Celie Ellis

Celie Ellis, born Celia Flanagan in New York City in 1864 or 1865, was an American actress, singer, and playwright who performed on Broadway in 1887. She was one of eight children born to Richard R. Flannagan, a Tammany Hall politician who served as Coroner of New York County from 1876 to 1879, and a wealthy mother who was related to Governor Horatio Seymour. Ellis received her early education at the Villa Maria school in Montreal, Canada, and studied music under Madame Kartel before completing a postgraduate musical course at the Metropolitan College of Music. Despite family opposition to her pursuing a stage career, she went on to establish herself as a working performer in comic opera and farce theatre. Among those close to her, she was known as "the little mother," a reflection of her role in helping raise her siblings following the death of their mother.

Adopting the stage name Celie Ellis, she became a regular presence in comic opera and farce productions from the 1880s through the 1890s, with frequent appearances at Broadway's Casino Theatre. She performed as a member of the McCaull Comic Opera Company during the 1880s and later served as the soubrette for the Blue Jeans company. Her Broadway credits include The Black Hussar and Jacquette, with her 1887 Broadway appearances placing her among the working performers of that era's theatrical circuit. Her role as Rosetta in The Black Hussar drew particular notice from the Chicago Inter Ocean, which highlighted her "piquant, saucy air" in performance and her delivery of the song "Ohe Mamma," which earned repeated encores. Other roles from this period included Pitti-Sing in The Mikado in 1886 and the Princess in The Arabian Nights in 1887.

On November 15, 1887, Ellis married Henry S. Blake and briefly stepped away from the stage. She returned to performing in mid-1888 as part of Heinrich Conried's English Opera Company, which staged productions at Uhlig's Cave. In 1889 she joined the Duff Opera Company and began taking on ingénue roles, later advancing to leading lady status within a stock company. She became the long-running American star of the 1892 play Dr. Bill, in which she played Mrs. Horton. Her subsequent credits included Tessa in The Gondoliers in 1890, the title role of May Blossom in 1893, Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore in 1893, and the title role of Yetiva in 1895. In 1894 she joined Eugene O'Rourke's touring company for The Wicklow Postman, continuing her pattern of moving between stock companies throughout her career.

In the early 1900s, Ellis transitioned from performing to playwriting. Her works as a playwright include What the Ship Brought in 1904, Society Island in 1906, A Flower in 1908, Who's Safe in 1911, La Vespa (The Wasp) in 1912, and Equality of Men in 1917. She died on October 2, 1924, at the reported age of 50, suffering a heart attack while visiting her theatrical manager's office to present a new play she had written.