Throwback Thursday and May Leslie
May Leslie is a colorful character. From
being the first female stage manager on Broadway, to one of the first Ziegfeld
girls, to having apparent ties to the New York mob scene she certainly led an
unusual life.
She first performed on Broadway in 1903
in Twirly Whirly, and was in the first Ziegfeld Follies in 1907. She appeared
with such notables as Lillian Russell and Will Rogers. She was said to be kind
and generous and did things like raise funds for the troops during WWI.
However, she seemed to attract questionable men.
During the first decade of the 1900s,
she was involved in a shootout in a dance hall. It left Paul Harrington dead
and mobster Paul Kelly wounded. Leslie was arrested along with everyone else
since the police thought they were all members of the Paul Kelly mobsters.
Whether she was actually a part of this organization is unclear.
She left the Ziegfeld Follies in 1918
after performing with them in 1907, 1908, 1912-1914, and 1917. She came to represent
the “new woman” and was part of the cultural revolution of the time. She was
also a model who modeled lingerie for Vanity Fair.
But she ends up in the news again in
1918 due to another shooting involving underworld characters. She was arrested,
along with her boyfriend Sam Shepps. Lacking enough evidence they were
released.
There is little other information on May
Leslie except that at some point she married and had two children according to
the South Bend News.
From the Big
Blue Book of Ballet Secrets
Dance History Secret #237:
“May Leslie was a multi-talented Broadway performer
and stage manager.”
Link of the Day:
Quote of the Day:
“Sometimes
in life, we need a few bad days in order to keep the good ones in
perspective”
― Colleen Hoover, Maybe Someday
― Colleen Hoover, Maybe Someday
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