Eileen Huban (1896 or 1897 – October 22, 1935) was an American actress, active in New York City in the 1910s and 1920s.

Eileen Huban
A white woman with light eyes and dark hair, wearing a fur wrap
Eileen Huban, from a 1917 publication
Born1896 or 1897
Gort, Loughrea, Ireland
DiedOctober 22, 1935 (aged 38)
New York City, New York, U.S.
OccupationActress

Early life and education

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Huban was born in Gort, Loughrea, Ireland.[1] She was the youngest of nine children of Michael Huban and Winifred Mullins Huban. She attended a convent school,[2] and moved to the United States to be with her widowed mother and sisters by 1913.[3]

Career

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Newly elected officers and directors of the Actors' Fidelity League on August 26, 1919; seated: Gladys Hanson, Marjorie Wood, Louis Mann (vice president), Lenore Ulric, Eileen Huban. Standing: Lowell Sherman, Arthur Ashley, W. H. Gilmore, Frederic Carr, Lester Lonergan, Alan Dinehart (secretary), William Collier Sr. (treasurer), Howard Kyle, Tom Holliday, and José Ruben.

Huban's first public performance was as a singer in the 1913 Irish Historic Pageant at the Lexington Avenue Armory in New York City.[4] Her New York stage credits included roles in the shows Lonesome-like (1915),[5] The Grasshopper (1917),[6] Old Friends (1917),[7] On With the Dance (1917),[8] Cheating Cheaters (1918), Crops and Croppers (1918),[9] Dark Rosaleen (1919),[10] Paddy the Next Best Thing (1920),[11] Hindle Wakes (1922), King Henry IV, Part I (1926), Window Panes (1927),[12] Mixed Marriage (1930),[13] and Troilus and Cressida (1932).[3][14] She was also seen in the silent film Find the Woman (1922).

"She is lovely to behold, a person naturally eloquent and dramatic," wrote a New York Times reviewer in 1917. "She plays with a grateful simplicity and directness, and she has a certain eeriness that is fascinating."[14] "Her voice is a fine mezzo-soprano with unusual range and power," noted the Baltimore Sun in 1919, while also remarking on her "large dark-blue eyes" and "dark brown curls".[1]

Huban served several three-year terms on the board of directors of the Actors' Fidelity League.[15]

Personal life

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Huban died in 1935, after six months of illness, at the age of 38, in New York City.[14]

Her grand-niece is the actress Susan Sullivan. [16]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Eileen Huban Who Plays Leading Role in Irish Comedy, is Real Irish Lassie". The Baltimore Sun. October 26, 1919. p. 34. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Eileen Huban Leaves Convent for Stage; Had Never Been Inside a Theater Until Four Years Ago". Star Tribune. June 29, 1919. p. 51. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b "The Story of Eileen Huban". The New York Times. May 4, 1919. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  4. ^ Burns, Catherine M. (April 26, 2016). "For an Irish National Theater in New York". The Gotham Center for New York City History. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  5. ^ "For an Irish Theatre in America". The Theatre. 22 (173): 14. July 1915.
  6. ^ "In the Spotlight: Eileen Huban" The Theatre 26(July 1917): 23.
  7. ^ White Studio, "An Evening with J. M. Barrie" (1917 photograph), in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
  8. ^ "Scene in Michael Morton's Drama 'On With the Dance' at the Republic". Theatre Magazine. 26 (202): 341. December 1917.
  9. ^ "Miss Huban's Rapid Rise". New York Herald. August 29, 1920. p. 41. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Abbe, James Edward, "Eileen Huban as Moya McKillop in 'Dark Rosaleen'" (1919 photograph), in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
  11. ^ Mantle, Burns (November 1920). "Feminists in the Drama". The Green Book Magazine. 24 (5): 71.
  12. ^ "Plays & Players". Brooklyn Life and Activities of Long Island Society. February 12, 1927. p. 18. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "'Mixed Marriage', By St. John Ervine, At the Boulevard". Times Union. April 15, 1930. p. 10. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ a b c "Eileen Huban Dies; Noted as Actress; Her Performance in 1917 Play, 'The Grasshopper,' Won Cheers of Audience". The New York Times. October 24, 1935. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  15. ^ "Actors' Fidelity Elects; Holbrook Blinn, President, and Howard Kyle, Secretary". The New York Times. May 30, 1928. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  16. ^ "Susan's Sure of Self". The Pittsburgh Press. April 23, 1972. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
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