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Later this year I believe the first full-scale biography of late 19th century/early 20th century Broadway-vaudeville singer and actress May Irwin will be published. Ms. Irwin of course starred in the legendary 1896 film THE KISS and could be considered the first famous American movie star.

https://www.amazon.com/May-Irwin-Shouti ... =may+irwin" target="_blank" target="_blank

Amazon calls it a reprint edition.

I have an interesting May Irwin story. My Grandmother was the person in the family who kept the information on our family tree. Luckily, before she passed away, my brother and I sat down with her and wrote it all down. She knew names and locations and occupations going back further than three generations, with all of the cousins and second and third cousins too. She gave me a photo album that had belonged to her family with lots of pictures of the people she told us about. We would always ask her about "black sheep" and she would tell us confidently that our family were protestant ministers, members of Canadian parliament, famous lawyers, etc. No black sheep.

My brother got a template and built out a family tree and then started doing a formal genealogy, mailing away for birth and death records, etc. He discovered that my Grandmother was extremely accurate, but she had omitted two names from her own line... the Campbells. The two names were Georgina May Campbell and her sister Flora. It didn't take long to discover that Georgina was May Irwin and Flora was the other half of their sister act. My grandmother had to have known about May Irwin. She had photos of her father and uncle, but she never said a thing. We suspect that May Irwin was the shame of the family and after she went into show business, her name was never mentioned again. But today, I am especially proud of my "coon shouter" ancestor.

By the way, she wasn't really a "movie star". She only did the one short clip (which caused a scandal). She is best known as the first female Jazz singer. She was right at ground zero where ragtime and tin pan alley fused into Jazz.

missdupont wrote:Amazon calls it a reprint edition.

It's apparently being published concurrently in both hardcover and softcover editions; Amazon's hc page does not call it a reprint https://www.amazon.com/dp/0252040651/sr ... 638&sr=1-4" target="_blank"

Here's a bit more on it at University of Illinois Press' webpage http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/ca ... 40658.html" target="_blank" also a webpage thread that discusses May and features several posts by the book's author who mentions in a 2014 post she's long been at work on the book http://www.thousandislandslife.com/Back ... eeper.aspx" target="_blank"

So after Capitolfest this year my son and I went up to the thousand islands, where we learned of the crucial role that May Irwin allegedly played in the invention of a great American foodstuff...

This was a story about Sophia LaLonde, a fishing guide’s wife, who in the early 1900’s created the dressing for her husband’s shore dinner guests, one of which was famous Broadway actress May Irwin. May, who was staying at the Herald House while her cottage in the Thousand Islands was being built, asked for the recipe so she could have it served to her daily in the hotel dining room.

According to this telling, it was Irwin who named it Thousand Island Dressing and then gave the recipe to fellow NYC resident George Boldt on recommendations to serve it at the Waldorf-Astoria.

http://www.thousandislandslife.com/Back ... ssing.aspx" target="_blank" target="_blank

Anyway, I bring this up by way of passing along this link which a friend sent to me—the complete May Irwin recordings:

http://archeophone.com/catalogue/comple ... ice-vance/" target="_blank" target="_blank

There was a snippet of May Irwin in The Kiss on an episode of The Simpsons a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, IMDb has not credited her yet with the "archive footage" appearance. Any Simpsons buff here who know the title of the episode?

Mike Gebert wrote:Anyway, I bring this up by way of passing along this link which a friend sent to me—the complete May Irwin recordings:

http://archeophone.com/catalogue/comple ... ice-vance/" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Wow, was not aware of that label before, but they have an incredible catalogue of rare early 20th Century recordings. Those "Hit of the Week" collections are amazing (there were a couple of those flimsy platters at my grandparents' house, I still have one for Bye Bye Blues).

May really got around...

bigshot wrote:We would always ask her about "black sheep" and she would tell us confidently that our family were protestant ministers, members of Canadian parliament, famous lawyers, etc. No black sheep.

Given what I know about Canadian politics, I beg to differ...

So I guess May wasn't shunned because she was a Canadian then?

Also came across some of her sheet music while doing a Google search. Hoo boy, "The Bully Song" really hasn't aged well.

Her side of the family consisted of Methodists, who at the time in Canada were very strict and puritanical... no alcohol, no funny business. Her uncle was a prominent preacher and member of Parliament. Not exactly the kind of people who appreciate "coon shouters".

Also worth mentioning... the fantastic Archeophone label has a CD with May Irwin's recordings

The "Southern Singer" who came from Canada and lived in New York!

Red Bartlett wrote:Also worth mentioning... the fantastic Archeophone label has a CD with May Irwin's recordings

I want to be known as the high priest of jollity!

Jim,
The High Priest of Jollity

LOL! I believe May Irwin was the High Priestess, while Clarice Vance was the Southern Singer. She was from Ohio.