Crabtree, Lotta

Crabtree, Lotta,

1847–1924, American actress, b. New York City. A protégée of Lola MontezMontez, Lola
, 1818?–1861, Irish adventurer, whose original name was Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert. Her early marriage to an army officer soon ended in divorce. She adopted the name Lola Montez, claimed Spanish descent, and became a dancer.
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, she became, while still a child, a favorite in California mining camps with her sprightly singing, dancing, and reciting. In 1867 she scored her first success in New York City in a dramatization of Dickens's Old Curiosity Shop, and thereafter she performed in burlesque and comic pieces, captivating large audiences. She retired in 1891.

Bibliography

See biography by D. Dempsey (1968).