Sadie Martinot (August , â€" May , ) was an American actress and
soprano singer who performed on stage in dramas, musical comedy and
comic opera. Her career began at the age fifteen as Cupid in Ixion;
or, the Man at the Wheel and, but for a few years absence, she
remained active on stage in America and abroad until . She was the
first to play Hebe in an American production of H.M.S. Pinafore, the
first Katrina in the comic opera Rip Van Winkle and the first to play
the title role in an English adaptation of the operetta Nanon. Late in
her life Martinot would fall victim to mental illness and spend her
last few years confined to psychiatric institutions.She was born Sarah
Frances Marie Martinot in New York City on December , , the daughter
of William Alexander and Mary Lydia (née Randall) Martinot. Her
father was the son of John P. Martinot, a French immigrant who founded
a successful wholesale firm dealing in imported silk products. William
Martinot worked for his father's firm and had served in the American
Civil War and later as a New York City police detective who once
brought charges of corruption against a NYPD police captain. Her
mother was said to be of the family that once owned Randall's Island
in Manhattan. Before taking to the stage at , Martinot was educated at
area public schools and the Ursuline Convent in New Rochelle, New
York. Some accounts have her birth name as Sally Martin or Sally
Eagan, the daughter of an Irish-American single mother who worked hard
to ensure her a good education. In March Martinot stated to the press
that, though she would have been proud to have been raised under such
a circumstance, she in fact was the daughter of Mary and William
Alexander Martinot.In Martinot joined Manhattan's Eagle Theatre as a
$-a-week walk-on player. Her debut came about in late August of that
year when an injury prevented chorus girl Maude Branscombe from
performing Cupid in that evening's performance of F. C. Burnand's
Ixion. The next year she joined Adah Richmond's company at $ a-week,
touring in Chow Chow: or, A Tale of Pekin, in which she performed a
popular imitation of Marie Aimee, singing Pretty as a Picture Later
came a Christmas engagement at the Boylston Museum, Boston and a
performance the following year at the city's Americus Club that led to
an offer to join the Boston Museum stock company. That November she
appeared at the Boston Museum in the original American production of
Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore and, over the following few
seasons, rose to be their leading soubrette. Martinot left The Boston
Museum after actor-manager Dion Boucicault offered her a substantial
raise to join him in England and her request for a modest salary
adjustment was rejected by the Museum's management.Martinot made her
London debut on Boxing Day, , at the Alhambra Theatre as the Spirit of
the Bracken in the three-act comic opera Mefistofele II. At the same
theatre the following March, she played Celine in the Opéra bouffe
Jeanne, Jeannette, et Jeanneton. On October , , she created at the
Royal Comedy Theatre, London, the role Katrina in the comic opera Rip
Van Winkle.
soprano singer who performed on stage in dramas, musical comedy and
comic opera. Her career began at the age fifteen as Cupid in Ixion;
or, the Man at the Wheel and, but for a few years absence, she
remained active on stage in America and abroad until . She was the
first to play Hebe in an American production of H.M.S. Pinafore, the
first Katrina in the comic opera Rip Van Winkle and the first to play
the title role in an English adaptation of the operetta Nanon. Late in
her life Martinot would fall victim to mental illness and spend her
last few years confined to psychiatric institutions.She was born Sarah
Frances Marie Martinot in New York City on December , , the daughter
of William Alexander and Mary Lydia (née Randall) Martinot. Her
father was the son of John P. Martinot, a French immigrant who founded
a successful wholesale firm dealing in imported silk products. William
Martinot worked for his father's firm and had served in the American
Civil War and later as a New York City police detective who once
brought charges of corruption against a NYPD police captain. Her
mother was said to be of the family that once owned Randall's Island
in Manhattan. Before taking to the stage at , Martinot was educated at
area public schools and the Ursuline Convent in New Rochelle, New
York. Some accounts have her birth name as Sally Martin or Sally
Eagan, the daughter of an Irish-American single mother who worked hard
to ensure her a good education. In March Martinot stated to the press
that, though she would have been proud to have been raised under such
a circumstance, she in fact was the daughter of Mary and William
Alexander Martinot.In Martinot joined Manhattan's Eagle Theatre as a
$-a-week walk-on player. Her debut came about in late August of that
year when an injury prevented chorus girl Maude Branscombe from
performing Cupid in that evening's performance of F. C. Burnand's
Ixion. The next year she joined Adah Richmond's company at $ a-week,
touring in Chow Chow: or, A Tale of Pekin, in which she performed a
popular imitation of Marie Aimee, singing Pretty as a Picture Later
came a Christmas engagement at the Boylston Museum, Boston and a
performance the following year at the city's Americus Club that led to
an offer to join the Boston Museum stock company. That November she
appeared at the Boston Museum in the original American production of
Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore and, over the following few
seasons, rose to be their leading soubrette. Martinot left The Boston
Museum after actor-manager Dion Boucicault offered her a substantial
raise to join him in England and her request for a modest salary
adjustment was rejected by the Museum's management.Martinot made her
London debut on Boxing Day, , at the Alhambra Theatre as the Spirit of
the Bracken in the three-act comic opera Mefistofele II. At the same
theatre the following March, she played Celine in the Opéra bouffe
Jeanne, Jeannette, et Jeanneton. On October , , she created at the
Royal Comedy Theatre, London, the role Katrina in the comic opera Rip
Van Winkle.
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