Quatrefoil

 

Maude Adams was born in Salt Lake in 1872. Her father died when she was young, but Maude’s mother was an actress. Maude made her stage debut at two months, playing in The Lost Baby at the Salt Lake Theatre. By the time she was twenty, Maude had performed in nearly thirty productions in Salt Lake, San Francisco and New York. Maude was the first American to portray Peter Pan. She soon became the country’s most famous actress, earning more than a million dollars a year. Adoring fans made pilgrimages to her birthplace, two blocks south of Trolley Square. Maude retired from the limelight in 1918, after a severe case of influenza. In the 1920’s she worked with General Electric to patent more powerful stage lighting. Her lights eventually became the industry standard. Maude inspired the character of Elise McKenna in the novel Bid Time Return and its film adaptation, Somewhere in Time.