The Crux of Christie MacDonald

Musical comedy star Christie MacDonald (1875-1962) may be most interesting to modern readers with respect to her private life. Her first husband was stage and screen actor William Jefferson (son of the famous Joseph Jefferson of Rip Van Winkle fame) and she reportedly once had a liaison with Big Tim Sullivan that resulted in issue (the baby was put up for adoption).

The Broadway shows MacDonald appeared in included Francis Wilson’s 1893 revival of Erminie; The Cadet Girl (1900) with TobyClaude, Dan Daly, and Adele Ritchie; The Belle of Mayfair (1906) with Valeska Suratt, a 1910 revival of The Mikado with Fritzi Scheff, and numerous others. In 1911 she married her second husband, a Pittsburgh socialite named HenryGillespie, but was enticed to return to the stage by Victor Herbert who wrote the 1913 show Sweethearts expressly for her to star in. Her last show was the 1920 revival of Floradora.

MacDonald was born in Nova Scotia, but spent much of her childhood and young adulthood in Boston.

For more on early show biz history, please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.