Mary Augusta "May" Yohé (April , â€" August , ) was an American
musical theatre actress. After beginning her career with the McCaull
Comic Opera Company in in New York and Chicago, and after other
performances in the United States, she quickly gained success on the
London stage beginning in . The following year, in London, she created
the title role in the hit show Little Christopher Columbus.In , she
married Lord Francis Hope and possessed the Hope Diamond. She
nevertheless continued to perform in musical theatre in the West End
and then the U.S. She divorced Hope in and married a series of
adventurous, but financially unsuccessful, men. She performed in music
hall and vaudeville on the West Coast and in various other places in
the U.S. in the early decades of the th century, but she was
frequently in financial jeopardy. By , she and her last husband, John
Smuts, had settled in Boston, where she died in near poverty.Yohé was
born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the daughter of William W. and
Elizabeth (nee Batcheller) Yohé. Her father, a veteran of the
American Civil War, was either the son or nephew of Caleb Yohé,
proprietor of the Eagle Hotel, where Yohé was born. William Yohé
inherited the hotel and was locally famous for the elaborate miniature
village scenes he would construct on the hotel grounds, especially for
his annual Christmas putz. Yohé’s mother, a descendant of the
Narragansett people, was a talented dressmaker, who according to Yohé
had a clientele in Philadelphia that included many famous theater
people of the day. As a young girl Yohé entertained the Eagle's
guests by dancing and singing in the hotel lobby and recounting
childhood stories. What became of her father is unclear. In he
applied for a US Passport with plans to travel to Brazil while family
lore has him dying in Colorado or Montana around . At around the age
of ten, Yohé was sent to Europe for a refined education, studying in
Dresden and later at the Convent of the Sacré Coeur in Paris.Yohé
began her career as a soprano, but within a short while her voice
lowered into a contralto that was described as peculiar. She debuted
as May Yohé (May derived from her initials) in January with the
McCaull Comic Opera Company as Dilly Dimple in "The Little Tycoon," a
comic opera by Willard Spencer, presented at Temple Theatre in
Philadelphia and in March of that year at the Standard Theatre in New
York. In March , she appeared in McCaull's Broadway production of
Lorraine, composed by Rudolph Dellinger to a libretto by Oscar
Walther, which was adapted in English by William J. Henderson. She
then played in the same production at the Chicago Opera House. In that
production, she sang the following song with much success:
musical theatre actress. After beginning her career with the McCaull
Comic Opera Company in in New York and Chicago, and after other
performances in the United States, she quickly gained success on the
London stage beginning in . The following year, in London, she created
the title role in the hit show Little Christopher Columbus.In , she
married Lord Francis Hope and possessed the Hope Diamond. She
nevertheless continued to perform in musical theatre in the West End
and then the U.S. She divorced Hope in and married a series of
adventurous, but financially unsuccessful, men. She performed in music
hall and vaudeville on the West Coast and in various other places in
the U.S. in the early decades of the th century, but she was
frequently in financial jeopardy. By , she and her last husband, John
Smuts, had settled in Boston, where she died in near poverty.Yohé was
born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the daughter of William W. and
Elizabeth (nee Batcheller) Yohé. Her father, a veteran of the
American Civil War, was either the son or nephew of Caleb Yohé,
proprietor of the Eagle Hotel, where Yohé was born. William Yohé
inherited the hotel and was locally famous for the elaborate miniature
village scenes he would construct on the hotel grounds, especially for
his annual Christmas putz. Yohé’s mother, a descendant of the
Narragansett people, was a talented dressmaker, who according to Yohé
had a clientele in Philadelphia that included many famous theater
people of the day. As a young girl Yohé entertained the Eagle's
guests by dancing and singing in the hotel lobby and recounting
childhood stories. What became of her father is unclear. In he
applied for a US Passport with plans to travel to Brazil while family
lore has him dying in Colorado or Montana around . At around the age
of ten, Yohé was sent to Europe for a refined education, studying in
Dresden and later at the Convent of the Sacré Coeur in Paris.Yohé
began her career as a soprano, but within a short while her voice
lowered into a contralto that was described as peculiar. She debuted
as May Yohé (May derived from her initials) in January with the
McCaull Comic Opera Company as Dilly Dimple in "The Little Tycoon," a
comic opera by Willard Spencer, presented at Temple Theatre in
Philadelphia and in March of that year at the Standard Theatre in New
York. In March , she appeared in McCaull's Broadway production of
Lorraine, composed by Rudolph Dellinger to a libretto by Oscar
Walther, which was adapted in English by William J. Henderson. She
then played in the same production at the Chicago Opera House. In that
production, she sang the following song with much success:
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