Irwin, May [née Ada May Campbell] (1862–1938), singer and comedienne. In 1899, when she was at the height of her fame, Lewis C. Strang, a popular writer on theatrical themes, observed, “May Irwin is a personality rather than an artist, an entertainer more than an actress. Her career has vacillated between the variety stage and the legitimate, until at last she has become identified with that hybrid species of the theatrical amusement called farce comedy. Miss Irwin is a famous fun‐maker; of jolly rotund figure, and with a face that reflects the gaiety of nations, she is the personification of humor and careless mirth, a female Falstaff.” The Canadian‐born blue‐eyed blonde made her professional debut with her sister, Flora, at a Buffalo vaudeville house in 1875. By the early 1880s she was a popular attraction at Tony Pastor's, appearing both in his olios and his versions of Gilbert and Sullivan favorites. Irwin left Pastor in 1883 to assume important supporting roles in Augustin Daly's great ensemble, four years later returning to vaudeville, then appearing in those prototypical musicals that were called farce‐comedies at the time. Stardom came in 1895 when she appeared in The Widow Jones and introduced “The Bully Song,” putting her in the forefront of what then were termed “coon shouters.” Subsequent hits, all of a similar nature, included Courted into Court (1896); The Swell Miss Fitzwell (1897); Kate Kip, Buyer (1898); Sister Mary (1899); Madge Smith, Attorney (1900); and Mrs. Black Is Back (1904). Thereafter, she alternated between vaudeville and musical plays, although her vogue had begun to wane. Her last Broadway assignment was in The 49ers (1922), then she retired after making an appearance in a 1925 “Old Timers' Week” at the Palace.
May Irwin
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| May Irwin | |
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 in the Broadway production of Mrs Black is Back (1904) |
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| Born | Ada May Campbell June 27, 1862 Whitby, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | October 22, 1938 (aged 76) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, singer |
May Irwin (June 27, 1862 – October 22, 1938), was an actress, singer and star of vaudeville.
Born Ada May Campbell, her father died when she was 13 years old and her stage-minded mother, in need of money, encouraged May and her younger sister Flora to perform. Creating a singing act, the sisters debuted in nearby Buffalo, New York in December 1874. By the fall of 1877, their career had progressed, and they were booked to appear at New York's Metropolitan Theater then at the Tony Pastor Theatre, a popular New York City music hall.
The Irwin sisters proved popular enough to earn regular spots for the ensuing six years after which a 21-year-old May Irwin set out on her own. She joined Augustin Daly's stock company where she made her first appearance on the theatrical stage. An immediate success she went on to make her London stage debut at Toole's Theatre in August 1884. In 1886 her husband of eight years, Frederick W. Keller, died unexpectedly.
By the early 1890s, May Irwin had married a second time and developed her career into that of a leading vaudeville performer with an act known at the time as "Coon Shouting" in which she performed African American influenced songs. In the 1895 Broadway show The Widow Jones, she introduced "The Bully Song" which became her signature number. The performance also featured a lingering kiss which was seen by Thomas Edison who hired Irwin and her co-star John C. Rice to repeat the scene on film. In 1896, Edison's Kinetoscope production, The Kiss, became the first screen kiss in cinematic history.
In addition to her performing and singing, May Irwin also wrote the lyrics to several songs, including "Hot Tamale Alley," with music written by George M. Cohan. In 1907 she married her manager, Kurt Eisfeldt, the same year she began making records for Berliner/Victor. Several of these recordings survive and give a notion of the actress's appeal.
May Irwin's buxom figure was much in vogue at the time and combined with her charming personality, for more than thirty years she was one of America's most beloved performers. In 1914, she made her second silent film appearance, this time in the feature-length adaptation of George V. Hobart's play, Mrs. Black is Back produced by Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company. Still pictures, showing May, survive from this movie.
A highly paid performer, Irwin was a shrewd investor and became a very wealthy woman. She spent a great deal of time at a summer home on secluded Club Island a small island off of Grindstone Island of the Thousand Islands and at her winter home on Merritt Island, Florida before retiring to a farm near Clayton, New York where a street would eventually be named in her honor.
Family Life
May Irwin was married twice. First to Frederick Keller from 1878(she was sixteen) to his death in 1886. From 1907 to the end of her life she was married to Kurt Eisenfeldt. It's stated the couple had two sons, Harry and Walter, but May would've been over 45 when she married Eisenfeldt and it is not known if Harry & Walter were her biological sons or adopted.(see discussion) Many print sources state Eisenfelt(aka Eisfelt) eleven years her junior, was the father of her sons. This is erroneous. Irwin sons were by her first husband Frederick Keller. Walter born circa 1879 and Harry in 1882. 1880 census recordsshow May the mother of an infant son named Walter. The boys would've been grown men by the time she married Eisenfelt in 1907.
May Irwin died in New York City on October 22, 1938.
There are several online archival photographs of May Irwin, her sister Flo Irwin and May Irwin's summer house in Clayton, New York available through the Whitby Archives.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: May Irwin |
- May Irwin and Flo Irwin at Whitby Public Library and Archives Digital Collection
- May Irwin at the Internet Movie Database
- May Irwin at the Internet Broadway Database
- May Irwin photo gallery at NYP Library
- May Irwin Collected Works of May Irwin recordings
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
 | Catherine Chisholm Cushing (American Theater) |
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 | American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "May Irwin". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Catherine Chisholm Cushing (American Theater)
- John J. McNally (American Theater)
- Mrs. Black is Back (1914 Comedy Film)
- Widow by Proxy (1919 Film)
- Pere Oller (art)
- J. Rosamond Johnson (Jazz Artist)
- Take One False Step (1949 Crime Film)
- Dancing Under Water (1991 Album by Freakwater)
- Vaudeville in America (American Theater)
- John C. Rice
- Colin Irwin
- The Kiss (1896 film)
- William Heise
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