{{Short description|American actress and dancer}} {{Infobox person | name = Mayme Gehrue | image = MaymeGehrue1909.jpg | alt = Mayme Gehrue, from a 1909 publicity photograph | caption = Mayme Gehrue, from a 1909 publicity photograph | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = c. 1880 | birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | other_names = May Gehrue<br>Mame Gehrue<br> Mamie Gehrue<br>Mayme Gehrue Ford<br> Mayme Gerhue | occupation = {{flatlist| * Actress * dancer * singer * lyricist}} | years_active = | known_for = Musical theatre, Vaudeville | notable_works = | spouse = Johnny Ford (divorced) }}
'''Mayme Gehrue''' (born c. 1880,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31297310/mayme_gehrue_1897/|title=Theatrical|date=August 31, 1897|work=The Pittsburgh Press|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=4|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31297585/mayme_gehrue_1898/|title=The Stage|date=November 20, 1898|work=The Pittsburg<!--sic--> Post|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=15|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> died after May 1929<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31297820/mayme_gehrue_1929/|title=Enjoyable Bill Now at Theatre|date=June 3, 1929|work=The Mansfield News|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>) was an American actress and dancer in musical theatre, vaudeville, and silent film.
== Early life == Gehrue was born in Louisville, Kentucky.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11385552/mayme_gehrue_southern_girl_the/|title=She's a Real Southern Girl|date=February 7, 1928|work=The Indianapolis Star|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=10|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The date 1883 is often given for her birth,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinmusica00hinegoog|quote=Gehrue Louisville.|title=Who's who in Music and Drama|last1=Hines|first1=Dixie|last2=Hanaford|first2=Harry Prescott|date=1914|publisher=H.P. Hanaford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinmusica00hinegoog/page/n145 131]|language=en}}</ref> but is questionable, considering that she was touring in shows by the mid-1890s. She was in a touring dance act as a teen, with her sister Daisy Gehrue,<ref name=":0" /> before Daisy married.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=July 1911|title=Turning Back Time's Pages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXIhAQAAMAAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=PA155|journal=The Green Book Magazine|volume=6|pages=155}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digital.chipublib.org/digital/collection/CPB01/id/6747/|title=Schiller Theatre, Little Robinson Crusoe (June 15, 1895)|website=digital.chipublib.org|language=en|access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref>
== Career == alt=Sheet music from a song dedicated to Mayme Gehrue, from the New York Public Library collection.|thumb|Sheet music from a song dedicated to Mayme Gehrue, from the New York Public Library collection.
Gehrue appeared on Broadway in ''Little Red Riding Hood'' (1900), ''The Casino Girl'' (1900),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pF-TAgAAQBAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=PA125|title=Harry B. Smith: Dean of American Librettists|last=Franceschina|first=John|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135949082|pages=125|language=en}}</ref> ''Nell-Go-In'' (1900), ''The Giddy Throng'' (1901), ''The King's Carnival'' (1901), ''Hoity Toity'' (1901–1902), ''Lovers and Lunatics'' (1906),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QbveCQAAQBAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=PA140|title=Early Broadway Sheet Music: A Comprehensive Listing of Published Music from Broadway and Other Stage Shows, 1843–1918|last=Stubblebine|first=Donald J.|date=2010-08-11|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786447053|pages=140|language=en}}</ref> ''The Deacon and the Lady'' (1910),<ref>{{Cite journal|date=November 1910|title=At the Playhouse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N-5DAQAAIAAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=RA8-PR10|journal=The Theatre|volume=12|pages=x|last1=Thorold|first1=W. J.|last2=Hornblow, Jr.|first2=Arthur|last3=Maxwell|first3=Perriton|last4=Beach|first4=Stewart}}</ref> and ''The Opera Ball'' (1912). She also toured with The Ford Dancers,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=PA397|title=Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America|last1=Cullen|first1=Frank|last2=Hackman|first2=Florence|last3=McNeilly|first3=Donald|date=2007|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415938532|pages=397|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=January 15, 1921|title=Orpheum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UZJAQAAMAAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=PA61|journal=The Independent|volume=44|pages=9}}</ref> as "the Yama-Yama Girl" in ''Three Twins'' (1910–1911),<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11385165/mayme_gehrue_a_ghost_story_the_buffalo/|title=A Ghost Story|date=February 18, 1910|work=The Buffalo Commercial|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=8|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=February 1, 1921|title=Orpheum Talks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMEcAQAAMAAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=RA2-PR5|journal=Western