Wallack, James William (wŏl`ək), c.1795–1864, Anglo-American actor and manager. Of a theatrical family, he was a leading actor (1812–32) in both comedy and melodrama at Drury Lane. After 1852 he lived in the United States. In New York City he managed Wallack's National (1837–39), Wallack's Lyceum (1852), and Wallack's (1861), where he maintained one of the best theatrical companies in New York. His son,

Lester Wallack (John Johnstone Wallack), 1820–88, also an actor-manager, gained experience in Dublin and London and made his New York debut in 1847. He was best in comic and romantic roles. Lester succeeded to the management of Wallack's in 1861; in 1882 he simultaneously operated another Wallack's at Broadway and 30th St. He wrote, produced, and played in a variety of dramas, but his best production was his own play Rosedale (1863).

Bibliography

See his Memoirs of Fifty Years (1889).

Wallack, James William

(born Aug. 24, 1795, London, Eng.—died Dec. 25, 1864, New York, N.Y., U.S.) British-U.S. actor-manager. Born into a London stage family, he acted in Shakespearean roles from age 12 and made his U.S. debut as Macbeth in 1818. He performed in London and New York City until 1852, crossing the Atlantic 35 times. In 1837–39 he comanaged New York's National Theatre with his brother Henry John Wallack (1790–1870), the company's leading player. In 1852–62 he comanaged the Lyceum Theatre (renamed Wallack's Lyceum) with his son Lester (1820–88) as stage manager. Succeeding his father as general manager, Lester staged polished productions of English plays and trained most of the major 19th-century U.S. stage performers.