Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 1: Romance Comes to Edwin Thanhouser

At the Academy of Music in Milwaukee the stock company turned out a regular schedule of performances all year around. Players came to realize that a stint at the Academy of Music combined the appeals of steady compensation and an appreciative audience. Among those employed by the Milwaukee company at the outset in the autumn of 1898 was a 16-year-old girl, Gertrude F. Homan, whom Edwin had met earlier in his career, and who had been on stage since she was a young child.

She was "barely five feet tall, crowned with a mass of dark, curly hair surrounding her pansy-like face. She was cute as the dickens," her son Lloyd related in his recording of the Thanhouser family history. "Edwin Thanhouser fell desperately in love with her.... He courted her at every opportunity and even cast himself to play opposite her on the stage - much to Gertie's displeasure, because she did not think much of his acting. Gertrude F. Homan was chaperoned by one of her older sisters, Carey Tidball, Note who had recently been widowed and had lost her only child," the account continued. "Nevertheless, Edwin managed to propose to Gertrude at least five times. She flatly turned down the first four offers, but said 'maybe' to the last one shortly before she returned to New York."

The uncertain outlook for the romantic future of the young Romeo is evidenced by two letters, both written to Gertrude on February 7, 1899. It is not known if either was sent, but both were preserved as mementos by the Thanhouser family. Probably each was a draft and was kept because he liked certain of the phrases. The first letter was written in advance to respond to a possible "no" answer from Gertrude:

My Dear Miss Homan:

Your answer, had I needed any assurance, would have told me that my devotion was not misplaced - however hopeless. It must have been, in part, your noble womanhood that appealed to me. I saw and recognized it long ago. I would have been content to wait if I could have seen you often enough - you might have loved me in kind - as I have you. A short half hour to decide the fate of two lives! It was hard for you to know in that time! But your note was womanly and honest - sterling qualities that make me honor you. I thank you for your tender consideration - no action could more fittingly tell your goodness. I am strong enough that you will never see or feel that I ever hoped to be more than

Your devoted friend,

Edwin Thanhouser.

Milwaukee, Feby. 7/99

The second letter was written in an optimistic vein:

Dear Sweet Gertrude:

Since Friday, when we were not to let the white blossoms fade, hope and despair have alternately held me. I have said 'Each new bud that bursts into bloom will bring some thought of love' - and that was hope - and then came the thought - 'The white flowers are drooping - and love is dying' - and that was despair. I had to put your pictures away - in my room and on my desk - I could not see them each moment - with all this uncertainty. I had your little pink handkerchief out - and I put that away too. Even now I don't know if we are pledged to one another - all is so uncertain - yet I am content to wait - no time will be too long. You, Gertrude, are my life, my hope - everything. I have no future that is not yours, no joy that you do not share. Even though my manhood were strong enough to live without your sunshine - life would hold no promise to me then - none.

I know now I must have waited for your coming, for no one else, in all the world, could have awakened in me such high resolve and tender sympathy. I never felt so much the purpose of noble effort - as when I think of your dear love and the best in my nature crowds out all else - as I try and try to be more worthy of you. You must know me - and so must your sister and your dear mother - just as I am, with my life's purpose to make you happy, to live for you, to guard and cherish you. It does me good to write to you - to have you the first to look into my real heart - the first to look deep into my real soul - and see there the pure undying love that will always be yours.

Accept this little present - my first to you - God bless you.

Devotedly,

Edwin.

Milwaukee,

Feby. 7/99

A letter sent by special delivery mail on March 3, 1899 from the Academy Theatre to Gertrude F. Homan, who was staying with Mrs. Schmitz at 164 Wisconsin Street in the same city, indicates that the romance was blooming (M-25-1):

Little Flower -

Good night sweet love - my heart is full of love and it beats for you - for you alone. Good night - darling Gertrude - good night. I am happier tonight than I have been for many weeks. Gertrude - Gertrude - how I love you!

Edwin.

A telegram sent from New York City on March 28, 1899 was received by Gertrude at her Wisconsin Street address and indicates that all was continuing to go well for the lovers: "ARRIVED SAFE AND SOUND AWFULLY LONESOME FOR YOU DARLING I SEND ALL MY LOVE AND KISSES, GOD BLESS YOU. EDWIN. 9:10 P.M."

