Author , Composer , Writer , Performer : Edith Day
Song Best Love Rating:
Song Title:
Alice Blue Gown
Song Composition Date:
1920
Song Artist:
Edith Day
Song Performer:
Edith Day
Song Show:
Singer, Theater
Authors Description:
Edith Day (born April 10, 1896 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; died May 1, 1971 in London, England) recorded the 1920 song Alice Blue Gown. She was a Broadway performer in Show Boat. Day made her first appearance in New York, New York in Pom Pom during World War I. At the end of 1917 she achieved her first triumph in the production of the musical comedy Going Up. The show ran for 350 performances. This was followed by Irene, which ran for 670 nights. London Stage Success and Brief Hollywood Career Miss Day left the American cast in the early days of the run to appear in London. She first acted at London's old Empire Theatre in 1920. In Irene she played the part of a girl in New York City who dreamed on the fire escape staircase. She fantasized that one day a hero might come into her life. From 1925 to the outset of 1930 Edith palyed the lead in Rose Marie for 851 performances in Drury Lane. She participated in The Desert Song (432 appearances) and Show Boat (350 shows). In Showboat the American actress held her own despite fervent competition by the fine actors Paul Robeson and Maria Burke. Edith retired from performing during the 1930s. Aside from acting in the theater Miss Day broadcast on many occasions and participated in variety theaters. Her motion picture credits number only three. These are The Grain of Dust {1918), A Romance of the Air (1918), and Children Not Wanted (1920). Theatrical Comeback, Marriage and Death In 1960 she made a stage comeback in Waiting In The Wings, a play by Noel Coward. Edith was married three times. She was first married to theatrical producer Carle Carleton. Carleton was one of the early promoters of motion pictures in America and originally owned a third interest in Irene. She separated from him following an affair with English actor Pat Somerset, which was the subject of much gossip in London. Miss Day married the Englishman on May 20, 1923 at the Pickwick Arms Hotel in Greenwich, Connecticut. Edith divorced Somerset in Indianapolis, Indiana after his affair with vaudeville actress Irene Martin became public. She charged that Somerset was cruel, habitually drunken, and forced her to sell furniture, clothing, and jewelry. He even made her pay his valet's wages. Day's third husband, Henry Horne, predeceased her. Day's son died in World War II. Edith Day died in a London hospital in 1971 at the age of 75.
