Maud Madison: Difference between revisions

| birth_place = [[San Francisco, California]], U.S.

| death_date = October 4, 1953 (aged 82)

| death_place = [[Hollywood, California]], U.S.

| occupation = dancerDancer, actress

Maud Madison was born in [[San Francisco]], California. She was the daughter of actress and suffragist [[Julie Reinhardt]] (1844–1924).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30733828/maud_madison_1924/|title=Julie Reinhardt at Rest, as Broadway Still Forgets|last=|first=|date=September 3, 1924|work=Daily News|access-date=April 18, 2019|page=64|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30736023/julie_reinhardt_and_maud_madison_1924/|title=Aged Suffragist Dies in Poverty|date=August 30, 1924|work=Courier-Post|access-date=April 18, 2019|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She completed studies at the Boucicault School of Acting in 1889.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://archives.nypl.org/dan/19729|title=archives.nypl.org -- Maud Madison papers|website=archives.nypl.org|access-date=2019-04-18}}</ref>

Madison started her stage career as an actress in touring companies, and appeared with English actor [[Richard Mansfield]] in [[Richard III (play)|Richard III]].<ref name=":0" /> By 1893,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30721861/maud_madison_1893/|title=Clever Maud Madison|last=|first=|date=March 19, 1893|work=Lincoln Evening Call|access-date=April 18, 2019|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> she was described primarily as a dancer, specializing in performance of the "crinoline dance"<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30722108/maud_madison_1893/|title=Dances in a Hoop Skirt|last=|first=|date=February 22, 1893|work=The World|access-date=April 18, 2019|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> or [[skirt dance]], a popular trend of the day.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30721665/maud_madison_1893/|title=The Crinoline Dance|last=|first=|date=March 27, 1893|work=The Baltimore Sun|access-date=April 18, 2019|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>Nancy A. Hewitt, "Varieties of Voluntarism: Class, Ethnicity, and Women's Activism in Tampa" in Louise A. Tilly and Patricia Gurin, eds., ''Women, Politics and Change'' (Russell Sage Foundation 1990): 75. {{ISBN|9781610445344|}}</ref> In 1900 she danced with [[Loie Fuller]] in Paris, at the [[Exposition Universelle (1900)|Exposition Universelle]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30721773/maud_madison_1902/|title=Maud Madison's Entertainment|last=|first=|date=February 7, 1902|work=The Florida Star|access-date=April 18, 2019|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> While in Paris, she also danced in a cage of lions as a publicity stunt.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hindson|first=Catherine|date=December 2008|title=Interruptions by Inevitable Petticoats: Skirt Dancing and the Historiographical Problem of Late Nineteenth-Century Dance|journal=Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film|volume=35|issue=2|pages=48–64|doi=10.7227/NCTF.35.2.5|s2cid=194069479|issn=1748-3727}}</ref> In 1910, she danced at the opening of the Colonial Opera House in [[Hamilton, Bermuda]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Bermuda's New Theatre|date=January 16, 1910|work=The New York Times|page=16|via=ProQuest}}</ref>

Inspired by Fuller, Madison took a particular interest in lighting effects and innovative costuming for her performances. She amazed audiences when flags and famous portraits were projected onto her skirts while they whirled and fluttered.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30712092/maud_madison_coming/|title=Maud Madison Coming|last=|first=|date=January 25, 1902|work=The Daytona Gazette-News|access-date=April 17, 2019|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> "Miss Madison is the originator or many novel effects in ballroom exhibition dances," explained the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' in 1916.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30721984/maud_madison_charles_keeler_1916/|title=California Entertainers Score a Hit in New York|last=Erhard|first=Ursinus|date=April 23, 1916|work=San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=April 18, 2019|page=42|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Madison toured the United States that year, with poet [[Charles Keeler]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=August 1916|title=Interesting Personalities in the World of the Stage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ZZRAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA80&ots=4qHO8_MKIi&dqq=Maud%20Madison%20dancer&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false|journal=The Theatre|volume=24|pages=80|via=}}</ref> interpreting his poems in dances such as "The Harper's Song of Isis" (an Egyptian art-inspired dance), "The Vampire" (a bat-themed dance) and "Princess Papilio" (a butterfly-themed dance).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Maclay|first=Mira Abbott|date=July 1916|title=Charles Keeler, Poet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTNAAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA68&ots=c9ha_XZMv3&dqq=Maud%20Madison%20dancer+Madison+dancer&pg=PA68#v=onepage&q=Maud%20Madison%20dancer&f=false|journal=Overland Monthly|volume=68|pages=68|via=}}</ref> She also taught social dance steps in New York City.<ref name=":0" />

Maud Madison had a daughter, [[Beatrice Maude]] (1892-1984), who became an actress. Madison died in 1953, at home in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood, California]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Miss Maud Madison|date=October 9, 1953|work=The New York Times|page=27|via=ProQuest}}</ref> A collection of her papers is archived in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the [[New York Public Library]].<ref name=":0" />

[[Category:VaudevilleAmerican vaudeville performers]]