Mabel May-Yong (born Alice Mabel Auguste Scharrer, 1884-1945?)CabinetCard.wordpress.com
Retrieved March 1, 2016 was a German

film actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

of the

silent era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

, known for her exotic roles and costumes. She appeared in around twenty films during the early years of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

Early years

May-Yong was born Alice Mabel Auguste Scharrer as the daughter of the businessman Max Richard Albrecht Scharrer and Elizabeth Ann "Lizzie" Hoa-Mai (either from China or Vietnam).Magdeburg, Births Records, 1874-1903 She started her career as a belly dancer, wearing provocative costumes in the style of Mata-Hari, and adopted her exotic stage name. May-Yong married in Magdeburg, purportedly into the noble family. In October 1914, months after the onset of World War I, she arrived in New York from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

on the ship ''Rotterdam'', as Baroness Alice Schenk zu Schweinsberg, married and living in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, but listing her father, Max Scharrer, living in Magdeburg, as her closest relative. The New York Times of October 28, 1914, reported the arrival at the Astor Theatre of "Baroness Alice Mabel von Schenck zu Schweinsberg, who danced in Germany under the name of Mabel May Yong". She performed at Astor and at the Victoria Theatre and returned to Germany in January 1915.Album - Mabel May Yong
at the Lost Gallery website, December 11, 2015 She crossed on the same steamer as Melvin A. Rise, a personal friend of

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

, who approached the

German chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. Th ...

in Berlin "with a view of sounding them on peace", purportedly after the baroness (May-Yong) had suggested this to Wilson. The White House denied any knowledge of this and this action was said to have undermined Colonel House's peace envoy the next month.Peace Envoy Too Late; Col. House's Mission to Berlin Spoiled by President's Friend.
clipping from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' of March 21, 1915, at the Lost Gallery website

Film career and later life

May-Yong made her first known appearance in a movie in 1919 as Queen Nyleptha in ''

Allan Quatermain Allan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel ''King Solomon's Mines'', its one sequel '' Allan Quatermain'' (1887), twelve prequel novels and four prequel short stories, totalling eighteen works. An English professio ...

'', the first film adaptation of the 1887 novel. After some 25 movies, her last known roles were in 1923 in ''Das Kabinett des Dr. Segat'' and in 1925 in ''Entsiegelte Lippen''. She then disappeared from the public eye and her death is yet unknown.

Selected filmography

* '' The Apprentice Diplomat'' (1919) * '' Indian Revenge'' (1920) * '' The Adventure of Doctor Kircheisen'' (1921) * '' The House of Torment'' (1921) * '' The Flight into Death'' (1921) * '' Women Who Commit Adultery'' (1922)

References

Bibliography

* Grange, William. ''Cultural Chronicle of the Weimar Republic''. Scarecrow Press, 2008.

External links

* 1884 births Year of death unknown Actresses of Vietnamese descent 20th-century German actresses German film actresses German silent film actresses German people of Vietnamese descent Actresses from Magdeburg {{Germany-film-actor-1880s-stub