[3] Her mother and father were both said to have done some theater work, as did her younger brother,[1][3] Wheeler Earl, who performed for a number of years on stage before becoming a salesman for the Hupp Motor Company.

[4] Earle made her stage debut in 1887 playing Nanki-Poo in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado with the Home Juvenile Opera Company.

After completing two seasons with Hallen and Hart she became associated with producer Edward E. Rice and in 1891 traveled to Australia with a troupe of actors that included George Fortescue, his wife and daughter (both named Viola) and actresses Lillian Karl, and Agnes Pearl.

[6][page needed][7] Earle appeared in the comic opera portion of The Merry World, a revue written by Edgar Smith and Nicholas Biddle.

She was joined in the musical burlesque section by Willard Simms, Wallace Black, and Lee Harrison.

[9] Leonardo by Gilbert Burgess is a book about a Florentine sculptor who designs a statue of the Duke of Milan.

[10] The next year, The Lady Slavey, at the Casino Theatre, featured Daniel Daly, Marie Dressler, and Earle in a humorous scene in the first act.

[15] In 1900 she appeared in The Belle of Bohemia and a review from the same year described Earle as being without a rival "in the present stage of her artistic development."

[19] In April 1903 Earle was signed to be in a musical comedy at the Gaiety Theatre in London, England, by George Edwardes.

[23][24] Earle was summoned to rehearsal at the New Amsterdam Theatre as a member of the Klaw & Erlanger Comedy Company in October 1904.

[25] The production, a musical burlesque about fashionable society entitled In Newport, was staged at the Liberty Theatre,[26] 234 West 42nd Street, New York City.

She apprehended Jennie Baldwin when she recognized the woman wearing one of the cloaks she wore in a production of The Merry World.

[35] Lawton was an actor, whistler and comedian who became known when he played the role of Blinky Bill McGuirk in the London production of The Belle of New York, which opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre on April 12, 1899.