Out of the limelight

Maude Adams, the most famous actress of the early 20th century, worked with engineers at General Electric to invent and patent the largest incandescent bulb to date. This and her other innovations in lighting and stagecraft revolutionized the performing arts and delighted audiences across the country.

Each month, our Journeys of Innovation series tells the stories of inventors or entrepreneurs who have made a positive difference in the world. This month’s story focuses on the journey of the actress, production designer, and inventor Maude Adams.

“Maude Adams was the greatest production artist this country ever saw,” according to Bassett Jones, a pioneer of early-20th-century lighting design. Adams was also the most famous American actress of the 1900s and 1910s, originating the role of Peter Pan in the United States and working behind the scenes on the era’s most sumptuous stage productions. With no formal training in electrical engineering but a wealth of experience in stagecraft and performance, she helped transform American theater, both as an actress and a designer. Moreover, she contributed to what became the largest light bulb patented to date. Adams, a giant in the art and science of theater, nonetheless kept fans in the dark as to her personal life and private passions.

Adams was born on November 11, 1872, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Almost immediately, she began touring the Western states with her mother, Annie, an actress, and made her own acting debut at only 9 months old. On the road, Annie taught Maude to read, write, act, and memorize lines and then supplemented this elementary education with a few years of schooling back in Utah.

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