Walter E. Perkins

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Walter Eugene Perkins (1859-1925) was born in Biddeford, Maine, one of four children born to Jotham and Ruth (Andrews) Perkins^[1]. Perkins and his siblings--Frank, Annie, and Marcia --grew up in the family home at 2 Chadwick Place in Biddeford, right behind their father's Elm Street boot and shoe shop.^[2] The Perkins children were educated in the local schools, and during those years Walter ran a successful amateur newspaper, "The Snow Flake", which he started at age 14. Perkins exchanged his paper with other boys across the country and amassed an impressive collection of over 130 papers from 25 states and Canada in this manner. He only stopped when it began to interfere with his studies.^[3] Through his high school years he began the study of telegraphy, which would end up as his first career, at least until he decided to pursue fully his dream of acting. Perkins' enthusiasm for communication, whether via newspaper or telegraph, clearly shows his great interest in the world outside of his home city. He was also known to be active and popular in productions put on by Universalist society, of which he was a member. Walter graduated from Biddeford High School in 1876, giving an oration on "Character" at the ceremony; he then went to work as a telegraph operator at the Eastern Division station of the Boston & Maine railroad, in Biddeford.

A year later, however, he left for Boston to pursue his dream of becoming a stage actor. He continued to show up in Biddeford City Directories into his twenties, listed as a telegraph operator, so we can assume Perkins was living for a time with a foot in each world. Throughout these years he was winning small parts in various comedies, and eventually became connected with the companies of Charles Frohman, a well known Broadway producer at the turn of the century. Perkins got his "big break" however at the age of 37, when a friend who also worked as a telegrapher, Henry A. Du Souchet, wrote a part especially for Perkins in his farcical play "My Friend from India" with original cast, including Walter E. Perkins. The play, which opened October 6, 1896 at the Bijou Theatre, 1239 Broadway, "made the reputation of both actor and author", with Perkins in the starring role as "A. Keene Shaver".^[4] Du Souchet and Perkins had a successful professional relationship, and went on to produce other successful shows including "The Man from Mexico", "Toppy", and "Who Goes There?" together. "Who Goes There?" was one of Perkins' biggest hits, yet he had many successes in non-Du Souchet productions as well, including "All the Comforts of Home", "Charley's Aunt" (in which he acted in drag), "The Lost Paradise", "Held by the Enemy", and "Pa Potter".^[5] Perkins "claimed to have played in every city and town of consequence in every state of the Union, though much of his time was spend in the long runs of his several successes in the bigger cities of the country."

Perkins went on to great fame as a comedic actor, and performed across the country for the rest of his life, always returning to the family home in Biddeford where he stayed during the off-season or when he wasn't performing. He was playing at the Majestic Theatre in San Francisco after 1906 earthquake when the great earthquake and fire of 1906 struck.^[6] He was uninjured, but ended up wandering the city streets for two days until he was able to make his way to an acquaintances home in Oakland where he took shelter. Somehow his experience as a telegraph operator became known and he ended up in the Governor's office, working to assist with the recovery efforts. Eventually he was able to make his way home to Maine, and offered very moving accounts of the experience to the Biddeford papers.^[7]

Not only did Walter Perkins achieve success as a stage actor, but in the fledgling film industry as well. He appeared in sixteen screen films from 1914 to 1922, some of which were adaptations of his stage work.^[8] Perkins continued to act in productions across the U.S. and Canada until his sudden and unexpected death. He died in Brooklyn, New York, on June 3, 1925, following a short illness caused by "ptomaine poisoning" - an old-fashioned term used to describe a kind of illness caused by bacteria-laden food. Perkins was memorialized both in Maine and back in New York. His New York funeral took place at the famous Frank E. Campbell funeral chapel on Madison Avenue, which hosted the funerals of such celebrities as Rudolph Valentino, Greta Garbo, Frank Costello, "Fatty" Arbuckle, Arturo Toscanini and George Gershwin. The next day Perkins' remains arrived home in Biddeford for the local funeral at the family home on Chadwick Place, and he was then laid to rest at the family plot at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Saco.^[9] In this tribute, written to accompany his obituary in the Biddeford Daily Journal by Perkins' friend and prominent local personality in her own right Mrs. Estelle Tatterson, Perkins was summarized thusly:

"Walter had no enemies. His acquaintances were at once his friends. That was one of his greatest gifts--friendship. He never married. There were too many flowers in Cupid's garden for him to choose. He loved them all.

His friends are thankful that he had not to pass through long months of suffering, but left us as he would have desired. All honor to a beloved son of old Biddeford and let us all stop in our busy lives to pay a silent tribute and offer a silent prayer of thanksgiving for having known Walter E. Perkins, gentleman."^[10]