Who is Elizabeth Brice?

FINDLAY — Seven or eight years ago, John Troester went to an estate sale and bought a trunk. The Springfield man doesn't remember much about the chest other than inside it were paper items along with a large scrapbook filled with newspaper articles, photographs and playbills of shows from the early 1900s — all pertaining to the career of musical-comedy singer, dancer and actress Elizabeth Brice. Brice was a Findlay native. "I could spend all day looking through this," Troester said. "To me, it's just fascinating." He kept the scrapbook in his closet, taking it out occasionally to look through the fragile pages. Surprisingly, the newspaper clippings are in good shape, said his wife, Colleen Fallon. His interest piqued, Troester, who enjoys researching history, started searching the Internet for information where he found tidbits here and there about Brice. Next, he searched for Shalers who might still be living in Findlay. He and Fallon also visited the city, but no one they spoke with had ever heard of Brice. Troester thinks it's odd that the famous performer has been lost to history in her own hometown. She starred on vaudeville and the Ziegfeld Follies. She had top billing over W.C. Fields and George Burns and Gracie Allen. And for every performance, a copy of the show's review was clipped out of that's city's paper and dutifully added to the scrapbook. "You've probably never heard of her. Nobody around here has. But there're so many clippings; there're a thousand clippings from different papers. Everywhere she went she must have got the papers," he said. A lost past They did find a brief mention of her on Wikipedia and learned that Brice was born Bessie S. Shaler in Findlay on Feb. 21, 1883 to John Shaler and Fannie Wise. In March 1901, shortly after her 18th birthday, Shaler married Fred J. Wilkinson in Essex, Ontario, Canada. "I don't know how long she was here, but the family moved to Toledo," Troester said. According to one of the articles, Shaler became a stenographer for the business manager of the Toledo Bee newspaper. She later begged to write for the paper and was given a chance to write about a soda fountain at a department store. Shaler, who ate all of the candied cherries and tasted all kinds of syrups during the interview, later said that her story wasn't a big success because she was too sick. In addition to writing "mostly delightful little essays about small parties in suburbs and occasional donations at the parsonages," Shaler did get to cover the Black Patti Troubadours at the Lyceum which led to more theater assignments. She said that's when she fell in love with the stage. She moved to New York where she adopted the stage name Elizabeth Brice. She made her Broadway debut in the chorus of "The Chinese Honeymoon" in 1906. Other appearances included "Ziegfeld Follies," "The Belle of New York," "Lady Teazle," "The Motor Girl," "The Winsome Widow" and "Buzzin' Around." She also formed a partnership with Charles King, appearing with him in "The Slim Princess," "Watch Your Step" and "Miss 1917." When they performed together in vaudeville, they were known as Brice and King. During World War I, King left the act and went to war. Brice also decided to do her duty by entertaining the troops and traveled to France. While her mother and sister lived with her in New York, Brice only occasionally returned to Findlay to visit her father at the family home on East Hardin Street. Brice, who was described in the newspaper as being "one of the leading theatrical stars of the present day," was starring in the "Follies of 1913" and had stopped on the way to Cincinnati where she was playing for the week. Her father died in 1916. Later Brice received a $300,000 inheritance from Ida Cole, a cousin who also lived in Findlay. The money had come from her uncle, George E. Seney of Lima, who paid for Brice's education and felt she wasted it by her choice of a career on stage. He disinherited her and his family shared that opinion. But most of them changed their attitude when they heard Brice had gone overseas to help entertain the American troops. "She was a woman of intention," said Fallon. "She knew what she wanted. Back then, that's something." The inheritance instead went to Cole. And when she died, she left the money to Brice. Brice retired from the stage in 1925 and continued to live in New York, where she died in 1965 at the age of 82. History lives on The scrapbook has come to mean a lot to Troester and Fallon. "I just love the fact that you can touch this and all the people that have touched this, you know? And the love and pride that went into that," she said. Troester thinks someone should have an interest in the book and do something with the information. He also has sheet music of the songs she sang and records she recorded. "Write a story or write a book. There's so much in there. It's crazy," he said. "I'm looking at this and I'm wondering, 'how come she's not more famous?' Maybe it was because it was a hundred years ago." He even ran a notice in The Courier's announcements, searching for anyone who might be interested in the famous actor, dancer and singer, but said he never heard from anyone. Regardless, Troester still thinks the scrapbook is a treasure. "She had quite a career," he said. "Just from reading these, you can make a life story or move or something," he said.