Some Great Women in the Business

Since to-day happens to be international women's day, I thought it be important to do a post specifically on the great women that were involved with the line of study I know of. I don't speak of these ladies as often as I ought to because they just don't come up that much, though occasionally the thought comes. 

To begin, it would seem great to speak of all those strong, progressive women that Len Spencer grew up around. I have explained before that Spencer had a fascinating upbringing, with many famous and prominent people probably coming his way within the first five years of his life. One of these great women was: 

Clara Barton

Yes indeed, the civil war nurse who began the Red Cross. 

The Spencer's had come to know Barton by the end of the civil war, and since this was so, it is not really surprising that Madame Barton probably held baby Len Spencer, or Harry a few years later. It is also very likely that Len grew up knowing Barton very well, occasionally seeing her come to their home or the Spencer College that was at that time run by their father Henry Caleb Spencer. Spencer's mother Sara Andrews was another fascinating woman of the nineteenth century, who was a rare breed of wealthy women in that time. Sara was a very passionate suffragette in the 1870's(which was the second wave of the women's suffrage movement, the other two were the 1840's and the 1910's), speaking at conventions and in great halls about the right for women to vote. In fact, in 1875, she, along with about 50 other women, registered to vote, but this was declined by the poll owners, for obvious reasons. With this failure, she still went onward with her protests. 
It wasn't just his mother and Clara Barton who he saw as the most influential women around him, he also saw many aunts of his who were very influential professors of law and even judges. If you look up the Spencer family(starting with Len), you will find that all the women in his family had some kind of higher education, degrees, or were prominent suffragettes. Not one lady in that family was just a housewife. 

Now another lady I would like to speak of is the very rarely mentioned Estella Mann:

(Anne of Cleves, c.1539)

Come on! She does very much look like Anne Of Cleves! Don't tell me you don't see it.

This Anne of Cleves-looking German beauty was not just one of the frivolous few early lady recording stars, she was also a company owner! As were most of these record makers in the 1890's, she owned her own label from 1898-1899, which was called The Lyric Phonograph company. It was, just like most of these companies, popular while it lasted, but then faded away rather quick. This was not really successful venture for her, which in most ways, is what led to her not really making any records after 1900. She faded out of the business quick, and stopped making records by the era of the gold moulded cylinder. She was influential and popular while she remained making records though, and would need to be remembered for this, as there weren't any other women in the 1890's music business that began their own record companies like she did.

Another fascinating lady I should mention is the wonderful May Irwin:

Now she had a very interesting role in the early popularization of Rag-Time. It is a little hard to explain, because she didn't make any records until ten years after she began in performing Rag-Time songs. Around 1894, Irwin was a performer who came on stage in blackface and performed "Ethiopian songs"(which was essentially the pre-cursor to "Coon Songs"), and starring in some comic opera. She became famous for her roles in big opening shows on broadway and on popular vaudeville stages. When Rag-Time came by storm from the genius of Ben Harney in 1896, Irwin became the first to introduce these songs in "Ragged time" along with Josephine Sabel:

Sable and Irwin became associated with Rag-Time starting in 1896, and in fact, Sabel's song was "Hot Time on the Old Town", and Irwin's was "The Bully". Sabel was pictured on many pieces of Rag-Time music from 1896 to 1913, which is quite a long period of time for being known as a Rag singer! Irwin had something along with her that Sabel did not, a great ability to write music. Irwin wrote several songs in her long-spanning career, which some were Rag-Time related, while others were not exactly Rag-Time, but were still very funny comic songs. Ben Harney was pleased to know that a popular lady singer(Irwin) was singing all of his Rag-Time songs, and was becoming known for them, further popularizing Harney, and Rag-Time itself, all before 1897. Of course, Irwin came across Len Spencer some time in 1896 and told him how great she thought his recordings of her songs were, and Spencer probably heard her perform these songs, so it is likely that he imitated her somewhat. 



