Lydia Locke (August 1, 1884 – July 31, 1966) was an American

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

whose eventful personal life, including seven marriages and a murder trial, made national headlines for decades.

Early life

Lydia Mae Locke was born in

Liberty, Illinois Liberty is a village in Adams County, Illinois, United States. The population was 543 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Quincy, IL– MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Liberty is located at (39.879948, -91.108137). Accordin ...

and raised in

Hannibal, Missouri Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Mario ...

, the daughter of Newton Bushnell Locke and Lucy Ann Holcomb Locke.

Career

From 1911 to 1912, Lydia Locke performed with the London Opera Company under

Oscar Hammerstein I Oscar Hammerstein I (8 May 18461 August 1919) was a German-born businessman, theater impresario, and composer in New York City. His passion for opera led him to open several opera houses, and he rekindled opera's popularity in America. He was ...

. She also gave recitals. She made her New York stage debut in 1915, taking over the role of Marguerite in ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

'' at the Academy of Music. Locke's activities off-stage, including vacations and fashion choices, were followed by the press.

Personal life

Lydia Locke married seven times. Her first marriage, to gambler A. W. "Prince" Talbot, ended in 1909 when she shot him in a lawyer's office during an argument. She was tried and acquitted in 1911 for Talbot's murder, successfully proving that he was an abusive husband, and further that the shooting was accidental."Former Diva Faces Poison-Pen Charge"
''The New York Times'' (September 30, 1925): 3. Her second husband was a fellow opera singer,

Orville Harrold Orville Harrold (17 November 1877 – 23 October 1933) was an American operatic tenor and musical theatre actor. He began his career in 1906 as a performer in operettas in New York City, and was also seen during his early career in cabare ...

; they married in 1913 and divorced in 1917. That same year, Locke married her third husband, Arthur Hudson Marks, a naval officer and businessman; they divorced in 1924. Her fourth husband was her young assistant Harry Dornblaser, who left her during their honeymoon in Europe, and died by suicide a few months later."Single Again After her Fifth Marriage"
''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' (June 27, 1932): 26. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

After some legal entanglements involving ex-husband Arthur Marks, including a stolen baby, a false paternity charge, and "poison-pen" letters about Marks' next wife, she married her fifth husband, Count Carlo M. Marinovich, in 1927; they divorced by 1932. There must have been a sixth husband, though the details of that are unclear. She counted her last husband, real estate developer Irwin Rose, as her seventh. They married in 1954 and lived in

Yorktown Heights, New York Yorktown Heights is a census-designated place (CDP) in the administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Yorktown, New York, Yorktown in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The popula ...

at "Locke Ledge", her mansion, which they ran as an inn. Lydia Locke was erroneously reported dead in 1912, after a car accident that probably limited her stage career. In fact, she died in 1966, aged 82 years. She had a son, Newton Locke, adopted in 1922 during her marriage to Arthur Marks. Soon after her death, the Davenport House museum in Yorktown acquired a collection of her stage costumes. They displayed one of her concert gowns on a life-sized cardboard figure of Locke, beside a piano in the drawing room.Georgia Dullea
"Lydia Locke Lives Again in Yorktown Exhibit"
''Patent Dealer'' (February 29, 1968): 1.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Locke, Lydia 1884 births 1966 deaths People from Adams County, Illinois Singers from Illinois American operatic sopranos People from Hannibal, Missouri 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers Classical musicians from Illinois