Arthur Johnstone Wallack (1847-1940) was one of the six founders of The Lambs at the December 1874 dinner at Delmonico’s. He was one of the three sons of Shepherd John Lester Wallack, actor-manager. Arthur Wallack performed in his father’s company at Wallack’s Theatre.
He was born April 25, 1849, in Manhattan. His mother was Emily Mary Millais Wallack, who came from England. As a boy, he was sent to live in England with his uncle, Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, an English painter and illustrator. He was member of the Royal Academy of Arts, and briefly president. Dinner guests included Charles Dickens, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Disraeli. Next was boarding school in the country. He was enrolled at Harrington’s School, and he was eyeing a career in the Royal Navy. A family story is that he injured his foot and missed his examinations.
Instead of graduation, he sailed back to New York and asked to join the family business. His father hated the idea, and sent him on a world cruise to try and shake him of any theatrical dreams. In 1873 he entered Japan, among the first Western men to see the country. He returned to Manhattan and worked in his father’s theater. It was there, in 1874, that he met the men who would found The Lambs in December 1874 at Delmonico’s. His father joined the club the following year. Arthur was the club’s first recording secretary, in 1875, and loyally served on Council for 15 years as a director.
Arthur worked as an actor and secretary in his family company. He also was a talent scout, and visited English theaters looking for performers for the family theater. It’s said his discoveries included future Lambs Maurice Barrymore and Kyrle Bellew, and stage star Rose Coghlan. Wallack went to England more than fifty times in his career.
He was married twice, to Adelaide Louise Moss in 1881 until her death in 1888, and to Jessie Churchill in 1889. She died in 1900 and he lived as a bachelor in The Lambs and in Staten Island.
After the death of his father in 1888, Arthur assumed managerial duties of the family theater business. Wallack lived in Stapleton for thirty years, and into his nineties he took daily walks with his dog. His son, Lester E. Wallack, was also a member of the Club. His son, who lived in Bronxville, told a reporter he traveled to Staten Island so many times to visit his father, it amounted to 340,000 miles.
After retiring from producing, Wallack wrote several plays.
Wallack died July 21, 1940, at his home in Stapleton, Staten Island, age 93. That same day, his Brother Lambs were holding the annual “Wash” in East Islip, Long Island, at the Percy Williams Home. He was the last survivor of the founding six Lambs. At the time of his death, the membership was 1,198 members.
Wallack’s funeral was held at the Church of the Transfiguration (the Little Church Around the Corner) with Lambs serving as pallbearers: Shepherd Fred Waring, past shepherds A.O. Brown, Frank Crumit, and R.H. Burnside, Raymond Peck, and James E. Meighan.
He was interred in the Wallack family plot in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
Researched and written by Shepherd Kevin C. Fitzpatrick (2026).