Magazine|volume=17|pages=vi}}</ref> and in ''Topsy and Eva'' (1923), a musical comedy based on ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/onstage/revus/osre51af.html|title=Review of Duncan Sisters|last=Donaghey|first=Frederick|date=December 31, 1923|website=utc.iath.virginia.edu|access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref> She was frequently on the vaudeville stage<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31297043/mayme_gehrue_1914/|title=Mayme Gehrue Makes Hit at the Broadway|date=February 10, 1914|work=Camden Post-Telegram|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=5|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> well into the late 1920s,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11385412/mayme_at_the_palace_the_indainapolis/|title=Palace: Vaudeville and Pictures|date=May 30, 1926|work=The Indianapolis Star|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=26|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31297659/mayme_gehrue_1927/|title=Mayme Gehrue and Company at Colonial|date=December 5, 1927|work=Lebanon Daily News|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=10|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> in the United States and abroad, including a tour in Australia; "to-day she is recognized as one of America's foremost dancing comediennes," noted a 1909 report.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=March 27, 1909|title=Miss Mayme Gehrue for Musical Comedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDZPAAAAYAAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=RA4-PA48|journal=The New York Star|pages=48}}</ref>
Gehrue appeared in two silent films, ''The Fable of the Galloping Pilgrim Who Kept on Galloping'' (1915, short)<ref>{{Cite journal|date=May 8, 1915|title=Brief Stories of the Week's Film Releases|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnhJAQAAMAAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=PA759|journal=Motography|volume=13|pages=759}}</ref> and ''Above the Abyss'' (1915). She wrote the lyrics to several World War I-era songs, including "I'm Leaving France for my Old Kentucky Home",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2013564882/|title=I'm leaving France for my old Kentucky home|website=Library of Congress|access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref> "I Wish to Wed a Sammy",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2013564881/|title=I wish to wed a Sammy|website=Library of Congress|access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref> "Military Band",<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/182689375?q&versionId=199023468 "Military Band"] (1918), music by Victor Hammond, lyrics by Mayme Gehrue; via Trove</ref> "The Man of the Hour", "Dear Little Jessamine",<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTnQAAAAMAAJ&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=PA57|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions|date=1919|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=57|language=en}}</ref> "Over in Spain", and "Back Down South",<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyri131libr|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1918 Music First Half of 1918 New Series Vol 13 Part 1|last=Library of Congress. Copyright Office.|date=1918|publisher=U.S. Govt. Print. Off.|others=United States Copyright Office|pages=[https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyri131libr/page/96 96], 201|language=en}}</ref> all with music by Victor Hammond.
== Personal life == Gehrue recommended buttermilk, meat, and no corsets for a healthy physique.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31297443/mayme_gehrue_1911/|title=Mayme Gehrue Reveals Her Own Beauty Secrets|date=September 13, 1911|work=Detroit Free Press|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She married<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31302583/mayme_gehrue_1903/|title=Mayme Gehrue Married|date=April 7, 1903|work=The Portsmouth Herald|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=5|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and divorced her vaudeville dance partner<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31296559/mayme_gehrue_1905/|title=Orpheum Offers Good Bill|date=June 27, 1905|work=Los Angeles Herald|access-date=May 6, 2019|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Johnny Ford (he later married and divorced vaudeville star Eva Tanguay).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mV1Ceao-yUC&q=Mayme+Gehrue&pg=PA192|title=Queen of Vaudeville: The Story of Eva Tanguay|last=Erdman|first=Andrew L.|author-link=Andrew L. Erdman|date=2012-08-22|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=9780801465284|pages=192|language=en}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{IMDb name|0311837}} * {{IBDB name|41916}} * [https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/sayre/id/676/ A 1926 publicity photograph of Mayme Gehrue], in the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, University of Washington Libraries.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gehrue, Mayme}} Category:1880s births Category:Actresses from Louisville, Kentucky Category:American women in World War I Category:Year of death missing Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Dancers from Kentucky Category:American vaudeville performers Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:American silent film actresses