Now to close off, I must mention the strong-hearted Etta Hylands. Etta was also a rare breed of Victorian lady, one who wasn't an outward feminist, but was a lady who proved that she wasn't a slave to any man that came her way. She had hard luck with men at first, as her first husband died of smallpox just a few months into their marriage, but at that, it is very likely that she married once more soon after that. With her very sharp wits, she became tired of many men, and probably had a beaux aside from her husband in each of her marriages. One of her children was illegitimate anyhow, so something like that wouldn't be very surprising at this. She must have been a very unconventional wife of the 1890's and 1900's, as she was a performer, and had many reckless ways. She was the kind of lady that many comic songs of the late-1890's poked fun at, such as this one by Dan Quinn here:
https://archive.org/details/colnyp-5121
Very good recording by the way! Fred Hylands is behind Quinn here. 
Many of these performers' wives were like the "Flossy" in the song listed above. Hylands' wife Marie was one:

Staying out late for shows, and sleeping all day while Freddy went to the studio.  That's actor's hours for ya. Not many of the recording stars had performers as their wives, like Len Spencer or Vess Ossman, but some did, like Billy Golden. Golden's wife May was actually a minstrel along with Billy, and they did quite a lot of vaudeville together in the late-1880's and early 1890's, which must have been very great to see! Another example of this would be the Watson's. By this, I mean George and Marguerite:

Heh, what a couple...

Now pretty much nothing is known about Marguerite, except the fact that she was married to George Watson the yodeler, and that she made some comic cylinders in the late-1890's for Edison. Now it's rare to find a married couple of recording artists in the 1890's, but the Watson's were one rare example. Later there was Burt Green and Irene Franklin, but that was much later in time. For those wives of these recording stars who are forgotten, they all must have been interesting ladies, as they lived with performers in a very hard and taxing business. Most of them stayed completely out of it, but some were either fully involved(like Marguerite), or were slightly part of the action(like Marie Hylands). I really wonder what some of their wives were like. Len Spencer's 

"Liz", Ossman's Eunice, Frank Banta's Elizabeth Riley, and all the other respectable ladies that went through so much with these wild studio men. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Digby Bell and other Rare performers on records

Digby Bell(1849-1917), only made a single record for Edison in 1909, and six records for Victor in 1909 as well. I am amazed at how some of these record companies searched around for many of these old performers who were popular in the 1870's, 80's, and early 90's, and were able to have them record. It is similar to how the Edison company got an older Jules Levy(a famous Victorian cornetist) to record a single record in 1896, the year that he died. 

Digby Bell was a popular dramatic/comical performer of the late 1870's and 1880's, who was a Gilbert and Sullivan actor, and a dramatic actor, much to the likeness of DeWolf Hopper. Bell's voice boomed in Victor and Edison's studios, as can be heard from the few that exist now, and from what was captured, Bell was a true Victorian speaker and monologuist. You hear Bell's one Edison cylinder Here. And here is one of his six Victors from the same year. What a wonderful and rare voice! His records are fascinating to listen to, and they are very similar to DeWolf Hopper's also very few but penetrating records. 

Hopper might be a familiar name to more than record collectors, as he was the man who introduced and was famous for "Casey at the Bat", and for being a very complicated character. Hopper's recordings made in the acoustic era were made very strategically. From what you can hear on his 1906 recording of "Casey at the Bat", he stood VERY FAR away from the horn. The echoes of the Victor room are almost eerie when Hopper rose his voice in the middle of a monologue. The disc could barely take the volume and power in Hopper's voice. 

There's Hopper, around 1887. Now since I keep describing the record, here's Hopper's 1906 recording of "Casey at the Bat". How his voice boomed! I don't know of any other speaker's voice that made such an effect in Victor's studio. The only other recording by Hopper that's available online is this extraordinary cylinder from 1890. I am astounded that this cylinder exists. And it sounds great for its age! Some cylinders like this just survive the odds, and still manage to sound decent, it's amazing really.  Anyhow, back to Hopper. Hopper did not record any of his famous songs from Sousa's El Capitan, but Len Spencer did. From the Columbia record list seen here, you can see that Spencer recorded ALL of the songs from El Capitan, imitating Hopper's voice and vocal style as well. You can now see why Hopper was imitated by so many other singers in his day. 
Yes indeed, all the singers who were on early records were all performers, and all popular ones too, but some were almost more perfect as performers before the recording horns, such as both of the Spencer's. 

The next performer I would like to speak of is May Irwin: 

May Irwin was really the most popular "Rag" singer before it was an official craze in 1897, as she was singing all of Ben Harney's hits in 1895 and 1896, when there wasn't yet a name for this type of syncopated music. It seemed inevitable that the studio managers would have Irwin record sooner or later, but it just took a while for Victor to get her in their studio. It took until 1907 for Victor to finally have her sing for their gramophones. You can hear all of her Victors on this playlist of records here. Irwin was a fantastic performer in the studio, more so than many of the booming voices before. She wasn't too loud for the horns, nor was she too quiet, she still had to stand slightly far from the edge of the horn, but not several feet away like DeWolf Hopper. She recorded three of her long-time signature songs at that one 1907 session, including her most famous "Bully Song" from 1896. That song was recorded countless times by all the studio stars back in the 1890's, but getting Irwin herself to finally record it was making it sound just as it was supposed to sound, even if it was over ten years after she made a "hit" with it on the stage. Sometimes is can be surprising to hear so many racial slurs in a single song, like her "Bully Song", and most of her other recordings. But those "coon" songs were what she was know for, so there was not a doubt that when they got her in to record, that she would have to sing her signature songs. Which just happened to be "Coon songs". 

