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For several
years after the Iroquois Theater fire, Washington,
D.C. native Esther Boggs (1886-1977), a
sixteen-year-old dancer in 1903, seems to have
cultivated newspaper attention with references to
her psychological trauma as an aerial dancer at the
Iroquois. In a newspaper interview, manager and
founder of the Grigolatis aerial troop, Friedrich
Zschiegner, stated there was only one American girl
in his ballet company. I've wondered if he referred
to Iroquois fatality, Connecticut-born Nellie Reed,
who grew up in Europe. Perhaps he instead referred
to Esther J. Boggs. Or not. Despite much searching,
the only connection I found between Esther and
aerial ballet is that she appeared in three Klaw &
Erlanger productions that also featured the
Grigolatis. I found nothing to suggest she was in
the Grigolatis company.
Before Mr. Bluebeard, Esther appeared in Sleeping
Beauty, Mother Goose, and Pearl of the
Pumpkin. After the Iroquois Theater fire, she
made a career in vaudeville.
In 1907 Esther married Danish actor and sometime
song lyricist Thomas Hoier (1877-1951) with whom
she sometimes appeared in comedy skits. Her only
known film role was under her married name as the
character Josine Walker in a 1915 blockbuster silent
film based on an Émile Zola novel, Destruction,
with Theda Bara as the original vampy vampire and
Warner Orland (Charlie Chan) in the starring roles.
Esther retired by 1920, but her
husband continued to perform in character roles on
Broadway and in serial radio dramas until his death
in 1951. Thomas and Esther shared a home with
Thomas's mother (Dora Hoier) in Chicago until the birth of their daughter
in 1909 and later moved to New York. They are buried
in the
Actor's Fund site in Westchester, NY.
(Not sure why Wade Hampton Durand
is buried with Thomas and Esther. He was a composer,
pianist and conductor associated with Tin Pan Alley
tunes.)
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