Della Fox

Della May Fox (October 13, 1870 – June 15, 1913) was an American singing comedian born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Andrew J. Fox, a photographer who specialized in theatrical subjects, and Harriett Swett. Her Broadway career spanned from 1891 to 1913, and her popularity peaked during the 1890s, when she frequently appeared opposite the notably tall DeWolf Hopper in a series of musicals. She also toured with her own company.

Fox made her first stage appearance at age seven, playing the Midshipmate in a St. Louis production of H.M.S. Pinafore, and subsequently took on children's roles with Marie Prescott's company. In 1880 she appeared as Adrienne in A Celebrated Case, which brought her to the attention of Augustus Thomas and his Dickson Sketch Club. Thomas cast her in the leading role of his dramatization of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Editha's Burglar, her first professional engagement. Thomas expanded the work from one act to three, giving Fox greater prominence, and the production toured the U.S. Midwest and Canada from 1883 through 1885, during which time Fox was chaperoned by leading lady Nellie Page and tutored by Thomas himself.

In the late 1880s Fox performed with Comley Barton and the Bennett and Moulton Opera Company, taking soprano roles in operettas including Fra Diavolo, The Bohemian Girl, The Pirates of Penzance, Billee Taylor, and The Mikado. In February 1889 she made her first New York appearance at Niblo's Garden. Those operetta roles drew the attention of Heinrich Conried, who cast her as Yvonne, the soubrette, in The King's Fool, where she sang "Fair Columbia." Conried also provided Fox with the only formal acting instruction she ever received. When the newly formed DeWolf Opera Company was assembling its supporting cast, George W. Lederer of the New York Casino Theatre recommended Fox for the company. In May 1890 she appeared alongside Hopper in Gustave Kerker's Castles in the Air, playing Blanche.

Her first major success came in 1891 when she played Prince Mataya opposite Hopper in Wang, singing "Another Fellow." The production proved so popular that Fox and Hopper continued performing it through 1892. Wang was among the Broadway productions in which Fox appeared during her career on the New York stage. In 1893 she re-teamed with Hopper in Panjandrum, followed by The Lady or the Tiger in 1894. That same year she starred as Clairette in William Furst's The Little Trooper, and in 1895 she appeared in Furst's Fleur-de-Lis. Also in 1895, Fay Templeton dedicated the song I Want Yer Ma Honey to Fox, as did Franc L. Grannis with his song My Little Secret. In 1897 Fox appeared with Lillian Russell and Jefferson De Angelis in The Wedding Day, another of her Broadway credits.

Fox's physical appearance and stage persona became widely recognized during this period. The diminutive Fox developed a childlike stage character, and her bobbed hairstyle became known as the "Della Fox curl," a style imitated by girls across America. By 1898 she had formed her own company, producing and starring in The Little Hut, which played from December 26, 1898 through March 1899.

Beginning in 1899, Fox suffered from ill health compounded by alcohol and drug abuse. On October 28, 1899, she was reported to be dying of peritonitis but survived and returned to the stage. In June 1900 she suffered a nervous breakdown, yet recovered sufficiently to return to performing by September for The Rogers Brothers in Central Park. In December 1901 she married Jacob David Levy, a diamond broker, in Boston, after which she appeared primarily in vaudeville. In 1904 she was committed to the Brunswick Home, an institution on Long Island. Following her recovery, she made two further Broadway appearances: in The West Point Cadet in 1904 and in Rosedale in 1913, her final production.

Fox died at a private sanatorium in New York City in 1913 at the age of 42. She is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.