Mayme Gehrue

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Mayme Gehrue
Mayme Gehrue, from a 1909 publicity photograph
Mayme Gehrue, from a 1909 publicity photograph
Bornc. 1880
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesMay Gehrue
Mame Gehrue
Mamie Gehrue
Mayme Gehrue Ford
Mayme Gerhue
Occupations
  • Actress
  • dancer
  • singer
  • lyricist
Known forMusical theatre, Vaudeville
SpouseJohnny Ford (divorced)

Mayme Gehrue (born c. 1880,[1][2] died after May 1929[3]) was an American actress and dancer in musical theatre, vaudeville, and silent film.

Early life[edit]

Gehrue was born in Louisville, Kentucky.[4] The date 1883 is often given for her birth,[5] but is questionable, considering that she was touring in shows by the mid-1890s. She was in a touring dance act as a teen, with her sister Daisy Gehrue,[1] before Daisy married.[6][7]

Career[edit]

Sheet music from a song dedicated to Mayme Gehrue, from the New York Public Library collection.
Sheet music from a song dedicated to Mayme Gehrue, from the New York Public Library collection.

Gehrue appeared on Broadway in Little Red Riding Hood (1900), The Casino Girl (1900),[8] Nell-Go-In (1900), The Giddy Throng (1901), The King's Carnival (1901), Hoity Toity (1901–1902), Lovers and Lunatics (1906),[9] The Deacon and the Lady (1910),[10] and The Opera Ball (1912). She also toured with The Ford Dancers,[11][12] as "the Yama-Yama Girl" in Three Twins (1910–1911),[13][14] and in Topsy and Eva (1923), a musical comedy based on Uncle Tom's Cabin.[15] She was frequently on the vaudeville stage[16] well into the late 1920s,[17][18] in the United States and abroad, including a tour in Australia; "to-day she is recognized as one of America's foremost dancing comediennes," noted a 1909 report.[19]

Gehrue appeared in two silent films, The Fable of the Galloping Pilgrim Who Kept on Galloping (1915, short)[20] and Above the Abyss (1915). She wrote the lyrics to several World War I-era songs, including "I'm Leaving France for my Old Kentucky Home",[21] "I Wish to Wed a Sammy",[22] "Military Band",[23] "The Man of the Hour", "Dear Little Jessamine",[24] "Over in Spain", and "Back Down South",[25] all with music by Victor Hammond.

Personal life[edit]

Gehrue recommended buttermilk, meat, and no corsets for a healthy physique.[26] She married[27] and divorced her vaudeville dance partner[28] Johnny Ford (he later married and divorced vaudeville star Eva Tanguay).[29]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Theatrical". The Pittsburgh Press. August 31, 1897. p. 4. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "The Stage". The Pittsburg Post. November 20, 1898. p. 15. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Enjoyable Bill Now at Theatre". The Mansfield News. June 3, 1929. p. 7. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "She's a Real Southern Girl". The Indianapolis Star. February 7, 1928. p. 10. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Hines, Dixie; Hanaford, Harry Prescott (1914). Who's who in Music and Drama. H.P. Hanaford. pp. 131. Gehrue Louisville.
  6. ^ "Turning Back Time's Pages". The Green Book Magazine. 6: 155. July 1911.
  7. ^ "Schiller Theatre, Little Robinson Crusoe (June 15, 1895)". digital.chipublib.org. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  8. ^ Franceschina, John (2004). Harry B. Smith: Dean of American Librettists. Routledge. p. 125. ISBN 9781135949082.
  9. ^ Stubblebine, Donald J. (2010-08-11). Early Broadway Sheet Music: A Comprehensive Listing of Published Music from Broadway and Other Stage Shows, 1843–1918. McFarland. p. 140. ISBN 9780786447053.
  10. ^ Thorold, W. J.; Hornblow, Jr., Arthur; Maxwell, Perriton; Beach, Stewart (November 1910). "At the Playhouse". The Theatre. 12: x.
  11. ^ Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Psychology Press. p. 397. ISBN 9780415938532.
  12. ^ "Orpheum". The Independent. 44: 9. January 15, 1921.
  13. ^ "A Ghost Story". The Buffalo Commercial. February 18, 1910. p. 8. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Orpheum Talks". Western Magazine. 17: vi. February 1, 1921.
  15. ^ Donaghey, Frederick (December 31, 1923). "Review of Duncan Sisters". utc.iath.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  16. ^ "Mayme Gehrue Makes Hit at the Broadway". Camden Post-Telegram. February 10, 1914. p. 5. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Palace: Vaudeville and Pictures". The Indianapolis Star. May 30, 1926. p. 26. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Mayme Gehrue and Company at Colonial". Lebanon Daily News. December 5, 1927. p. 10. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Miss Mayme Gehrue for Musical Comedy". The New York Star: 48. March 27, 1909.
  20. ^ "Brief Stories of the Week's Film Releases". Motography. 13: 759. May 8, 1915.
  21. ^ "I'm leaving France for my old Kentucky home". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  22. ^ "I wish to wed a Sammy". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  23. ^ "Military Band" (1918), music by Victor Hammond, lyrics by Mayme Gehrue; via Trove
  24. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1919. p. 57.
  25. ^ Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1918). Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1918 Music First Half of 1918 New Series Vol 13 Part 1. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 96, 201.
  26. ^ "Mayme Gehrue Reveals Her Own Beauty Secrets". Detroit Free Press. September 13, 1911. p. 7. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Mayme Gehrue Married". The Portsmouth Herald. April 7, 1903. p. 5. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Orpheum Offers Good Bill". Los Angeles Herald. June 27, 1905. p. 3. Retrieved May 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Erdman, Andrew L. (2012-08-22). Queen of Vaudeville: The Story of Eva Tanguay. Cornell University Press. p. 192. ISBN 9780801465284.

External links[edit]

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