The last performer I would like to speak of is a pair actually, and they are ones I have spoken of on this blog before.
Irene Franklin and Burt Green

I know I have spoken many times of these two, but they were just so great on this records they made! These two were a thing that the record companies took great pride in having them in their studios, because it took effort to get them off the stage for such a short time to make a few records. They were a very popular act on the stages all over the U. S. from New York to San Francisco, doing all sorts of songs, and not just the ones that they wrote, which were one of the main attractions of their act. It's odd though, of the few Edison cylinders they made, they didn't record their biggest hit, which was "Redhead", they only did that on Columbia. I don't know why, but that was just how it turned out. When the studio managers decided that they would record Irene Franklin, they couldn't skip out on Burt Green, as his piano accompaniment was part of the act, so inevitably, they had Burt come in and play piano behind Franklin. Burt wasn't exactly the most amazing pianist on the vaudeville stage, but he certainly had a great ear for Rag-Time, and imitating the best of the best that he eloped with in vaudeville. He and Irene worked perfectly together, as they were both imperfect performers in their own obvious ways. 
Here is their signature song "Redhead" recorded in September of 1915.
What a queer record! It's so odd, but fascinating! Burt's piano accompaniment is still reminiscent of his old friend Fred Hylands(who mind you had been dead for two years when this was recorded!), with all of those single deep bass notes, some older-sounding syncopation, and of course, all of those trills! That little thing in the middle where Burt plays that crazy little thing with messy notes, that's also reminiscent of Hylands, and of earlier vaudeville. It has such a weird chorus though, those chord changes are so frequent and almost hard to keep up with, and he played those fifths in his left hand octaves, which is very characteristic of mid-western pianists. It's so odd to hear a pianist like him play those fifths, but if you're really listening closely to the piano accompaniment you can hear it. This isn't like listening to a brown wax cylinder with Hylands on piano where you can't really hear all the notes, this was recorded in 1915, when the technology was much more advanced for some reason.

 And ya know what, now that I really get to listen closely to the piano, I think it's the same one that Hylands once played on! That's really interesting! that would make some sense, as it was recorded for Columbia anyhow, and they wouldn't have had to use it since 1906, and between '06 and 1915 they would have only used it maybe a handful of times. 
When Burt got "Redhead" published in 1908(or maybe just before it), Fred must have come to him once again and told him what he thought of the song, as well as Burt's new lady friend. Fred must have laughed at it, approvingly of course! Being a redhead, Fred must have loved it, and he probably played it through for Burt, giving him new ideas like always. 

I will be doing another one of these performer record posts eventually, including singers like Sophie Tucker, Arthur Pryor, the Sousa Band, and more.

I hope you enjoyed this!  

Character Studies-- Burt. Green(1874-1921)

Burton Green, the second husband of Irene Franklin, and long-time friend of Fred Hylands. Green was an interesting fellow, who seemed to be one who latched onto other great performers and piano players from time to time. He was considered one of the first Rag-Time pianists and performers alongside Ben R. Harney in 1896 and 1897. He was not only a great pianist, but also a great imitator of other performers and pianists as well. He was a dancer in his earliest performing days of Rag-Time, just like Harney was, and he was a good one too, but he didn't seem to keep up the dancing too long after 1900. He must have had a similar mindset and personality to Fred Hylands, as he was a good friend of his not only because of the publishing firm, but also because they were both well-respected Rag-Time pianists in the same area. Burt's origins are unknown, but it would seem that he had been playing the piano for many years by the time he started performing as an "Ethiopian song" pianist around 1893 or 1894. He was really playing an early installment of Rag-Time, but not a person would have known it when seeing him. When Rag-Time was given that official name, Green was imitating the main performer of the style of music, Ben Harney, and was becoming well-known for doing so. This was all when he was married to his first wife, who was a writer, and not really to his liking somewhat, as he strayed from her many times throughout their marriage. By 1897, he was working at Huber's museum/theater, and was getting paid a hefty salary for doing this. This is where he ran into Fred Hylands, Len Spencer, and a few more probably. He soon befriended Hylands, and later got to know Spencer, Roger Harding, Will Hardman(Hylands' lyricist), and Harry Yeager. Burt had no idea what a mess he got himself into, Hylands' not-so-great leadership, Spencer's promises that never became true, Steve Porter's yacht races, and a host of other things. This only lasted a year and a half though. 