Thanhouser family tradition has it that Gertrude F. Homan had many admirers, and by the time she met Edwin she had received many proposals of marriage. Of a practical nature, and successful on the stage in her own right, Gertie, as her friends called her, was too smart to sign up with an actor of uncertain stage and financial fortunes. While she was quite impressed with Edwin's sincerity, she told him that before she would consent to marriage, he had to have $10,000 in the bank. By autumn 1899, again according to family tradition, the required amount was on deposit, and Gertie said "yes," although one can easily assume from press clippings mentioning his success that Edwin had passed this financial milestone well before that date.

An unattributed newspaper article from October 1899 tells of the engagement: "The patrons of the Academy of Music, which has now been successfully occupied for a year by the admirable Thanhouser stock company, have long suspected that Edwin Thanhouser, the genial manager and proprietor of this organization, was not so entirely free and independent as to his heart as he was when he first came to Milwaukee. His evident devotion to charming Gertrude Homan, the 'ingenue' of the company, had not escaped the watchful eyes of those who took an interest in all things connected with the organization.

Frequently, Mr. Thanhouser was taxed with an evident penchant for the charming little actress, which he always vigorously denied, although the denials were made in that rather plaintive tone described by the French as avec des larmes dans la voix, which seemed to indicate that the manager sincerely regretted the necessity of making the denial and heartily wished that he might be in a position to announce that the rumor was true.

However, this time of probation and anxious delay is happily ended, and today Mr. Thanhouser announces to his friends that he and Miss Homan have agreed to trot the remainder of the course in double harness, and the month of January will start off the new year and their domestic "menage" at the same time....

Mr. Thanhouser is a young man still, a very young man, in fact, but he has scored a triple hit as an actor, a manager, and as an actor-manager.... He has steadily and surely fought his way to the front until the Academy of Music and the Thanhouser stock company can be safely regarded as a permanent and successful business venture, deserving a prominent place in the front ranks of the city's enterprises.

From the very start, Miss Homan has been a member of the company. She is a graduate from the ranks of the child actresses, her name having been associated with the best performance of the role of Cedric, Lord Fauntleroy, that any child offered to the public.... Since coming here she has been seen in a great variety of roles, and she is unquestionably one of the most popular members of this popular company. Mr. Thanhouser is so happy today that a sensible, level-minded reporter, undisturbed by dreams of hymeneal bliss, can not get a coherent interview from him, and Miss Homan is very voluble in assuring all comers that she has nothing to say, but as far as one can judge the match promises in every respect to be a brilliant success....

Edwin went to New York, visited with her family, and married Gertrude in Brooklyn on February 8, 1900. A front-page article in the New York World described the event: "Miss Gertie Homan, of 291 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, who has endeared herself to so many theatre-goers as Little Lord Fauntleroy, was married last night at her home to Edwin Thanhouser, manager of the Academy of Music, Milwaukee. The wedding was a quiet one, only intimate friends of the family being present. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev. Brady E. Backus, of the Church of the Holy Apostles, Manhattan. Mrs. Thanhouser is the youngest of four sisters, and Mr. Backus has performed the ceremony for each one of them...."

After telling their friends that they would be back in Milwaukee after March 10th, the honeymooning couple took the train to Miami, Florida. A real estate agent viewed the blissful pair as interesting prospects and tried to sell them a large section of land, a sandbar on the east side of Miami Bay, for $2,600. The offer of what in later years became one of the busiest sections of Miami Beach was declined.

During their Florida trip, Edwin and Gertrude attended an exhibition golf match which featured visiting English pros. They enjoyed what they saw, and soon the Thanhousers added golf to their list of recreational activities, remaining active in the sport for the next 30 years. Edwin's only other outdoor sport was fishing, which he pursued for the remainder of his long life.

During the winter of 1900-1901 Edwin contracted a severe case of pneumonia and nearly died. After weeks of illness, when his recovery seemed apparent, he went to Florida for a month to recuperate. The next summer, in good health, Edwin went with Gertrude to Spokane, Washington, where the couple stayed for several weeks. Later in 1901 they went to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. By that time Gertrude was pregnant.

On January 31, 1902, the Thanhousers became parents of a boy, whom they named Lloyd Frank, after Lloyd F. Lonergan, the husband of one of Gertrude's older sisters, and after Edwin's elder brother Frank. The second of the two Thanhouser children was a girl born on March 23, 1906, who was given the name Marie Louise after Gertrude's mother.