Victoria’s Read

Georgina May Campbell. Born Whitby, Ontario June 27, 1862. Died Oct 22, 1938.

Evan as a child, May loved to sing. She was a soloist at her church at 8 years old. Her younger  sister Flora, also blessed with a good voice, joined May in singing. In 1875 the duo traveled to Buffalo, New York, for an audition. There was no looking back. 

Once the sister act split up in 1884, May continued with her performing career and become a well-known Broadway and vaudeville performer. She worked for the Daly’s company which would take her to the stages of London England.
One of her best known songs and perhaps what we today might call her theme song was entitled: After The Ball. She also had a special song written for her by an up and coming writer named Irving Berlin. One of her better known Broadway shows was called The Widow Jones. It was here that she introduced a top tune of the day, The Bully. This play also had a rather long kiss scene at the end. It was just at this time that movies were coming into being. Her movie career was short but historically significant.

In 1896, Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, placed May and her husband John C. Rice, in the staring role in his pioneering one minute moving picture commonly known as The Kiss. This short movie was labeled scandalous by early movie audiences and the clergy! It is considered to be the first moving picture to ever be shown in Canada! It was screened in West End Park, Ottawa, on July 21, 1896. The Edison early movies have been preserved and the feature is often shown in historic accounts of the movies. May would make only one other movie Mrs. Black is Back. She would make several recordings of her better known songs, many of them comedic in nature with the Victor label.

She sold land in New York City and retired a wealthy woman. She settled with her second husband and two sons, in the beautiful thousand Islands area of the St. Lawrence River in 1920. Rumor has it that she is credited with having named the famous Thousand Island Salad Dressing. May Irwin Road off Route 12 commemorates her time spent near Clayton, New York. An early pioneer woman of song, stage, recordings and movies whose accomplishments have unfortunately faded with time.

Written by Dawn Monroe. famouscanadianwomen.com