Mayme Gehrue | |
|---|---|
 Mayme Gehrue, from a 1909 publicity photograph | |
| Born | c. 1880 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | May Gehrue Mame Gehrue Mamie Gehrue Mayme Gehrue Ford Mayme Gerhue |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Musical theatre, Vaudeville |
| Spouse | Johnny Ford (divorced) |
Mayme Gehrue (born c. 1880, [1] [2] died after May 1929 [3] ) was an American actress and dancer in musical theatre, vaudeville, and silent film.
Gehrue was born in Louisville, Kentucky. [4] The date 1883 is often given for her birth, [5] but is questionable, considering that she was touring in shows by the mid-1890s. She was in a touring dance act as a teen, with her sister Daisy Gehrue, [1] before Daisy married. [6] [7]
Gehrue appeared on Broadway in Little Red Riding Hood (1900), The Casino Girl (1900), [8] Nell-Go-In (1900), The Giddy Throng (1901), The King's Carnival (1901), Hoity Toity (1901–1902), Lovers and Lunatics (1906), [9] The Deacon and the Lady (1910), [10] and The Opera Ball (1912). She also toured with The Ford Dancers, [11] [12] as "the Yama-Yama Girl" in Three Twins (1910–1911), [13] [14] and in Topsy and Eva (1923), a musical comedy based on Uncle Tom's Cabin . [15] She was frequently on the vaudeville stage [16] well into the late 1920s, [17] [18] in the United States and abroad, including a tour in Australia; "to-day she is recognized as one of America's foremost dancing comediennes," noted a 1909 report. [19]
Gehrue appeared in two silent films, The Fable of the Galloping Pilgrim Who Kept on Galloping (1915, short) [20] and Above the Abyss (1915). She wrote the lyrics to several World War I-era songs, including "I'm Leaving France for my Old Kentucky Home", [21] "I Wish to Wed a Sammy", [22] "Military Band", [23] "The Man of the Hour", "Dear Little Jessamine", [24] "Over in Spain", and "Back Down South", [25] all with music by Victor Hammond.
Gehrue recommended buttermilk, meat, and no corsets for a healthy physique. [26] She married [27] and divorced her vaudeville dance partner [28] Johnny Ford (he later married and divorced vaudeville star Eva Tanguay). [29]
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Gehrue Louisville.