Arthur Maitland was a prominent stage and radio actor, born in New York City on July 22, 1895. He was elected to The Lambs in 1909. Maitland worked as a journeyman actor, performing extensively on Broadway in productions such as Shameen Dhu (1914) and Becky Sharp (1898), as well as in touring companies across the country. He later became a familiar voice on early radio, particularly in radio Soap Operas.
Beginning in the 1930s, Maitland portrayed Doc Allen on the CBS Radio soap opera Aunt Jenny’s True Life Stories. He also played Mr. Lewis on both CBS and NBC’s Just Plain Bill, and most notably Mr. Crane on NBC’s Stella Dallas.
Throughout his career, Maitland appeared as Mr. Weatherbee, the high school principal, on Archie Andrews (1945–1953), which later inspired the famous comic strip. He also played The Minister on Marriage for Two (1949–1952) and participated in radio productions of notable stage works, including Arsenic and Old Lace and Eugene O’Neill’s The Fountain.
Maitland made a significant contribution to American theater by helping establish the Little Theatre Movement, a precursor to today’s regional theater system. The movement aimed to create experimental centers for the dramatic arts that were independent of commercial theater. Beginning in cities such as Chicago, Boston, Seattle, and Detroit, these theaters produced intimate, non-commercial, and non-profit works. The Little Theatre Movement provided early opportunities for playwrights, including Lambs Eugene O’Neill, George S. Kaufman, Elmer Rice, Maxwell Anderson, and Robert E. Sherwood.
In 1919, Maitland founded the Maitland Playhouse in San Francisco, California. Although the theater operated for only three seasons and closed in 1922, its former location is now part of the Taj Campton Place Hotel.
Maitland’s only television appearance was in NBC’s Sherlock Holmes television movie “The Three Garridebs,” which aired on November 27, 1937. Like many very early television broadcasts, the program was not recorded and is now considered lost.
On May 8, 1945, Maitland was appointed a Trustee of the Actors Fund’s Actors Home. As radio declined in popularity and popular entertainment moved to television, he retired in 1957. Arthur Maitland died peacefully in New York City on May 23, 1959.
–Written and researched by Lamb Bruce Roberts (2026).