FANNY DAVENPORT - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 10/13 - HFSID 304561

FANNY DAVENPORT
The actress is "at a loss" over the estimated cost of home construction, but will sign the contract anyhow. Signed with her married name.
Autograph Letter signed: "Fanny D. MacDowell", 2 pages (front and verso), 5¼x8½, affixed to a 6½x9 sheet, with a 4x6, unsigned photograph of Davenport affixed (3 surfaces). No place, October 13, no year. To "My Dear Mr. Reardon", in full: "The estimate of our house is so large I am somewhat at a loss today. I have set Mr. Potter at new plans however at this figure for our signatures and manner of payments you require. Very truly [signature] There will be no need seeing me tomorrow but Saturday if you will bring or send agreement I will sign it." London-born American actress Fanny Davenport (1850-1898), educated in Boston, made her youthful New York stage debut in Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady (1862). Davenport, who later had her own theatre company, was especially known for the plays of Victorien Sardou, including Fedora (1883) and Cleopatra (1890), playing roles originated in Europe by Sarah Bernhardt. She was the daughter of famed actor Edward Loomis Davenport, and the mother of D. W. Griffith actress Dorothy Davenport. All six of her siblings and both of her husbands performed on the stage, as did her niece, May Davenport Seymour, the mother of stage, film and TV actress Anne Seymour. Davenport's second marriage ws to Willet Melbourne MacDowell in 1889; MacDowell would later act in silent films. Old postcards picture Davenport's house in Duxbury (circa 1905) - an impressive beachfront structure, so the high estimate mentioned in her letter is not surprising. Two horizontal folds. 1¾x½-inch piece missing from top of page 1. Nicks and tears at edges and folds. Lightly worn. Otherwise, fine condition.