Coyla May Spring
Coyla May Spring | |
|---|---|
 Coyla May Spring, from a 1915 publication. | |
| Born | November 4, 1889 Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | November 1, 1978 California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Coyla Spring, Coyla Mae Spring, Coyla Spring Smith, Coyla Mitchener |
| Occupation(s) | Elocutionist, actress, singer, dramatic reader |
Coyla May Spring (November 4, 1889 – November 1, 1978) was an American dramatic reader, singer, and pianist, on the Chautauqua circuit and the lyceum platform.
Early life
[edit]Coyla May Spring was the daughter of Joseph Spring and Selena Spring of Illinois.[1] She studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Dramatic Art and the Columbia School of Expression.[2]
Career
[edit]
Coyla May Spring was a dramatic reader, pianist, and singer, performing musical and spoken works on the Chautauqua circuit and lyceum platform.[3] Her repertoire included character pieces, in which she used accents or childlike voices.[4] She toured as a solo performer in 1913, and with the Apollo Concert Company.[5][6] She led her own Coyla May Spring Concert Company.[7] and was a longtime member of the Smith-Spring-Holmes Orchestral Quintet.[8][9] Her sister, Lotus Flower Spring, was a cellist in her ensemble.[10] The sisters sometimes sang together as part of the program.[11][12] Spring's husband, Clay Smith, wrote some of her readings and "pianologues".[13][3]
Spring was the subject of a poetic tribute in 1913:
And last of all, but not the least, is charming Coyla Spring,
You think for sure that 'Spring has come' when Coyla starts to sing.
Her voice just bubbles as it flows, from off her rippling tongue,
She is the fairest 'Coil o' Spring' that ever yet was sprung.
Her eyes just sparkle with delight, each move is one of grace,
She has a charm of figure, and a winsome girlish face,
And in between the numbers, when the quartet rings and toots,
Doth Coyla charm her hearers, as she coyly elocutes.
— Edwin Weeks, "Coyla May Spring"[14]
In the 1920s, Spring sang on radio programs.[15] After Smith's death in 1930, Coyla and Lotus Spring continued performing together,[16] sometimes with other women musicians.[17] In 1944 she renewed the copyright to several songs written by Clay Smith for a revue called Cheep,[18] with titles such as "I Shall See You Tonight", "If It's In John Bull It Is So", "Somebody's Coming to Tea", "At the Calico Ball", and "Oh, My Lily of Killarney".[19] Coyla Spring was living in Los Angeles and still performing in 1948.[20] In 1949, she renewed the copyright on two more songs by Clay Smith, "The Deers" and "Miracles".[21]
Personal life
[edit]Coyla May Spring was married to musician, composer, and journalist Clay Smith in 1915; on the same day, her sister Lotus married musician and composer Guy E. Holmes. The four lived together in Chicago and toured together in their quintet.[22] Clay Smith died in 1930.[23] Coyla May Spring married again, to Canadian tenor Theodore Mitchener; she lived in Culver City, California, in 1955.[1] She died in California in 1978, aged 88 years.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Mrs. Selena E. Spring". The Daily Herald. June 9, 1955. p. 12. Retrieved May 16, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Lyceum Given Tuesday Night". The Colonnade. November 12, 1928. p. 1. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- ^ a b Parlette, Ralph Albert (September 1918). "Clay Smith, Lyceum Musician, Composer, Writer". The Lyceum Magazine. 28: 27.
- ^ "Pleasing Orchestral Concert". The Beloit Daily Call. December 1, 1922. p. 3. Retrieved May 16, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Advertisement". The Lyceumite and Talent. 6: 43. January 1913.
- ^ "Pittsburgh Stuntfest". The Lyceumite and Talent. 6: 47. February 1913.
- ^ "Mild Winter in the Yellowstone". The Lyceum News. 1: 3. February 1915.
- ^ "The Smith-Spring-Holmes Orchestral Quintet". Music News. 14: 16. September 8, 1922.
- ^ "Play on Saxophones of 18 Carat Gold" The Lyceum News (January 1915): 10.
- ^ Kimber, Marian Wilson (2017-01-19). The Elocutionists: Women, Music, and the Spoken Word. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252099151.
- ^ "Program of Smith-Spring Holmes Co". The Lyceum News. 1: 15. January 1916.
- ^ "The Smith-Spring-Holmes Orchestral Quintet :: Traveling Culture - Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century". digital.lib.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-16.
- ^ Hibberd, Sarah (2016-04-22). Melodramatic Voices: Understanding Music Drama. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 9781317097938.
- ^ Weeks, Edwin (July 1913). "Apollo Concert Company: An Appreciation". The Lyceumite and Talent. 6: 44.
- ^ "Today's Radio Programs". Chicago Tribune. May 27, 1924. p. 10. Retrieved May 16, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Concert Party Opens Santa Fe Programs". San Bernardino Sun. January 18, 1931. p. 18. Retrieved May 16, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Are Well Received". Belvidere Daily Republican. May 6, 1937. p. 3. Retrieved May 16, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Wearing, J. P. (2013-12-19). The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810893009.
- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1944. pp. 1269, 1279, 1287, 1294, 1628.
- ^ "Women Sponsor Men's Night at Methodist Church Wednesday". The Daily Herald. December 3, 1948. p. 32. Retrieved May 16, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. 1949. pp. 16, 46.
- ^ Segell, Michael (2005-10-15). The Devil's Horn: The Story of the Saxophone, from Noisy Novelty to King of Cool. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9781429930871.
- ^ "Clay Smith, Chautauqua Leader and Composer, Dies". Chicago Tribune. July 19, 1930. p. 13. Retrieved May 16, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.