Marie Cahill (December 29, 1866 – August 23, 1933) was a Broadway stage actress and vocalist. Her parents were Irish immigrants Richard and Mary (née Groegen) Cahill.

Stage career

Cahill began her career in the late 1880s first in her native Brooklyn and then on Broadway. In 1902 in the show '' Sally in Our Alley'' she introduced the song "

Under the Bamboo Tree ''Under the Bamboo Tree'' is a song composed by Robert Cole, J. Rosamond Johnson, and James Weldon Johnson. J. W. Stern & Co. published it in 1902. A ragtime hit, it sold over 400,000 copies. History The song was first composed by Robert Cole ...

", which became her signature song and one of the most famous songs from the turn of the century.Burton, Jack. "Music: The Honor Roll of Popular Songwriters". ''

The Billboard The Billboard () is a massive granite monolith in the Sarnoff Mountains of the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, standing just west of Mount Rea between Arthur Glacier and Boyd Glacier. It was discovered in November 1934 by a Secon ...

''. May 21, 1949; 61, 21. pg. 38. Via Proquest. Also in 1902 in the musical ''The Wild Rose'' she premiered another hit song, " Nancy Brown". In 1903 the popularity of "Nancy Brown" was expanded into its own musical for Cahill, and became her favorite role. She had a jolly demeanor, and in addition to being a singer she presented herself as a conversationalist in a style that at best anticipates the later

Gracie Allen Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ap ...

. Daniel Blum in ''Great Stars of the American Theatre'' c. 1952 relates that Cahill was a very proper woman who didn't tolerate naughty behavior or salaciousness. However, in contrast she could don a pair of tights in a musical and exude sex appeal. In appearance she resembled rival

Della Fox Della May Fox (October 13, 1870 – June 15, 1913) was an American singing comedian, whose popularity peaked in the 1890s when the diminutive Fox appeared opposite the very tall DeWolf Hopper in several musicals. She also toured successfully with ...

Movies and other media

Cahill recorded her voice and routines at several gramophone recording sessions in the years 1917 to 1924 all in the

acoustical Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

recording method. She also had recorded her signature song "Under the Bamboo Tree" in 1902. In 1915 Cahill appeared in her first silent film, ''Judy Forgot'', based on her musical comedy of the same name performed on Broadway in 1911. In 1917 she appeared in three more silent films; ''Gladys' Day Dreams'', ''When Betty Bets'' and ''Patsy's Partner'' before giving up on the medium. Several of Cahill's voice recordings (monologues), made between 1916 and 1924, are on file at the Library of Congress' National Jukebox. They include "Washing baby" (1921), "The symphony concert" (1923) and "At the theatre" (1924). "At the theatre" takes the form of a telephone conversation with an unheard party in which Cahill, as "Mrs. Pinthrop," describes goings-on—including the appearance of Marie Cahill ("Irish, I guess... well, maybe she is Jewish")—at the Palace Theatre.

Personal life

She had an older brother named Richard. Both her father and brother ran a brush making business. Cahill married Daniel V. Arthur on June 18, 1903, a union that lasted until she died on August 23, 1933. Daniel Arthur survived his wife by six years, dying on December 6, 1939.''Yonkers Herald Statesman'', December 7, 1939

Filmography

*''Judy Forgot'' (1915) *''Gladys' Day Dreams'' (1917)(*short) *''When Betty Bets'' (1917) (*short) *''Patsy's Partner'' (1917)(*short)

References

External links

* *
Marie Cahill
portrait gallery New York Public Library, Billy Rose collection *Marie Cahill portraits University of Louisville Macauley Theatre Collectio
photo 1.

photo2.Selection of Marie's recordings at InternetArchive.orgSeveral of Marie's monologues at the Library of Congress National JukeboxMarie Cahill; PeriodPaper.com circa 1910complete Marie discography; Victor Records
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Marie Cahill; Broadway Photographs
Univ. of South Carolina) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cahill, Marie 1866 births 1933 deaths 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses 20th-century American actresses American silent film actresses Singers from New York City Actresses from New York City 19th-century American singers 20th-century American singers Musicians from Brooklyn 20th-century American women singers 19th-century American women singers