May de Sousa
May De Sousa (November 6, 1884[1] – August 8, 1948[2]) was an American singer and a Broadway actress.[3]
Biography
De Sousa was the daughter of a Chicago police detective,[1] John De Sousa (born 1856 died 1941), and his wife, Carrie (1861—1910). She had a younger sibling, Marvin De Sousa (1891—1921).[1] [4]
She came to fame in 1898 as the singer of "Dear Midnight of Love", a ballad by Bathhouse John Coughlin.[5]
In 1913, De Sousa declared bankruptcy.[6]
De Sousa retired in 1918, following a theatrical production in Australia, married a local doctor, and eventually moved to Shanghai. In 1943, following two periods as a prisoner of war in internment camps in China,[7] she returned to the United States on the Gripsholm and took a job in Chicago as a scrubwoman in the public-school system.[7] She died in Chicago charity ward, of malnutrition,[7] at age 66.[2]
Marriages
May De Sousa was married twice to:
- Eaton Arthur Haines, a stockbroker, of Nunda, New York.[6][7][8] They married Haverstraw, New York, on 24 April 1910[9] and divorced in 1914, reportedly after De Sousa was beaten by her husband for years.[10] Haines died in 1933.[11]
- Dr. William E. O'Hara (1879—1941), an Australian surgeon.[7] They met in 1918 while De Sousa was in Australia in a theatrical production and married in Melbourne, Australia, in either 1919 or 1920; he died in 1941.[7]
References
- 1 2 3 1900 U. S. Federal Census, accessed on ancestry.com on 13 September 2012
- 1 2 "Milestones". Time. August 23, 1948. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
- ↑ "New York To See "Dollar Princess". Charles Frohman Gets American Rights And Expects To Make A Hit. Wants May De Sousa In It. She Is Now Playing Engagement in Berlin Offered Her Just as She Was Sailing for This Country.". New York Times. April 24, 1908. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
- ↑ John De Sousa; findagrave.com Retrieved March 11, 2015
- ↑ Casey, Robert J. (2007) [1952]. Chicago Medium Rare. pp. 18, 241. ISBN 978-1-4067-5819-1. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
- 1 2 "May De Sousa A Bankrupt", The New York Times, 28 September 1913
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Once Famous Soprano Dies in Charity Ward", Lodi News-Sentinel, 11 August 1948
- ↑ "La Belle Americaine", The Nunda (NY) News, unknown date
- ↑ "May De Sousa Was an April Bride", The New York Times, 8 May 1910
- ↑ "Actress Tells Divorce Court How Husband Beat Her, Sparing Her Face Because That Meant Earning Power", The Milwaukee Journal, 23 December 1914
- ↑ "Annual Summary Local Events 1933", The Nunda (NY) News, 5 January 1934
External links
- May de Sousa at the Internet Broadway Database
- May Alvos De Sousa; findagrave.com
- May De Sousa; Stagebeauty.net