Will M. Cressy

Will Martin Cressy (October 29, 1863 – May 7, 1930) was an American actor, comedian, playwright, and book writer whose career spanned vaudeville, touring theatre, and Broadway. Born in Bradford, New Hampshire, where his father operated an animal feed business, Cressy received his education in Concord before taking work as a traveling salesman. He performed in amateur productions during this period and made his first professional stage appearance in 1889 as a member of the Frost & Fanshawe touring company. The following year he married a fellow company member, Blanche Dayne.

Cressy spent six years working alongside Denman Thompson in The Old Homestead theatre company, where he played the role of Cy Prime. This production was among his Broadway credits, which also included The Village Lawyer and spanned appearances on Broadway from 1898 to 1908. In 1898, Cressy and Dayne made their vaudeville debut together, subsequently building one of the most popular and highly compensated acts of the era. The couple performed extensively through B. F. Keith's theaters and toured both within the United States and internationally. Cressy authored all of their comedic sketches himself, producing works such as "Grasping an Opportunity," "A Village Lawyer," and "The Wyoming Whoop," most of which drew on incidents from his early years in a small New Hampshire town. A 1919 biographical sketch credited him with having written approximately one hundred and fifty vaudeville sketches or one-act plays, representing roughly half of all such playlets then being performed in vaudeville.

During the First World War, Cressy devoted considerable time to entertaining orphans and participated actively in wartime fund-raising efforts. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him as one of the "Four Minute Men," a group tasked with delivering patriotic addresses to audiences. In August 1918, Cressy and Dayne traveled to France with the Overseas Theatre League, leading the first American company to perform for troops abroad. During this service he sustained severe injuries from a mustard gas explosion that left him with permanent damage. He and Dayne were also among the first Americans to enter Verdun following the armistice.

Away from the stage, Cressy was a prolific writer of humorous books and newspaper articles, many of which chronicled his travels with Dayne by motor car. His published works include Summer Days with Will Cressy and Blanche Dayne (1909), The Hills O' Hampshire (co-written with James Clarence Harvey, 1913), Continuous Vaudeville (1914), and At the End of the Road (1923). The couple built a home at Blodgetts Landing, New Hampshire, where they hosted prominent figures from the entertainment world and contributed to the local community, and they also maintained a winter residence in St. Petersburg, Florida. Cressy died in St. Petersburg on May 7, 1930, at the age of 66, and was buried with military honors at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Bradford, New Hampshire.