By Parker Anderson
Local fans of the Elks Opera House are aware that the star of the very first show in that theater was Florence Roberts. Many have wondered, however, exactly who Florence Roberts was. Her name is largely forgotten today, but in 1905, when she came to Prescott and the Elks, she was one of the most prominent professional touring actresses in the nation.
Florence was born in 1871 in New York City, but while she was still a small child, her parents moved to San Francisco, and this is where she grew up. Not much is known of her childhood, except that she nurtured dreams of becoming an actress while still quite young. While a teenager, she struck out on her own and managed to land a job as a “soubrette” at San Francisco’s old Alcazar Theatre in 1888. Being a soubrette largely required playing bits and walk-ons, especially if one were exceptionally beautiful, as Florence was. Plays in those days had large casts and often background extras – this is not as common today. Historically, being a soubrette was considered rather demeaning work.
Florence persevered, and while working on a show as a soubrette at the Columbia Theatre, she met the man who would ultimately shape the rest of her life, the famed Shakespearian actor Lewis Morrison, who had of late fallen into a rut of playing Mephistopheles in Goethe’s “Faust.” Much as he would try to do other things, his legions of fans in the theater always demanded “Faust.” Morrison was married, although his wife was no longer doing well physically or emotionally. They had children, and for the record, Morrison’s descendants by his first wife were Morton Downey Jr. and the actresses Constance and Joan Bennett, believe it or not.
With Lewis Morrison’s wife Rose failing, he was ripe for female attention. Enter 18-year-old Florence, who was young enough to be his daughter and, in fact, was not much younger than his oldest daughter. How their affair started is open to conjecture, but ultimately, Morrison left his wife, married Florence and started casting her in his plays, eventually making her his leading lady in “Faust” and his other plays. Those who thought that Florence was a no-talent who had used her wiles to get ahead were shocked when the critics of San Francisco, a notoriously though journalistic crowd, raved about Florence Roberts. Regardless of how she may have gotten there, Florence Roberts could indeed act and hold an audience enthralled, a rare gift indeed.
Florence fast became the toast of San Francisco theater and soon was receiving offers to appear in plays by herself without her husband, and she accepted with Morrison’s blessing. Soon she was actively producing her own shows as well, casting herself in such exotic dramas as “Sapho,” “Tess of the D-Urbervilles” and her most well-know role, “Zaza.” She was successful with every show she did, and “Zaza” eventually became her nickname. For years afterwards, even some newspapers would refer to her as Florence ”Zaza” Roberts. The play, by Charles Berton, told the story of a Parisian showgirl who courts disaster by dating a married man (irony of ironies). Despite the play’s fame and what it did or Florence, surviving scripts are extremely rare and nearly impossible to find today (although I have one and it didn’t come cheap).
By 1905, Florence Roberts had become powerful enough that she was putting together a troupe to tour the nation with her stock productions. She was one of the few women in those days to head a professional traveling theatre troupe. She chose her old standbys like “Zaza,” “Tess” and “Sapho” for her tour and added some new ones such as Angel Guimera’s highly acclaimed “Marta of the Lowlands.” Among the actors she chose to accompany her on her tour were Melbourne McDowell, Lucius Henderson, William Yearence, Forest Seabury and child actress Ollie Cooper, all respected stage performers of their day.
In Prescott, Ariz., in February of 1905, Elks Lodge No. 330 B.P.O.E. were preparing for the opening of the opera house they had built and were looking for a top professional performer with which to give the grand opening of the Elks Opera House. After much discussion and negotiation, they decided the Florence Roberts troupe was the biggest thing on the road at that time and decided to try to get her. The Elks contacted Florence’s manager, and they struck a deal for the troupe to play a one-night engagement at the Grand Opening of the Elks Opera House in Prescott. The play from Florence’s repertory that the Elks asked her to do was the above-named “Marta of the Lowlands.” On Feb. 20, 1905, the Elks Opera House opened its doors with Florence and her troupe on its stage, and by all accounts, she brought down the house, just as she did everywhere she went.
It is interesting to note how the same events can mean different things to different people. Florence Roberts’ appearance at the Grand Opening of the Elks Opera House was, and still is, a significant event in Prescott history. To Florence, however, it was probably no more than just another stop on her tour. There is no record of her ever returning to Prescott for any reason, although ironically, a few months later, one of her San Francisco theatre colleagues, White Whittlesey, came to Prescott and the Elks Opera House.
The year 1906 would prove to be a pivotal one for Florence. Early in the year, she was invited to New York to appear on Broadway for the first time in the play “The Strength of the Weak.” Her hopes and dreams of reaching the Great White Way had come true. Ironically, her Broadway stint can=used her to miss the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. She was well received by the New York critics and would, in forthcoming years, return to Broadway in “Jim the Penman,” “Diplomacy” and “The Claim.” Tragedy also struck with the death f her husband and mentor, Lewis Morrison. Regardless of how she had come to marry him, she always maintained in interviews that she truly loved him, and while Morrison’s descendants would blast Florence as a home-wrecker many years later, there is no real reason to doubt her claim.
Florence Roberts continued to act in plays, in San Francisco and on tours. As she got older, though, she discovered what older actresses discover – good roles for older women are scarce. By the time 1920 rolled around, she was starting to appear in vaudeville and taking it easier than she had in her younger years.
In 1920, many years after the death of Lewis Morrison, Florence Roberts remarried. Her groom was actor Frederick Vogeding, who was 15 years her junior, and they stayed together until her death.
From most accounts, Florence Roberts was a racy, saucy woman for her day. Her plays had strong adult content, many of them reflecting the female viewpoint – the pain of being a woman in a man’s world, a view not commonly discussed in that era. Roles like Zaza allowed her to show off a little mor of her legs than wa common for most women back then.
Florence Roberts was a fascinating woman, and there is much more to her life than can be told in this column. On Jan. 20-21 and 27-28, Sharlot Hall Museum’s Blue Rose Theater is proud to present “Don’t Despise Me: the Life of Florence Roberts,” a one woman play about the life of Florence Roberts. Prescott’s acclaimed Gail Mangham will essay the role of Florence, in a script written specifically with her in mind. The role is unlike any Mangham has previously played. Tickets are available at the museum store on the corner of West Gurley and McCormick in the beautiful Bashford House.
Florence Roberts died on July 18, 1927, at the age of 56, following an operation of undisclosed cause. Although she had not been as active in theater as she once had, her death made the front page in all of San Francisco’s four newspapers, and it is said that many old-time ‘Frisco residents wept at the news. Despite a few blemishes, Florence Roberts was a giant among San Francisco women – and perhaps among women in general.
Parker Anderson is an active member of Sharlot Hall Musuem’s Blue Rose Theatre and the official historian of the Elks Opera House.
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