Los Gatos, California. August 10, 1945. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  36. ↑ "California U.S. Death Index". San Diego, California. July 15, 1971. Retrieved 2023-07-03.

External links[edit]


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