Burt wasn't on Columbia's staff, but it almost seemed that way by the way he acted with those boys at Hylands, Spencer and Yeager. He wasn't exactly as wild and ambitious as Fred and Len, but he was the one who would go out an do the "dirty work" for the firm, by this, it is meant that he went out coaxing all the wives of firm members to join in. That oftentimes wouldn't work with Hylands or Roger Harding, so Burt had to do it. He would go out and flirt with the wives of many of the prominent publishers, performers, and investors, to convince them to get involved with the firm. Burt was a short man, at about 5 foot six, with hands that weren't too long, average sized feet, and a slight build. The best thing about him was that wild dark hair of his, with an unruly cowlick toward the right hand side of his long forehead. His hair rarely looked groomed, due to how it was naturally shaped, it seemed to make for an interesting sight when he performed. He wasn't as much of a comical picture when he played, unlike Fred Hylands, but he certainly sometimes tried to cultivate Hylands' stylings and also his attitude when he played. He would sometimes shake around his hair just like Freddy would, and it was a real sight when he did it. When Hylands started up the firm in 1899, Burt came in almost every day, just like Fred and Roger would, and when they were all there, it would become a real party, with all sorts of musical ideas being spread, and yarns being told. Burt would always watch Freddy with focused eyes and ears, taking in every single detail that he observed, even if Fred was high on some kind of drug or drunk. Burt was able imitate every one of the members of the firm, by their playing, singing, and even their usual antics and tones of voice. This extraordinary talent of his proved very entertaining at their over-the-top parties at the offices of the firm, and also at Fred's flat or Len's mansion. Burt went out and drank with Fred after recording days often, and it wouldn't at all be surprising for Burt to wake the next morning on Fred's couch or on the floor of his flat. His wife would often come with him to the firm during the middle of the day, but Burt would always tell her to scram by the evening, so the antics could begin. After the collapse of the firm in later-1900, Burt still remained a close friend of Fred's and Len's, but more so Fred, as it was quite a great deal of Len's fault that the firm fell so quickly. Fred and Burt still went out to drink after their day's work in the evenings, as long as Fred worked at Columbia, and as long as Burt worked at Huber's. Around 1906, Burt was working at Huber's one evening just as usual, and he was told a small and comical singer girl named Irene Franklin was going to be singing. He had heard of her before, but was not very aware of her. The moment she stepped out onstage, he was captured by her, with a thrust of passion shooting through his blood, with his eyes bright and entranced, silent at the piano. Irene--- how he wanted her bad. He tried all the flirting he could after the next few performances with her at Huber's, she held back for a little while, but by 1908, she finally allowed him to split with that dreaded first wife of his. He was split with her quick, and ran off with Irene in only a few months. Their first daughter was born sometime in 1908. It was a perfect marriage, and it was talked about in the media like mad, it was a celebrity marriage, so to speak. They were popular everywhere, and they were touring like mad, with almost no time to rest between tours and performances. This life though was hitting Burt hard, much like it was with Fred Hylands around the same time, by 1912 I mean. Fred died quick the next year after a few months in England, and it is a sure thing that Burt and Irene were invited to the funeral service. Burt was still holding up pretty well surprisingly by then, but he was still out drinking and taking in drugs, as his success with Irene was certainly getting to him by 1916. He and Irene were still traveling widely in 1917, including going off to France to perform for the boys in the trenches. But by 1919 and 1920, Burt was starting to have some severe health issues, getting bugs that turned into things that weakened him permanently. He did die at home, but it must not have been a very pleasant or painless death, much like his dear old friend Freddy or Len. But as performer women did in this time, Irene married another performer after Burt died, and pretty quickly too, quicker than Marie Hylands did for some reason. 

I'm back from the West Coast Ragtime festival! It was such a great time hanging out with "the squad"and playing there! I hope you enjoyed this! 

Burt Green, Fred Hylands, and Irene Franklin

Hey look! It's Burt Green! 

Yes indeed. Burt Green, the husband of Irene Franklin and one of Fred Hylands' musical thieves. Burt Green was not considered one of the the best accompanists in vaudeville, unlike Fred Hylands and Seymour Furth, and it's pretty evident by how he plays from the few records he's the pianist on. He wasn't the best accompanist in the world, but he must have been a riot of a guy, and he and Fred Hylands must have been unstoppable as publishers. 

