Frederick Hallen

Frederick Hallen (January 1, 1859 – February 28, 1920) was a Canadian-born vaudeville entertainer and Broadway performer. Born in Montreal, United Province of Canada, he built a career spanning several decades on the North American stage.

Hallen entered the vaudeville circuit around 1880, initially performing alongside his American wife Enid Hart under the billing "Hallen and Hart." Approximately a year before Hart's death in 1890 at age 32, he formed a second partnership under the same name with performer Joseph Hart. That collaboration produced several touring seasons built around Hart's musical comedies, including Later On and The Idea. Following the dissolution of that partnership, Hallen began working with his second wife, Mollie Fuller, and the two established themselves as a headlining vaudeville act. Their performances, consisting largely of short comedic plays and skits, kept them working in vaudeville houses across North America for close to twenty-five years.

In 1900, Hallen appeared on Broadway in the musical Aunt Hannah at the Bijou Theatre. The production featured music by A. Baldwin Sloane, lyrics by Clay M. Greene, and a book by Matthew J. Royal.

During their partnership, Hallen purchased the rights to the play The Twentieth Century Girl in 1895 and cast Fuller in the title role. Fuller had previously worked in legitimate stage productions, including the burlesque musical Adonis, written by Edward E. Rice and William F. Gill, and Rice's Evangeline, in which she stepped in for Fay Templeton.

In late 1919, Hallen fell ill while performing an engagement in Toronto, Ontario, and was subsequently informed that his condition was terminal. He died of stomach cancer on February 28, 1920, at his residence in the New York Palace Hotel. He was survived by his wife, Mollie.

Following Hallen's death, Fuller faced significant hardship. Producer Edward Franklin Albee learned she was living in poverty in Chicago and nearly blind, and arranged for her return to New York. Writer Blanche Merrill was commissioned to create a piece for her, and Fuller returned to the stage in December 1922, appearing in the playlet Twilight, which was staged in Brooklyn and later at the Strand Theatre in Hoboken, New Jersey. Fuller died in Hollywood, California, on January 5, 1933, at approximately age 68. At the time of her death she was receiving support from The Troupers, a national vaudeville players association, and her funeral expenses were covered by the National Vaudeville Artist organization.