Marie Cahill was a Broadway stage actress and vocalist. Her parents were Richard and Marie( née Groegen) Cahill. She had a brother named Daniel. She began her career in the late 1880s first in her native Brooklyn and then on Broadway. In 1902 in the show Sally In Our Alley she introduced the song Under The Bamboo Tree which became her signature song and one of the most famous songs from the turn of the century. Also in 1902 in the musical The Wild Rose she premiered another hit song Nancy Brown. In 1903 the popularity of the Nancy Brown song was expanded into its own musical for Cahill, and became her favorite role. She had a plump and jolly demeanor and in addition to being a singer she presented herself as a conversationalist in a style that at best anticipates the later Gracie Allen

Gracie Allen

Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...

. Daniel Blum in Great Stars of the American Theatre c. 1952 relates that Cahill was a very proper woman who didn't tolerate naughty behavior or salaciousness. However in contrast she could don a pair of tights in a musical and exude sex appeal. In appearance she resembled rival Della Fox

Della Fox

Della May Fox was an American singing comedienne, whose popularity peaked in the 1890s when the diminutive Fox appeared opposite the very tall De Wolf Hopper in several musicals. She also toured successfully with her own company.-Biography:Fox was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of...

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Movies and other media

Cahill recorded her voice and routines at several gramophone recording sessions in the years 1917 to 1924 all in the acoustical recording method. She also had recorded her signature song Under The Bamboo Tree in 1902. In 1915 Cahill appeared in her first silent film, Judy Forgot, based on her musical comedy of the same name performed on Broadway in the 1911 season. In 1917 she appeared in three more silent films, Gladys' Day Dreams, When Betty Bets(1917) and Patsy's Partner before giving up on the medium.

Several of her voice recordings (monologues), made between 1916 and 1924, are on file at the Library of Congress' National Jukebox. They include "Washing baby" (1921), "The symphony concert" (1923) and "At the theatre" (1924). "At the theatre" takes the form of a telephone conversation with an unheard party in which Cahill, as "Mrs. Pinthrop," describes goings-on—including the appearance of Marie Cahill ("Irish, I guess... well, maybe she is Jewish") -- at the Palace Theatre.

Personal life

Cahill married Daniel Arthur on June 18, 1903 a union that lasted until she died on August 23, 1933.

External links

• Marie Cahill at IBDb.com
• Marie Cahill at IMDb.com
• Marie Cahill portrait gallery New York Public Library, Billy Rose collection
• Marie Cahill portraits University of Louisville Macauley Theatre Collection photo 1. , photo2.
• Selection of Marie's recordings at InternetArchive.org
• Several of Marie's monologues at the Library of Congress National Jukebox
• Marie Cahill; PeriodPaper.com circa 1910