Eleanor Phelps (September , â€" September , ) was an American
theater, film, radio, and television actress from Roland Park,
Baltimore, Maryland. She appeared in Broadway theater
productions.Before going off to Vassar for college, Phelps attended
Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore along with future actresses Margaret
Barker and Mildred Natwick. In college she was a student of Hallie
Flanagan at the Vassar Experimental Theatre and aspired to become a
Broadway performer. Her father opposed her desire to appear on stage
but her mom assisted her by introducing her to actor George Arliss.
She visited Arliss at his elegant Beekman Place (Manhattan) apartment
and he also tried to discourage Phelps from acting.She joined the
University Players Guild for its first season of summer stock in West
Falmouth on Cape Cod in along with Henry Fonda, Joshua Logan,
Bretaigne Windust, Charles Leatherbee, Myron McCormick, Kent Smith,
and others. On July , , Broadway producer Winthrop Ames traveled from
New York to Cape Cod specifically to see Phelps in the dress rehearsal
for the University Players production of The Jest, a Broadway comedy
by Sem Benelli. Perhaps his trip was occasioned at the suggestion of
George Arliss who had starred as Shylock in Ames's Broadway production
of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice during the Broadway season
just ended. In any event, Ames offered Phelps the role of Jessica in
the post-Broadway national tour of Merchant of Venice. At the end of
the University Players summer season, Phelps left Cape Cod to join
Arliss and company and never returned to Falmouth. She loved more than
anything being in a play by Mister Shakespeare.
theater, film, radio, and television actress from Roland Park,
Baltimore, Maryland. She appeared in Broadway theater
productions.Before going off to Vassar for college, Phelps attended
Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore along with future actresses Margaret
Barker and Mildred Natwick. In college she was a student of Hallie
Flanagan at the Vassar Experimental Theatre and aspired to become a
Broadway performer. Her father opposed her desire to appear on stage
but her mom assisted her by introducing her to actor George Arliss.
She visited Arliss at his elegant Beekman Place (Manhattan) apartment
and he also tried to discourage Phelps from acting.She joined the
University Players Guild for its first season of summer stock in West
Falmouth on Cape Cod in along with Henry Fonda, Joshua Logan,
Bretaigne Windust, Charles Leatherbee, Myron McCormick, Kent Smith,
and others. On July , , Broadway producer Winthrop Ames traveled from
New York to Cape Cod specifically to see Phelps in the dress rehearsal
for the University Players production of The Jest, a Broadway comedy
by Sem Benelli. Perhaps his trip was occasioned at the suggestion of
George Arliss who had starred as Shylock in Ames's Broadway production
of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice during the Broadway season
just ended. In any event, Ames offered Phelps the role of Jessica in
the post-Broadway national tour of Merchant of Venice. At the end of
the University Players summer season, Phelps left Cape Cod to join
Arliss and company and never returned to Falmouth. She loved more than
anything being in a play by Mister Shakespeare.
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