Anna Taliaferro

Anna Taliaferro (born Anne M. Barriscale; March 1, 1871 – January 5, 1917) was a theatrical agent, who founded the first casting agency for stage children in America. She was the mother of actresses Mabel and Edith Taliaferro, and the aunt of Bessie Barriscale. She also trained other relatives for the stage, and had over 1000 children listed with her agency. Her agency, which provided training as well, was the subject of profiles in The New York Times and Leslie's Weekly. Among adult actors who went through her training as children were Grace and Helen Menken, Vivian Martin, and Gregory Kelly.

Early years She was born in England, and came to America during 1879. As Annie Barriscale, she married Robert A. Taliaferro on April 7, 1886, in Manhattan. According to her later testimony, he was a grocery store basket boy when they first met, and later worked at Acker Merral & Condit, a wine brokerage. She later gave an interview to a reporter from the Jacksonville News-Herald, concluding with "I will repeat the dose if necessary." The reporter added Anna Taliaferro was "of petite form, and a very intelligent and comely brunette". (Many sources list a birthdate of 1894 and birthplace of Richmond, Virginia for Edith Taliaferro, but are contradicted by her christening document, which gives these details and her parentage.) That first stage experience occurred in 1892, when she appeared in a play called Blue Jeans. Mabel, in an October 1894 interview with a female reporter for The San Francisco Call & Post, said she was with Blue Jeans for two seasons. She was then currently appearing with the Katie Emmett Company in Killarney by Con T. Murphy. The interview implicitly stated Mabel's parents were not with her on the tour, but she regarded the other cast members as surrogates. She impressed everyone by knowing her sister's songs and lines by heart, having seen Mabel perform so often. She then had the good fortune to win a role with James A. Herne in his Shore Acres touring company during October 1895. Herne was an advocate of using great patience to help stage children seem natural when performing. to fill a vacant part in the cast during November 1896.

Theatrical agent

Whether her experience with the Herne tour was a catalyst or not, by 1899 Anna Taliaferro was an acknowledged theatrical agent for producers looking to cast children and teens for the theater. She had already "trained many children for the stage", and had successfully battled the Gerry Society's attempt to prevent Mabel from acting. A reporter described the office as comprising two small rooms on the top floor of a little wooden building. The New York Times reporter referred to it as an "actor's market" for children, and said the kids coming to apply were "with their mothers, older sisters, guardians-- and not a few are boldly alone, armed with supreme confidence".

Evaluating and training Anna Taliaferro's first action upon meeting a new child was to make friends with them. They and their parent or guardian would meet with Taliaferro in her private office, where she could discern the child's suitability for the stage. Taliaferro would next stimulate the child's personality by relating an exciting story. Other actors who went through the agency as kids were Vivian Martin and Gregory Kelly,

The Gerries The children who went through the Taliaferro agency picked up a certain apprehension about the Gerry Society, which sought to prevent them from working as actors. One story recounted that a child, when asked their age, replied: "Five for the street car conductor, seven for mamma, and ten for 'the Gerries'". The Times reporter said a visitor to the agency thought the kids were referring to a contagious disease from the way they said the word. She and her daughter Mabel formed the Hotel Abell Company of Long Beach in New York during 1911. The following year she filed a lawsuit on behalf of her daughter Edith over claims she had given a moonlight ride in her automobile to a married man.

She died January 5, 1917, at St. Vincent's Hospital, Despite this, her daughter Edith completed her role in Captain Kidd, Jr. at the Cohan & Harris Theatre that same night.