Stella Mayhew (born Izetta Estelle Sadler; November 19, 1874 – May 2, 1934) was an American actress and vaudeville performer.

Early life

Stella Mayhew was born Izetta Estelle Sadler in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

,Johnson Briscoe
"November 19: Stella Mayhew"
''Actors' Birthday Book'' (Moffat, Yard 1907): 256."Stella Mayhew, Actress, is Dead" ''New York Times'' (May 3, 1934): 22. via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

and began acting as a child in

Grafton, Ohio Grafton is a village in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, along the East Branch of the Black River. The population was 6,636 at the 2010 census. The Lorain Correctional Institution and several other prisons are located in and near Grafton. Hi ...

, where her father was a teacher and school principal.

Career

On the stage, her first major role was in

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

, as "Aunt Lindy" in ''On the Suwanee River''. Mayhew was seen in revues '' La Belle Paree'' (1911, again in blackface, with

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...

), '' The Whirl of Society'' (1912, again in blackface, again with Al Jolson), ''A World of Pleasure'' (1915), and in musical comedies including ''Flo Flo'' (1904), ''The Show Girl'' (1904), ''The Man from China'' (1904), ''Fritz in Tammany Hall'' (1905), ''Lifting the Lid'' (1905), ''The Whole Damm Family'' (1905), ''Comin' Through the Rye'' (1906), ''The Jolly Bachelors'' (1910, again in blackface), ''

Vera Violetta ''Vera Violetta'' was an operetta, with a libretto by Louis Stein and music by Edmund Eysler Edmund Samuel Eysler (12 March 1874 – 4 October 1949), was an Austrian composer. Biography Edmund Eysler was born in Vienna to a merchant famil ...

'' (1911, again with Al Jolson), ''A Mix-Up'' (1916), ''Lace Petticoat'' (1927), '' Hit the Deck'' (1927), ''Mrs. Bumpstead-Leigh'' (1929), and ''Hello Paris'' (1930). "Miss Mayhew is not a great vocalist so far as trills are concerned," explained critic Roland Burke Hennessy in 1904. "But when it comes to intelligence, snap, go, and the ability to get out of a song fully three times as much as the author and composer have put into it, Miss Mayhew is to be recommended for any and all occasions." A Los Angeles reviewer commented in 1915 that "Miss Mayhew frolics from wing to wing and from footlights to back-drop in her own Stella Mayhewish fashion and every move and every action is a laugh." Mayhew appeared in a few short films, including episodes of the serials ''

Our Mutual Girl ''Our Mutual Girl'' is a 1914 American film serial shown in weekly installments, starring Norma Phillips. It was created by Mutual Film to be an alternative to "stunt-driven, wild-animal wrestling" serials such as ''The Perils of Pauline''. ''O ...

'' (1914) and ''The Hallelujah Lady'' (1929). She was mentioned as starting her own film production company in 1919. She also made several musical recordings, which have been digitized for a new century's listeners. After she performed in a 1913 fundraiser for firemen's pension fund, Stella Mayhew was named Third Assistant Chief of the

New Rochelle New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

Fire Department. She also sang at a 1910 benefit for the Sanitarium for Poor Children at Rockaway Park.

Personal life

Stella Mayhew married singer and composer Billie Taylor; they divorced in 1922. Mayhew lost her house in Beechhurst, New York, and her life savings, in the stockmarket crash in 1929, and she died "penniless" in 1934, aged 59 years, in the National Vaudeville Artists' Ward at French Hospital, from

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

after an ankle injury at the

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

subway station. Mayhew was baptized as a Roman Catholic in her last days, and funeral arrangements were made in that tradition, with funding from the National Variety Artists Association."Old Timers Attend Mayhew Funeral" ''New York Times'' (May 5, 1934): 17. via

References

External links

* *
A 1909 Edison recording of Stella Mayhew
singing "I'm Looking for Something to Eat", from the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayhew, Stella 19th-century births 1934 deaths Vaudeville performers People from Whitestone, Queens Blackface minstrel performers Jewish American actresses Jewish American musicians Jewish American female comedians Jewish singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American women singers