·Image: Minnie Ashley 1892

Minnie Ashley, aka Beatrice Chanler, Actress, Society Lady and Humanitarian

One of the great beauties of the stage at the end of the 19th century, Minnie Ashley’s talents as a singer and dancer emerged in the madcap musical “1492” in 1892. Ashley was winsome, cheerful, and quick, an actress whose triumphs took place as much in Boston with the Museum Company as in New York with the Augustin Daly Company. She went from success to success, winning stardom as Mlle. Sophie in “A Country Girl.” Her rather startling beauty had the odd effect of giving focus to the shenanigans in the more outré musical comedies of the turn of the century–“Wang” and “San Toy.”

Image: Beatrice Chanler in April 1905. Portrait by Gertrude Käsebier.