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| Nicander Edwin Rau date unknown, possibly 1920s Source: NY Public Library |
Edwin Nicander
(23 Dec 1876 - 1 Jan 1951)
Just before Christmas in 1876, Nicander Edwin Rau was born in New York City to Arnold H. Rau Sr. and Elizabeth "Elise" Dotzert Rau. He was their third and final son. His father Arnold (10 Aug 1843 - 8 Jun 1930) had emigrated from the Prussian state of Germany in the mid-1850s, while his mother Elise (8 Feb 1850 - 7 Jun 1926) was born in New York City to two German immigrants, Johann Georg "George" Dotzert (~ Apr 1825 - 10 Dec 1901) and Elizabeth Kraemer Dotzert (1828 - 5 Jan 1898). Edwin was my great grandmother Margretha "Margaret" Dotzert Speer's (31 Jul 1890 - 25 Mar 1967) first cousin.
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| Margaret Dotzert Speer, circa 1912 |
Edwin's father Arnold was a hotel restaurateur, a profession which was in line with the profession of his father-in-law George and perhaps how he met Edwin's mother Elise.
In 1880, the family was living at 83 West 11th Street in the West Village. This exact street address doesn't exist anymore, but based on the current street view, the location was likely part of the large brick building on the corner.
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| Corner of West 11th and 6th Ave, West Village |
In June 1887 when Edwin was 10, Arnold Sr. applies for a passport along with his three sons. They note that he has a dark complexion, prominent nose and high forehead and stands a modest 5 ft 6.
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| Passport Application dated 9th Jun 1887 NYC |
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| Cover of Passenger List for Voyage 18 Jun 1887 |
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| S. S. Servia model Science Museum South Kensington Source: Hugh Llewelyn, Flickr |
No family records of this trip exist so it's hard to know exactly why the Raus headed to England that summer, though it is likely they traveled to Germany to see relatives after they arrived.
By 1900, Edwin and his brother are living with their parents at 13 Bank Street in the West Village. This historic Greek revival brownstone was built in 1852. All three sons are single and listed as "restaurant keeper" along with their father. However, Edwin had taken up acting about 6 years prior based on several newspaper records I've unearthed. In a somewhat bizarre coincidence, it turns out that infamous Hollywood producer and rapist Harvey Weinstein apparently bought 13 Bank Street in 2006 and then listed it for sale for $25.6 million dollars in 2018 after his legal troubles began.
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| Source: Town & Country magazine |
The first citation of an actor called "Edwin Nicander" can be found in a Louisville, Kentucky newspaper on 27 Jan 1896. Young Edwin is playing a character called Gustave Alphonse (and received 4th billing) in a play called "The Vendetta". It's clear from the article that this was a traveling acting troupe, headed by W.R. Ogden, which moved around the country, as the article cites performance delays due to a train mishap coming from Cincinnati.
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| The Courier Journal, 27 Jan 1896 |
But when did young Edwin begin acting? A later article in the Boston Globe says that he's a six year veteran of the stage, which would put his debut around 1894 when he was 17 or 18. It does look as though there was a little age flubbing going on already though, as Edwin should have been 23 almost 24 at the time the article was published.
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| The Boston Globe, 11 Nov 1900 |
There's a 20 year gap in the Rau family's history as I have yet to find any of them in the 1910 census, but the early 1900s show quite an uptick in newspaper articles reporting on Edwin. Between 1896 and his death in 1951, there were 1295 newspaper articles with the name Edwin Nicander. I have yet to confirm they are all about him about him, but by 1907 there are mentions of him on Broadway and the peak of the articles corresponds to 1900-1929, the era he was most active in the theater.
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| Edwin at 26 years old Source: Evening Express, 24 Nov 1903 |
By the 1920 census, Edwin lists his profession as theater actor and he is still living with his parents, aunt Caroline and unmarried brother Horatio in College Point, Queens. In 1930, he resided at another Queens location with his very elderly father and aunt Caroline as well as a servant, still listing his profession as stage actor. However, based on the significant drop in newspaper articles about him by 1930 it appears the roles had mostly dried up for 53 year old Edwin. So much so in fact, that when he began appearing in his last Broadway play in 1938 (Kiss the Boys Goodbye) a journalist wrote about him having an 8 year lull! He was noted as a "short, serious, pleasant little man". Oof.
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| Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, 29 Oct 1939 |
In spite of his likely industry forced retirement, Edwin still listed himself as a "theatre actor" in the 1940 census and lived with his widowed brother Arnold Jr in Queens. They remain living together in 1950 in Queens, but Edwin's entry states that he is "unable to work". The entry also notes that he never married. This census was taken on 18 Apr 1950 and Edwin would be dead in less than 9 months time.
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| Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 3 Jan 1951 |
It's hard to know exactly how many shows that Edwin acted in by the time he retired from the stage in 1939, but the Playbill website cites 29 Broadway shows between 1910 and 1938 and IMDB has a few earlier shows dating back to 1900. Although I don't know exactly when his brothers' Arnold and Horatio passed, I suspect it was before Edwin as only his nephew Thornwaldsen Arnold Rau (19 Sep 1889 - 26 Dec 1956) is mentioned in Edwin's obituary. T. Arnold had two sons, one who died while in college and the other who appears to have remained a lifelong bachelor like his uncle Edwin, thereby ending this line of the Dotzert family tree.
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| "Jack Straw", 1908 Source: Manuel Palomino Arjona, Flickr |
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| "Good Gracious Annabelle", 1916 Source: Museum of the City of New York |
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| "Buy, Buy, Baby", 1926 Source: Museum of the City of New York |
NOTE: Edwin's last play "Kiss the Boys Goodbye" was popular enough that it was made into a Hollywood movie in 1941 starring Don Ameche and Mary Martin and the title song was wildly popular as well.
