Maggie Cline (January 1, 1857 – June 11, 1934) was an American

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

singer, active across the United States in the late nineteenth century, known as "The Irish Queen" and "The Bowery Brunhilde".

Biography

Cline was born in

Haverhill, Massachusetts Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States census. Located o ...

on January 1, 1857. Her parents were Irish immigrants. After working in a shoe factory as a child, she left home for Boston at a teenager where she began her career performing at the Boylston Museum for six dollars a week; a sum much larger than what she had made at the shoe factory. She eventually joined a

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

troupe, Snellbaker & Benson's Majestics. She married John Ryan, the owner of a café, in 1888. After a long career, she retired from the stage in 1917. She died in

Fair Haven, New Jersey Fair Haven is a Borough (New Jersey), borough situated in the Jersey Shore region within Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. Fair Haven is located on the Rumson penin ...

, on June 11, 1934.

Career

As typical for vaudeville, she traveled across the United States, playing in small towns and cities, but most frequently appeared in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Her repertoire consisted of Irish-themed rough and tumble songs and skits, performed in a deep

brogue Brogue may refer to: Language * Brogue (accent), regionally accented English, especially Irish-accented * Mission brogue, an accent of English spoken in the Mission District of San Francisco * Ocracoke brogue, a family of English dialects in the S ...

. Early in her career, her trademark song was "Mary Ann Kehoe" about an Irish girl pursued by two lovers—her performance of the song was notable for the extent of her stage action. The song most identified with Cline is John W. Kelly's "Throw Him Down, McCloskey" (1890), a comic song about a 47-round prize fight between two Irishmen. "McCloskey" was typically performed with appropriate loud noises from behind the stage and from the audience, while Cline shadow-boxed a re-enactment as she sang. The number was so popular that when she tried to phase it out of her act, audiences called for it until she gave it to them. The song was featured in the 1955 short cartoon

One Froggy Evening ''One Froggy Evening'' is a 1955 American Technicolor animated musical short film written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn. The short, partly inspired by a 1944 Cary Grant film entitled ''O ...

. She continued in the 1880s and 1890s to perform primarily in New York, notably at

Tony Pastor Antonio Pastor (May 28, 1837 – August 26, 1908) was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes refe ...

's. She starred in two

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

productions, ''The Prodigal Butler'' in 1893 and ''On Broadway'' in 1896.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cline, Maggie 1857 births 1934 deaths American women singers American people of Irish descent Musicians from Haverhill, Massachusetts American vaudeville performers