Now what I just said about Burt being one of Hylands' musical thieves is referring to his piano style. I just listened to the two cylinders from 1912 and 1913 of Burt and his wife Irene Franklin:

There she is around 1910. Gorgeous ain't she? 

Well, on the few records that Burt made with Irene, with him accompanying her, he plays some things that sound an awful lot like this familiar chap:

Hm! Fred Hylands. Now I'm not really saying that Green stole from Hylands, I'm saying that he heard and practically lived with the man for a year at his publishing firm back in 1899. From doing this, he got an "overdose" of  Hylands' shenanigans to imitate his playing almost exactly. Green was a great imitator, as he was known for being one of the the first to play and dance Rag-Time, under the intention of mocking Ben Harney's style to perfection as it was once said. Here is that one cylinder that I really mean:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder13864

Really take a listen! Franklin's singing is really fantastic no doubt, but listen closely to Green's accompaniment. Hmm...where have I heard a trill like that at the very beginning? 

Take these two cylinders as examples:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder14242

Listen for the trill at the "song and Dance" part at the end on this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZRxrz8nmYw

There are countless examples of Hylands playing like this. The fact that Burt Green really did play like Hylands, struck me first this evening when listening to that cylinder by Green and Franklin above. So with Green's great mimicry, he was easily keen on using this gift in his piano styling. He first imitated Harney and Mike Bernard, then later Fred Hylands. 

He was probably anxious to learn from Hylands when he began the publishing firm with him in 1899, and when they came in together after recording days, or on days off, they must have exchanged all sort of ideas. Burt must have watched Hylands play in the closest of detail. He must have watched how he played everything that was distinct to his style, how he used the pedals, and what he did with his left hand. Hylands may or may not have been aware of Green's close examining, or he was, and was being all showy for him. The 24 year old Green must have been cross examining Hylands' mastery in amazement and took in everything he heard. These times of creation must have been fascinating. Burt Green was the sponge absorbing all the music he heard, and Hylands was the genius with the love for Rag-Time in his blood.

Just for another comparison, here is the other cylinder by Green and Franklin from 1912:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder6483

He still sounds like Hylands. After 14 years, he still perpetuated that queer style of his old friend, who by the way, was still alive when this was recorded. It may have been issued the year that Hylands died, but it was recorded the year before that. I even hear in Green's accompaniments the rare characteristic of the fifths in the octaves that Hylands used quite often on his records. You can faintly hear it twice on the cylinder above. The ending of Green's accompaniment is also a mess, which I'm pretty sure was not intended. It just falls apart in a single line. 
The only thing that Green could never steal from Hylands was his feel and sense of rhythm. He could never get it right, in fact, no one could. His was perfect in many ways, and his time was far better than any of the usual accompanists heard on records, he had an even better sense of time than Frank P. Banta, and C. H. H. Booth. Banta had already a fantastic sense of time, but when you put Hylands in the picture, that changes it entirely. 
You can hear the wonderful stylings of Banta on these two cylinders here, with wonderful rhythmic choices:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder2649
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=groIZgk0EJU(music starts at 3:30!)
These may be near perfect sounding examples of Rag-Time on cylinders, with exceptional tempo choices by Banta, but compare it with Hylands:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder8436

https://ia700407.us.archive.org/17/items/ArthurCollins_part1/ArthurCollins-BillBaileyWontYouPleaseComeHomeCoonSong.mp3(Hylands' time on this one is a little shaky, only because he must be a little but tipsy, but it's still one of the best examples recorded Rag-Time from the Rag-Time era itself.)
https://ia700407.us.archive.org/17/items/ArthurCollins_part1/ArthurCollins-EveryDarkyHadaRaglanOnCoonSong.mp3
Banta had great rhythm, but his choices of tempo were not always perfect, and his time coordinating with the right hand syncopation didn't always work either. Hylands had mastered this style and skill by 1896, and perfected it by 1898. Banta was a natural pianist, just like Hylands, but like Burt Green, he had to catch on and really think about how to play this "Ragged" music. Burt Green was only able to keep Hylands' styling alive until 1921, which was only 8 years after Hylands died. That's really unfortunate to think about, and there are less than 20 pianists, at least, in the entire world to-day who have ever acknowledged Hylands' playing and have ever tried to imitate his style, just like Burt Green did. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

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 Variety. Even though she had moved on from Fred, she probably remembered him fondly until the day she died.

I hope you enjoyed this!