Eugene Sanger

Biography

Eugene Sanger was an actor, stage director and pioneer film producer. He was born around 1871 in New York to Rufus and Emma Sanger. His father had worked as a store clerk and later in the manufacturing of textiles. Once, when Sanger was a 16 year old Mutual District, messenger boy, he was called to the Manhattan office of E.H. Sothern and Daniel Frohman's and asked to deliver a package and two letters to a Mr. Robert Reece at Charter House in London. Without blinking an eye he accepted the items and departed. The next day, wearing a brand new uniform and with his family, fellow workers and a drum corps cheering him on from the pier, Sanger set sail for England. There he became something of a minor celebrity and even had his picture taken with the cast of the touring Buffalo Bill Company. Not long after his return to America, Sanger was cast as a telegraph messenger boy in Sothern's play "The Highest Bidder". The package he transported to London had contained fifty souvenirs for prominent stars of the English stage commemorating the first 50 days of "The Highest Bidder" successful run at Frohman's Lyceum Theatre. By his mid 20s Sanger would be touring North America as the star of his own comedy troupe. Eugene Sanger was the husband of Lillian (née Leach) Sanger and the father of two daughters, Dora and Beatrice.