Joseph Coyne was an American-born vaudevillian and musical comedy actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years, from 1883-1931. A popular performer in the U.S., he achieved major stardom in the role of Prince Danilo in George Edwardes' London adaptation of The Merry Widow, which led to other leading roles in Edwardian musical comedy and many other productions in London, New York, and Australia.
Image: Krialfy Brothers Excelsior
Image: Gertie Millar as Prudence and Joseph Coyne as Tony Chute in The Quaker Girl, London, 1910
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play, L'attaché d'ambassade by Henri Meilhac.
Franz Lehár
Lily Elsie in act 3, London, 1907
Louis Treumann and Mizzi Günther on the frontpage of a piano–vocal score, 1906
Donald Brian and Ethel Jackson in the original Broadway production (1907)