Eva Tanguay (August 1, 1878 â€" January 11, 1947) was a Canadian
singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made
vaudeville famous". She was known as "The Queen of Vaudeville" during
the height of her popularity from the early 1900s until the early
1920s. Tanguay also appeared in films, and was the first performer to
achieve national mass-media celebrity, with publicists and newspapers
covering her tours from coast-to-coast, out-earning the likes of
contemporaries Enrico Caruso and Harry Houdini at one time, and being
described by Edward Bernays, "the father of public relations", as "our
first symbol of emergence from the Victorian age."Eva Tanguay was born
in 1878 in Marbleton, Quebec. Her father was a doctor. Before she
reached the age of six, her family moved from Quebec's Eastern
Townships to Holyoke, Massachusetts. Her father died soon after. While
still a child she developed an interest in the performing arts, making
her first appearance on stage at the age of eight, circa 1886, at an
amateur night in Holyoke. In her earliest days she was promoted
through a small theater company operated by one Paul C. Winkelmann, a
successful 16-year-old multi-instrumentalist who lived next door to
her family, and used his influence to give a testimonial benefit show
for her at the Holyoke Opera House, a venue which she would return to
years later after establishing her own act.Two years later, she was
touring professionally with a production of a stage adaptation of the
popular Frances Hodgson Burnett novel Little Lord Fauntleroy. Tanguay
eventually landed a spot in the Broadway musical My Lady in 1901. The
1904 show The Chaperons led to her rise in popularity. By 1905, she
was also performing in vaudeville as a solo act, where she would spend
much of the remainder of her career.
singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made
vaudeville famous". She was known as "The Queen of Vaudeville" during
the height of her popularity from the early 1900s until the early
1920s. Tanguay also appeared in films, and was the first performer to
achieve national mass-media celebrity, with publicists and newspapers
covering her tours from coast-to-coast, out-earning the likes of
contemporaries Enrico Caruso and Harry Houdini at one time, and being
described by Edward Bernays, "the father of public relations", as "our
first symbol of emergence from the Victorian age."Eva Tanguay was born
in 1878 in Marbleton, Quebec. Her father was a doctor. Before she
reached the age of six, her family moved from Quebec's Eastern
Townships to Holyoke, Massachusetts. Her father died soon after. While
still a child she developed an interest in the performing arts, making
her first appearance on stage at the age of eight, circa 1886, at an
amateur night in Holyoke. In her earliest days she was promoted
through a small theater company operated by one Paul C. Winkelmann, a
successful 16-year-old multi-instrumentalist who lived next door to
her family, and used his influence to give a testimonial benefit show
for her at the Holyoke Opera House, a venue which she would return to
years later after establishing her own act.Two years later, she was
touring professionally with a production of a stage adaptation of the
popular Frances Hodgson Burnett novel Little Lord Fauntleroy. Tanguay
eventually landed a spot in the Broadway musical My Lady in 1901. The
1904 show The Chaperons led to her rise in popularity. By 1905, she
was also performing in vaudeville as a solo act, where she would spend
much of the remainder of her career.
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