May Belfort Explained

May Belfort
Birth Name:May Egan
Birth Date:c. 1872
Birth Place:Ireland
Death Date:1929
Death Place:United States
Occupation:Cabaret singer, actress, comedian
Nationality:Irish

May Belfort (née Egan; – 1929) was an Irish singer, actress and comedian who was famous across Europe and America.

Biography

Born in Ireland in about 1872, she was a comedian and singer on the London music halls and then in Paris where she performed her trademark nonsensical songs at the café des Décadents and the Petit Casino. She commissioned the famous 1895 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec poster showing her wearing the red dress with her ever present black cat. She became a favourite of the artist who painted her more than once. She performed in Russia, South Africa and the United States during her career. Belfort was friends with Jane Avril. May Milton was her lover, as was Boer General Ben Viljoen. In fact Belfort expected to marry Viljoen. When it turned out he was already married and unwilling to continue the relationship with her, she traveled to Chicago and horsewhipped him in the street. Even after he achieved a divorce, he married another woman. Belfort retired from the stage due to ill health. Due to bad investments in mining, Belfort lost her money and ended working as a rug weaver and living in poverty. She died after a lingering illness in the United States in 1929.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Met Museum Poster . www.metmuseum.org.
  2. Web site: May Belfort . Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya . 5 December 2013 . 2019-11-14.
  3. Web site: May Belfort . Cleveland Museum of Art . 2018-10-30 . 2019-11-14.
  4. Web site: May Belfort (May Egan) . National Portrait Gallery . 2018-02-22 . 2019-11-14.
  5. News: May Belford, Actress, Dies in Poverty at 56; Once Famous Vaudeville Comedienna Had Eked Out a Living as a Rug Weaver. . The New York Times . 1929-03-31 . 2019-11-14 . 26 . subscription.
  6. Web site: May Belfort . Van Gogh Museum . 2019-11-14.
  7. 44071886 . Cultural Imperialism and the Romanticized Frontier: From South Africa and Great Britain to New Mexico's Mesilla Valley . Offenburger . Andrew . Amerikastudien / American Studies . 2014 . 59 . 4 . 535–552 .
  8. News: Ben Viljoen's Denial . . 5 . 1905-04-08 . 2023-10-09 . Papers Past.
  9. News: Ben Viljoen – The American Incident Letter From May Belfort . . Perth . Trove . 1905-04-28 . 2023-10-09 . 7.
  10. News: Boer General Horsewhipped. - Miss May Belfort Chastises General Viljoen. She Intended to Shoot Him . . Sydney . 1905-05-27 . 18 . 2023-10-09 . Trove.
  11. News: The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) - 19 Jun 1929 . Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) . 1929-06-19 . 6 . 2019-11-14.
  12. Book: Offenburger, A. . Frontiers in the Gilded Age: Adventure, Capitalism, and Dispossession from Southern Africa to the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands, 1880-1917 . Yale University Press . The Lamar Series in Western History . 2019 . 978-0-300-24525-7 . 2019-11-14 . 241.
  13. Web site: BBC Arts - Toulouse-Lautrec's pin-ups: Original stars of the Moulin Rouge . BBC . 2018-10-03 . 2019-11-14.
  14. News: Death of a Boer Leader. - Casterton Free Press and Glenelg Shire Advertiser (Vic. : 1915 - 1918) - 26 Apr 1917 . Casterton Free Press and Glenelg Shire Advertiser (Vic. : 1915 - 1918) . 1917-04-26 . 4 . 2019-11-14.

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