Olive Logan

Who was Olive Logan?

Olive Logan was an American actress and author, daughter of Irish-American actor and playwright Cornelius Ambrosius Logan and Eliza Akeley.

She was born in Elmira, New York, and after being educated in Paris and London with a view to the stage, became an actress and subsequently a journalist and lecturer. Her acting career was short beginning with her debut at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia in 1854 as 'Mrs. Bobtail' in Bobtail and Wagtail and ending in 1857 when she married journalist Henry A. Delisle and went to Europe. While in Europe she became a journalist herself; her first book, Photographs of Paris Life, was a collection of pieces on Paris life written for American periodicals. Olive was divorced from Delisle in 1869. Olive was influenced by Artemis Ward to take up public speaking where she spoke on social and political topics. She returned briefly to the stage from 1864 until 1867. In 1864 she appeared at Wallack's Theatre in New York City in her own play of Eveleen. She corresponded for many periodicals and wrote, besides plays, a dramatization of Wilkie Collins's Armadale, and several books on theatrical matters, such as Before the Footlights and Behind the Scenes. Her novel Get Thee Behind Me Satan! was published in 1872 by Smith, Victor & Company of New York.