Della Fox

A few days after writing the piece about photographer A. J. Fox, I came across this cabinet card of his daughter, actress Della Fox and decided it would make a nice addition to my Fox file.  Judging from the articles I found regarding Miss Fox, this is a story that has been told many times, just never here.

Della May Fox was born Oct. 13th, 1870 in St. Louis, Missouri, the sixth and youngest child of Andrew J. Fox and Harriett Ann Swett. Her father, A. J. Fox, was a leading St. Louis photographer with a specialty in theatrical subjects.

Della Fox had four brothers; Frank D. (1856), Charles A. (1858), William H. (1860), Wymar (1863) and one sister, Lillie Graham Fox (1867).

“Child stars are an American tradition,” says professor and author John Hanners, “but no period surpasses the mid-1800's for the sheer number of children appearing in live theatrical events or the degree of seriousness with which they were taken."

Della made her first appearance on stage in the H. M. S. Pinafore and subsequently played children's roles with Marie Prescott's company.

In the 1870's and 80's it was a popular trend to cast operettas with children and send them on tour through the Midwest where they were popular with audiences.

In 1880 Della appeared as Adrienne in A Celebrated Case and caught the attention of playwright Augustus Thomas.  He engaged her to play the leading role in Editha's Burglar.  The play toured the Midwest and Canada from 1883 through 1885.  Della’s parents wanted her to attend boarding school but she was determined to become an actress and instead was tutored by Thomas and chaperoned by leading lady, Nellie Page.

In the late 1880's Della appeared with Comley Barton and the Bennett and Moulton Opera Company, playing soprano roles in operettas.

In Feb. 1889 she appeared for the first time at Niblo's Garden in New York.  Her light opera roles had brought her to the attention of Henrich Conried, who engaged her to play Yvonne in The King's Fool.

The diminutive Fox was known for her childlike persona and her bobbed hairstyle.  She was a tiny woman, considered to be slightly plump, not particularly beautiful, of ordinary voice, and yet possessed of an incredible charisma.

The girl with the curl, the “Della Fox curl,” was a style found on girls all across America.

Her voice and small size made her the perfect choice to play Blanche, opposite the tall, bass-voiced DeWolf Hopper, in the 1890 operetta Castles in the Air.  It was well received, but her first big success occurred in 1891 when she played Prince Mataya together with Hopper in the production of Wang.  This was followed by Panjandrum in 1893, and Lady or the Tiger, 1894.

Miss Fox’s first true starring role came in The Little Trooper at the Casino Theatre, New York, Aug. 1894.  That and subsequent performances brought her to the pinnacle of success.

Beginning in 1899, Miss Fox suffered from ill health due in part to the effects of alcohol and drug abuse.  On October 28, 1899, she was reported to be dying of peritonitis, but she survived and returned to the stage. In June 1900 she suffered a nervous breakdown.  She returned to the stage September, 1900 for The Rogers Brothers in Central Park.

In December 1901, Della Fox married Jacob David Levy, a Broadway gentleman in the jewelry business known affectionately as “Diamond Jack” Levy.

After her marriage Della appeared mostly in vaudeville houses. In 1904, she was committed to the Brunswick Home, a private institution for epileptics, paralytics, alcoholics, and the feeble-minded, on Long Island. She recovered and made two more appearances on Broadway:  The West Point Cadet (1904), and her final performance, Rosedale in April 1913.  She died at a private sanatorium in New York City on June 15, 1913, aged 42, and was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery, Saint Louis, Missouri.

Many critics professed to be baffled by her popularity, seeing her as possessing very little real talent or beauty and attributing her popularity to magnetism.  Nevertheless, for ten years Della Fox remained one of the principal attractions of the American musical theater.