}PAR@ ` ¡TEXT ` ƒFox, Della May1870╨1913actor and singerBorn in St. Louis on October 13, 1870, Della Fox began appearing in juvenile theatricals while a schoolgirl. At thirteen she made her first professional appearance in Editha╒s Burglar, an adaptation of a Frances Hodgson Burnett story by Augustus Thomas, who was also in the troupe. The play toured in the Midwest and Canada between 1883 and 1885. For the next five years Della Fox sang with a succession of touring opera companies, her professional skills benefiting especially from her training in the company of Heinrich Conned. In February 1890 she made her New York debut at Niblo╒s Garden in The King╒s Fool. In May of that year she played opposite DeWolf Hopper in the operetta Castles in the Air, and their joint success led to their appearing together again in Wang in 1891 (followed by a lengthy tour), Panjandrum in 1893, and The Lady or the Tiger, 1894. Fox╒s first true starring role came in The Little Trooper at the Casino Theatre, New York, in August 1894. That and subsequent performances in Fleur-de-Lis, 1895, The Wedding Day, with Lillian Russell, 1897, and The Little Host, which opened in New York in December 1898 and in which she then toured the country with her own company, brought her to the pinnacle of success. She was said to be for a time the highest paid performer on the American variety stage. Her diminutive but plump figure helped project the winning impression of a precocious child, and her ╥Della Fox curl╙ was imitated by girls across the country. From 1899 she suffered intermittent bouts of ill health, brought on in part by alcohol and drugs. In December 1900 she married Jacob D. Levy, a New York diamond broker, and thereafter she appeared on the stage but seldom. She returned to performing in the 1912 season and gave her last performance in Rosedale at the Lyric Theatre, New York City, in April 1913. She died in New York City on June 15, 1913. Ästyl ` ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ + !I ╙ !I π !I ° !I ▐ !I ä !I ô !I ▄ !I ε !I 1 !I 5 !I \ !I f !I t !I ë !I ô 5¬ ö !I ╗ !I ═ !I $ !I 0 !I 8 !I G !I N !I ▐ ] !I i !I x !I 5 !I = !I .link ` HYPR ° HYPR N ]
