Charles Smith Abbe was born on May 23, 1860 in Windham, Connecticut. He was a stage and screen actor who began his career on the Boston Museum Theater stage in 1882 in a play called The False Friend. While acting in the 1890 William Gillette (a Lamb) play, All the Comforts of Home, at the Boston Museum Theater, he came to the attention of the Broadway producer and Lamb Charles Frohman. This led him to New York where he had his first appearance on the New York stage in another Gillette play, Settled Out of Court, in 1892. His work on Broadway led to silent film work for Famous Players (founded in The Lambs by Adolph Zukor, who joined in 1914) and the World Film Company. In 1921, he had the eponymous role of Cappy Ricks in the film Cappy Ricks. Unfortunately, only reels two and four exist of this early six-reel film. His last film for Paramount Pictures (formerly the Famous Players) was The Bishop’s Candlesticks in 1929. He continued to perform on Broadway until his final show, A Church Mouse. He planned to go on the road with the show to Cape Cod after it closed its New York run in March 1932, but, unfortunately, when a tooth was removed in May, he developed a serious abscess. In an age before antibiotics, it lead to his death from blood poisoning on June 16, 1932 at the age of 72. – RET
Abbe was also an accomplished artist. The below gallery shows some of his works (courtesy of great-grandson William Morehouse). Three of the portrait are of Lamb William Warren.
