Willa Holt Wakefield

Willa Holt Wakefield
A white woman with dark hair in a bouffant style, wearing a light-colored dress with a scoop neckline
Willa Holt Wakefield, from a 1912 newspaper
Born
Willa Holt

November 9, 1870
Cuthbert, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJune 3, 1946 (aged 75)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Storyteller, singer, pianist, vaudeville performer

Willa Holt Wakefield (November 9, 1870 – June 3, 1946) was an American vaudeville performer. Wakefield told stories and recited in the "pianologue" style, and was billed as "the Lady of Optimism".[1]

Early life and education

Willa Holt was born in Cuthbert, Georgia, the daughter of Peyton Robert Holt and Harriet (Hattie) Missouri Platt Holt. Her father was a pharmacist and a Confederate States Army veteran of the American Civil War. She studied piano with Theodor Leschetizky.[2]

Career

Wakefield taught school as a young woman.[3] She was a pianologue on the vaudeville stage in the 1910s and 1920s.[4][5] Her act featured sentimental, patriotic, humorous and nostalgic stories, recitations, and songs, presented with "elegance, refinement, self-control, and dignity".[6][7] "She is quite the pleasantest entertainer one could wish for," noted a Detroit critic in 1909.[8] In a 1917 interview, she explained her choice of material, saying "We very often move in a veritable mental mist in this sad old grumbling world, a thick mist of prejudice and irritability and hyper sensitiveness--and so we become more and more hypercritical ourselves. Yet, after all, it is a mist that can be easily dispelled by thrilling beams of mental sunshine."[1] Holt was promoted as a rival to the equally popular but more risqué entertainer Eva Tanguay.[4][6] She performed in England in 1913.[9]

Wakefield had a reputation for making shrewd investments,[10] and owned a farm on Long Island as well as a home on New York's Riverside Drive.[6] She also performed on radio programs.[11]

Personal life

Wakefield married Vienna-born sculptor Arnold Frederick Foerster in 1915; they divorced in 1936. She died in 1946, in Los Angeles, at the age of 75.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b "Willa Holt Wakefield is 'The Lady of Optimism'". The Pittsburgh Press. 1917-02-04. p. 47. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  2. ^ "A Rose in Her Hair and a Song at Twilight". Star Tribune. 1914-05-17. p. 62. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Glass, Dudley (1912-05-31). "How Forrest Adair Made a Star of a Plucky Young Schoolma'am". Atlanta Georgian. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b "Miss Wakefield on Deck". New York Star. 2: 12. March 13, 1909.
  5. ^ Hickman, Walter D. (1925-03-20). "Putting Name of Willa Holt Wakefield in Our Very Own American Hall of Fame". The Indianapolis Times. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c Erdman, Andrew (2012-08-22). Queen of Vaudeville: The Story of Eva Tanguay. Cornell University Press. pp. 121–124. ISBN 978-0-8014-6572-7.
  7. ^ "The Art of Miss Wakefield". New York Star. 2: 25. November 14, 1908.
  8. ^ "Miss Wakefield Out West" New York Star 2(February 27, 1909): 23.
  9. ^ "About the Halls: With a Piano". The Sketch. 81: 128. January 29, 1913.
  10. ^ "Now Let Wall Street Beware for Willa is in 'the Game'". Chicago Tribune. 1909-10-17. p. 20. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Vaudeville Bill Has Varied Acts". The Montana Standard. 1929-04-07. p. 52. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Deaths Last Night". The Bee. 1946-06-04. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.

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