Katherine Gertrude Hoffmann (née Hay, May 7, 1883 – October 21, 1966) was an American early 20th-century

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

dancer and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Early life

Katherine “Kitty” Gertrude Hay was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on May 7, 1883, the daughter of John and Katherine (née Brogan) Hay.1900 US Census records showing an 1883 year of birth Her father, who was born in Bangor, Maine, in 1843, came to California sometime before 1873. Katherine Brogan was born in Ireland around 1847 and came to America in the early 1860s. John and Katherine Hay moved to Portland, Oregon, where John died in 1914. Katherine Brogan Hay died in 1926 at the Long Island summer house of her daughter, Gertrude.''The New York Times'' – May 17, 1903 Gertrude received her early education at a San Francisco area Catholic

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

. Katherine had been performing on stage for some time as Kitty Hayes before catching the eye of actress

Florence Roberts Florence Roberts (March 16, 1861/1864 – June 6, 1940(photo included) was an American actress of the stage and in motion pictures. Stock company actress Born in New York City, she began acting onstage there. Her career began at the Brooklyn ...

playing a French dancer in

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are '' Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther' ...

’s five-act opera Sapho at San Francisco’s Alcazar Theatre. Not long after Robert's encouragement to pursue a career in dance, Gertrude signed on at the age of sixteen as a dancer with the vaudeville comedy team of Matthews and Bulger and began a tour that would eventually take her to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and the Paradise Roof Garden atop Oscar Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre.

Career

Gertrude Hoffman with head of John the Baptist cph

In 1903 Gertrude Hoffmann was hired as a rehearsal director at Oscar Hammerstein’s Victoria Theater working with the sixty member ''"Punch and Judy Co."'' shows and other vaudeville routines performing at the venue.

Willie Hammerstein William Hammerstein (September 26, 1875 – June 10, 1914) was an American theater manager. He ran the Victoria Theatre on what became Times Square, Manhattan, presenting very popular vaudeville shows with a wide variety of acts. He was known fo ...

persuaded her to appear on the stage. Three years later she replaced an ill performer in Ziegfeld’s ''"The Parisian Dancer"'' and became a hit imitating

Anna Held Helene Anna Held (19 March 1872 – 12 August 1918) was a Polish-French stage performer on Broadway. While appearing in London, she was spotted by impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, who brought her to America as his common-law wife. From 1896 through ...

singing ''"I Just Can’t Make My Eyes Behave"''. Over her career, Gertrude also did impersonations of various other performers, such as

Eva Tanguay Eva Tanguay (August 1, 1878 – January 11, 1947) was a Canadian singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous". She was known as "The Queen of Vaudeville" during the height of her popularity from the early 1 ...

Eddie Foy Edwin Fitzgerald (March 9, 1856 – February 16, 1928Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; and McNeilly, Donald. ''Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America''. Routledge Press, September 2006, . pp. 406–410), ...

, and

Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...

. Her choreography and special dance effects brought her high praise and rebuke. Her role as

Salome Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, an ...

in "Vision of Salome" which she introduced around 1908 caused scandal at many theater houses around the country. On several occasions her suggestive dance style in scant costumes would lead to her arrest by local police. Eva Tanguay, Vera Olcott, and

Lotta Faust Charlotte "Lotta" Faust (February 8, 1880 ''–'' January 25, 1910) was an American actress, dancer, and singer. She performed an interpretation of the Salome dance based on the play ''Salome (play), Salome'' (1893) by Oscar Wilde."In Memori ...

would also find success with the Salome dance. Later in her career she became manager and choreographer of the Gertrude Hoffmann Girls. Reminiscent of the

Tiller Girls The Tiller Girls were among the most popular dance troupes of the 1890s, first formed by John Tiller in Manchester, England, in 1889. In theatre Tiller had noticed the overall effect of a chorus of dancers was often spoiled by lack of discipline. ...

, her dancers used a type of athletic acrobatic transformation of the chorus girl with kicks, leaps, etc. The Gertrude Hoffmann Girls performed in the Shubert review ''Artists and Models'' that ran for the entire 1925-26 season at the

Winter Garden A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime. History The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories that would house tropical and subtro ...

and also had long runs over the following two seasons with ''A Night in Paris'' and ''A Night in Spain''. In 1933 she resurrected the Hoffmann dancers and had some success touring America and Europe prior the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Not much is known of her later life other than she may have at one time operated a dance studio or club in Southern California. In 2006 the social historian

Armond Fields Armond Fields was an American market research consultant, a painter, a graphic artist, and a prolific social historian who wrote art and theater biographies. Early life and education Fields was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Max and Esther ...

listed Gertrude Hoffmann in his book ''Women Vaudeville Stars: Eighty Biographical Profiles''. The Gertrude Hoffmann Glide, a two step or turkey-trot dance named after her in 1913, was recorded by the Victor Military Band and sold through

Sears Catalog Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Marriage

Gertrude married Max Hoffmann (1873–1963), a composer, songwriter and vaudeville orchestra leader, on April 8, 1901 in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Her husband's full name and title was said to be “Baron” Adolph Eugene Victor Maximilian Hoffmann. Though born in Poland most likely of German descent, the title "Baron" is dubious since he was raised in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

.US Passport Application Max Hoffmann) – May 15, 1921 On most public records and travel documents over the years, their surname was recorded as Hoffmann, rather than Hoffman. Max Hoffmann throughout their marriage worked with Gertrude as her music director and manager. Their son, professionally known as Max Hoffmann Jr. (1902–1945), was born the year following their marriage at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

and would go on to be a musical-comedy performer on Broadway and in films. Max Jr. was for a brief period of time married to the noted Boop-Boop-a Doop singer

Helen Kane Helen Kane (born Helen Clare Schroeder, August 4, 1904 – September 26, 1966) was an American singer and actress. Her signature song was " I Wanna Be Loved by You" (1928), featured in the 1928 stage musical ''Good Boy''. The song was written for ...

.''Indiana Evening Gazette'' 3 Feb 1933

Death

Gertrude Hoffmann died on the 21 October 1966 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

References

* The History of European Photography 1900-1938, FOTOFO., 2011.

External links

*
Lots of Glitter, Girls and Whirls
- ''The New York Times''
Library of Congress
Photographed with lion's head.
Biography of Katherine Gertrude Hay Hoffman by ragtime historian Bill Edwards
- ''RagPiano.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Katherine Gertrude Hay 1883 births 1966 deaths American choreographers American female dancers American impressionists (entertainers) Comedians from California Dancers from California People from San Francisco Vaudeville performers