CARTER, LINCOLN J.

(1865-1926)

   Born into a theatrical family in Rochester, New York, on the day of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Carter grew up on the road with the company in which his parents performed, but discovered early in life his preference for writing. He settled in Chicago in 1885 and saw his first play, Sidonia, produced at the Academy of Music there in 1886. There followed a steady flow of old-time blood-and-thunder melodramas, most of which premiered at Chicago's Criterion Theatre. Their popularity supplied material for 20 or so road companies and a number of silent motion pictures. Among Carter's thrillers of the 1890s were The Fast Mail, The Tornado, The Defaulter, Under the Dome, The Heart of Chicago, Remember the Maine, and Chattanooga. Carter also designed scenery for plays by other dramatists as well as his own, and he patented the panoramic effect he devised for Bedford's Hope (1906).

   See also playwrights.