Biography
Christie MacDonald entered the world on 28 February 1875 in Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada, and departed it on 25 July 1962 in Westport, Connecticut, USA. After receiving operatic training she grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and launched her professional singing career in 1892. Her New York stage credits encompassed In Gay Paree in 1899, followed the next year by The Princess Chic—a Kirk LaShelle-Julian Edwards production in which she took the leading part—The Cadet Girl, and Hodge, Podge & Co. Additional appearances included The Toreador in 1902, An English Daisy and The Sho-Gun in 1904, and both Mexicana and The Belle Of Mayfair in 1906; in the last-named work she performed three Leslie Stuart numbers—“In Gay Mayfair” with words by William Caine, “Where You Go, Will I Go” with words by Basil Hood, and “The Little Girl At The Sweet Shop” with words by Charles H.E. Brookfield and Cosmo Hamilton.
She assumed the title role of Hook in Miss Hook Of Holland in 1907. Three years later she appeared in The Prince Of Bohemia, a revival of The Mikado, and the extended run of The Spring Maid, portraying Princess Bozena; the score was composed by Heinrich Reinhardt to lyrics by Harry B. Smith and Robert B. Smith, and her numbers comprised “Day Dreams (Anticipation),” for which Robert Hood Bowers supplied additional music, “The Next May Be The Right,” “The Fountain Fay,” “Take Me Dear” (again with music by Bowers), and “Two Little Love Bees.” She committed the final song to disc for Victor Records in 1911.
In 1913 MacDonald created the role of Sylvia in Sweethearts, a Victor Herbert score whose lyrics were supplied by Robert B. Smith; among her selections were “Sweethearts (If You Ask Where Love Is Found),” “Mother Goose,” “In The Convent They Never Taught Me That,” and the duets “The Angelus” and “The Cricket On The Hearth,” both shared with Thomas Conkey. She returned to the New York stage in 1920 as Lady Holyrood in a revival of Floradora, introducing “When I Leave Town,” “Tact,” “I’ve An Inklin’,” “I Want To Marry A Man, I Do,” and “(When) An Interfering Person.” In 1992 Coastline Theatre mounted a production titled Christie, drawn from her early years, in her birthplace.
She assumed the title role of Hook in Miss Hook Of Holland in 1907. Three years later she appeared in The Prince Of Bohemia, a revival of The Mikado, and the extended run of The Spring Maid, portraying Princess Bozena; the score was composed by Heinrich Reinhardt to lyrics by Harry B. Smith and Robert B. Smith, and her numbers comprised “Day Dreams (Anticipation),” for which Robert Hood Bowers supplied additional music, “The Next May Be The Right,” “The Fountain Fay,” “Take Me Dear” (again with music by Bowers), and “Two Little Love Bees.” She committed the final song to disc for Victor Records in 1911.
In 1913 MacDonald created the role of Sylvia in Sweethearts, a Victor Herbert score whose lyrics were supplied by Robert B. Smith; among her selections were “Sweethearts (If You Ask Where Love Is Found),” “Mother Goose,” “In The Convent They Never Taught Me That,” and the duets “The Angelus” and “The Cricket On The Hearth,” both shared with Thomas Conkey. She returned to the New York stage in 1920 as Lady Holyrood in a revival of Floradora, introducing “When I Leave Town,” “Tact,” “I’ve An Inklin’,” “I Want To Marry A Man, I Do,” and “(When) An Interfering Person.” In 1992 Coastline Theatre mounted a production titled Christie, drawn from her early years, in her birthplace.
Singles