Thursday, October 8, 2015

Fred. and Marie Hylands

Who are these lovely ladies?

Well, one of them is Maria Hylands(Stevens). I'm not really sure which one is her, but I am assuming on my instinct that the taller one is her. I'm not really sure, but let's just say the taller one is her.  If she's Marie Hylands, how Fred was a lucky man! She's a very beautiful lady with a pleasant smile. I found this picture this very evening, while searching around on sheet music websites for something not really related to this. I saw this piece of music here:
I knew it was a Hylands, Spencer and Yeager publication already, I just wanted to see if anyone I recognized was on the cover. Damn, how I was surprised! I didn't really ever think about Hylands ever advertising his wife on sheet music, though I had the feeling that he probably did at some point. Again, I am not really sure which one of them is actually her, but for some reason my eyes first shot toward the taller one of the two of them as possibly being Fred Hylands' wife. I can now see them together, and they must have been a comical couple.
What a crack-up! How it must have been funny those few times that Marie came with him to performances endorsing Columbia's records. The boys at Columbia must have always thought of the two of them as a perfectly comical couple, one suited for the art on a cover of Rag-Time music. I just wish I knew more about their marriage, as it must have been a real interesting one. I could very well assume that it was one that involved a whole lot of music and late nights. When Fred was working Columbia's piano from 8 in the morning to 6 or 7 in the evening, Marie was working actor's hours(only going out in the evening to perform and sleeping in the morning after). This is why they didn't have any children, because they were always so busy doing other things, and probably because when Marie asked the question, Fred probably just passed on the idea. They also didn't really care too much about children because they had seen how much of a commitment it becomes and how it effected their friends' lives. He must have done this for several obvious reasons that I don't think I need to explain. Their marriage was truly that of a performer couple, and not even a normal one, though Ben Harney's marriage was very similar, there is always Burt Green to compare this to:
Burt Green's family was a much more normal one of its time. Though, he did begin his more common family later, as his first wife wasn't really a performer, and Fred Hylands would have certainly known this, as he knew Green when he was still married to her. Burt had two daughters with Irene, and one of them is seen above(she's so cute!). 
Fred was slightly pressured to get married in 1895 when his sister went off with a chap two years before that, so it was just him and his father at home. He not only wanted Fred to get a real job, but he wanted him to get married to help out some poor girl. Who he chose was a peach, but she wasn't really what his father had in mind. At least she was pretty and talented, which was what his father probably thought of her. They ran off together not long after they married in September of 1895, which took them to Milwaukee for a little while, and then later to New York. They stayed together for whatever wild things that Fred got himself into at Columbia. Every time he came home completely exhausted and drunk, she was always there to tend to him. In thinking of the gender customs of the time, Fred must have been a bear of a man to take care of, if Marie did so nearly as much as a typical wife of that time. She probably didn't, because of the fact that she was also a performer, and thought of his antics and habits as ludicrous. 
Think of it, a six foot tall redheaded fat man with a medium height, well-figured brunette English girl. That was them alright. 
Dear Marie had to deal his wild and creative mind for 18 years before he died in 1913. After living with him for so long, she mourned him for little over a year and a half , and married another Chicago actor man. She stayed with him at least into the 1930's, as she can be found living with this man in the 1930 census. 
This little thing must have stuck with her for a while after she sent it in to VarietyEven though she had moved on from Fred, she probably remembered him fondly until the day she died.


I hope you enjoyed this! 

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