Chauncey Olcott

Chauncey Olcott, born John Chancellor Olcott and often spelled Chauncey Alcott, (July 21, 1858 – March 18, 1932) was an American stage actor, songwriter and singer of Irish descent.

Biography

He was born in Buffalo, New York. His mother, Margaret (née Doyle), was a native of Killeagh, County Cork.
In the early years of his career Olcott sang in minstrel shows, before studying singing in London during the 1880s. Lillian Russell played a major role in helping make him a Broadway star. When the producer Augustus Pitou approached him in 1893 to succeed William J. Scanlan as the leading tenor in sentimental operettas on Irish themes, Olcott accepted and performed pseudo-Irish roles for the remainder of his career.

Olcott combined the roles of tenor, actor, lyricist and composer in many productions. He wrote the complete scores to Irish musicals such as ''Sweet Inniscara'' (1897), ''A Romance of Athlone'' (1899), ''Garrett O'Magh'' (1901), and ''Old Limerick Town'' (1902). For other productions he collaborated with Ernest R. Ball and George Graff in works such as ''The Irish Artist'' (1894), ''Barry of Ballymore'' (1910), ''Macushla'' (1912), and ''The Isle o' Dreams'' (1913). There are some 20 such works between 1894 and 1920.

He was a good songwriter who captured the mood of his Irish-American audience by combining melodic and rhythmic phrases from traditional Irish music with melancholy sentiment. Some numbers from his musicals became popular, such as "My Wild Irish Rose" from ''A Romance of Athlone'', "Mother Machree" from ''Barry of Ballymore'', and "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" from ''The Isle o' Dreams''. Sometimes he used tunes from others, such as that of the title song from ''Macushla'' from Irish composer Dermot Macmurrough (pseudonym of Harold R. White) or "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral" by James Royce Shannon for his production ''Shameen Dhu'' (1914).

In 1925, a serious illness forced him to retire, and he moved to Monte Carlo where he died of pernicious anemia in 1932. His body was brought home and interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.

Legacy

Olcott's life story was told in the 1947 Warner Bros. motion picture ''My Wild Irish Rose'' starring Dennis Morgan as Olcott. The film's plot was based on the biography by Olcott's widow, Rita Olcott, ''Song in His Heart'' (1939)."The screen play was based on the story written by Chauncey's widow, Rita Olcott, in her book, "Song in My icHeart." (liner notes to 1947 RCA Victor album).

In 1970, Olcott was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Further reading

*Rita Olcott: ''Song in His Heart'' (New York: House of Field, Inc., 1939).
*Mari Kathleen Fielder: "Chauncey Olcott: Irish-American Mother-Love, Romance and Nationalism", in: ''Éire-Ireland'' 22 (1987) no. 2, p. 4–26.
*William H.A. Williams: ''"'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream". The Image of the Irish and Ireland in American Popular Song Lyrics 1800–1920'' (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1996), (cloth); (paperback).

References

External links

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selected recordings of Chauncey OlcottChauncey Olcott
portraits ; University of Washington, Sayre collection
Chauncey Olcott
portraits ; NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection
Chauncey Olcott; PeriodPaper.com c. 1910
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Chauncey Olcott, cover THE THEATRE magazine October 1905

Chauncey Olcott recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olcott, Chauncey
1858 births
1932 deaths
20th-century American male actors
Songwriters from New York (state)
Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
Vaudeville performers
American people of Irish descent
Male actors from Buffalo, New York
Singers from New York (state)