Aimée Daniell Beringer Explained

Aimée Daniell Beringer (1856 – February 17, 1936) billed professionally as Mrs. Oscar Beringer, was an American-born playwright, theatrical manager, novelist, and commentator, based in London.

Early life

Aimée Daniell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Edward Lynch Daniell.[1] Her parents were English, and she moved to Mexico as a child, and England to live at age 15.[2]

Career

In 1896, To-day magazine described Aimée Daniell Beringer as "one of the most popular personalities in literary and theatrical Bohemia."[3] Beringer was the manager of the Opera Comique Theatre in London.[4] Plays by Beringer included Tares: A Social Problem (1888), Katherine Kavenagh, The Prince and the Pauper (1890, adapted from the Mark Twain book), That Girl (1890, adapted from a story by Clementina Black), Holly Tree Inn (1891, 1902; an adaptation of a Charles Dickens story), Bess (1891, 1893), Salve (1895), A Bit of Old Chelsea (1897, 1898, 1902), My Lady's Orchard (1897), The Plot of His Story (1899–1901), Jim Belmont (1901), and The Agitator (1907–1908).[5] [6] [7] She also wrote novels, including Beloved of the Gods (After the Danish) (1883),[8] A Left-Handed Marriage (1886)[9] and The New Virtue (1896).[10] [11]

She was one of the commenters in The Idlers "The Idlers' Club," along with Eliza Lynn Linton, Evelyn Sharp, Arabella Kenealy, Fred Whishaw, Ella Hepworth Dixon, Jerome K. Jerome, Robert Blatchford, George Bernard Shaw, and other literary figures.[12] The monthly panel discussed such topics such as early marriage ("Youth is a very charming and enviable possession, but none will deny that it is imperious, exacting, and egotistic," she opined) and "At What Age is Man Most Attractive to Woman?" (Beringer began her response to this subject with "This is a very distracting question.")[13] [14]

Personal life

Aimée Daniell married the pianist Oscar Beringer in 1873. Among their five children were actresses Esme Beringer and Vera Beringer, who both appeared in productions of their mother's plays.[15] Her son Guy Beringer was a journalist. She was widowed in 1922, and died in 1936, aged 79 years, at a nursing home in Bournemouth.[16]

Notes and References

  1. John Parker, Who's Who in the Theatre (Small, Maynard and Company 1925): 76.
  2. https://books.google.com/books?id=K-0RAAAAYAAJ&dq=Mrs.%20Oscar%20Beringer&pg=PA39 "Mrs. Oscar Beringer"
  3. https://books.google.com/books?id=5PREAQAAMAAJ&dq=Mrs.+Oscar+Beringer&pg=PA69 "Mrs. Oscar Beringer"
  4. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22598758/aime_daniell_beringer_1889/ "Opera Comique Theatre"
  5. Katherine Newey, "Feminist Historiography and Ethics: A Case Study from Victorian Britain" in Claire Cochrane, eds., Theatre History and Historiography: Ethics, Evidence and Truth (Springer 2016): 93-95.
  6. J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1890-1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013): 32, 51, 172, 337, 433.
  7. J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performer, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013): 36, 91, 95, 382.
  8. Mrs. Oscar Beringer, Beloved of the Gods (After the Danish) (Remington & Co. 1883).
  9. https://books.google.com/books?id=pzw7AQAAMAAJ&dq=Mrs.+Oscar+Beringer&pg=RA1-PA297 "Belles Lettres"
  10. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84031792/1896-06-21/ed-1/?sp=30&st=text "A New Woman Has Discovered a New Virtue"
  11. https://books.google.com/books?id=CQxIAQAAMAAJ&q=Beringer&pg=PA106 "The Book and Its Story"
  12. https://books.google.com/books?id=8LtDAQAAMAAJ&dq=Aimee+Beringer&pg=PR3 "Index"
  13. https://books.google.com/books?id=8LtDAQAAMAAJ&dq=Aimee+Beringer&pg=PA138 "The Idlers' Club: Mrs. Oscar Beringer Blushes"
  14. https://books.google.com/books?id=8LtDAQAAMAAJ&dq=Aimee+Beringer&pg=PA422 "Idlers' Club: Mrs. Oscar Beringer Thinks the Girl Should Be a Woman"
  15. https://books.google.com/books?id=k7hJAQAAMAAJ&dq=Mrs.+Oscar+Beringer&pg=RA2-PA29 "Miss Vera Beringer"
  16. https://www.nytimes.com/1936/02/18/archives/mrs-beringer-dies-former-dramatist-noted-playwright-and-author-of.html "Mrs. Beringer Dies; Former Dramatist"