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May Irwin born June 27, 1862 in Whitby, Ontario,
Canada – died October 22, 1938 in New York City,
United States, was an actress, singer and major
star of vaudeville.


Born Ada May Campbell, her father died when she
was 13 years old and her stage-minded mother, in
need of money, encouraged May and her younger
sister Flora to perform. Creating a singing act,
the young girls debuted in nearby Buffalo, New
York in December of 1874. By the fall of 1877,
their career had progressed to where they were
booked to appear at New York's Metropolitan
Theater then at the Tony Pastor Theatre, a popular
New York City music hall.

The Irwin sisters proved popular enough to earn
regular spots for the ensuing six years after
which a 21-year-old May Irwin set out on her own.
She joined Augustin Daly's stock company where she
made her first appearance on the theatrical stage.
An immediate success she went on to make her
London stage debut at Toole's Theatre in August of
1884. In 1886 her husband of eight years,
Frederick W. Keller, passed away unexpectedly.

By the early 1890s, May Irwin had married a second
time and developed her career into that of a
leading vaudeville performer with an act known at
the time as "Coon Shouting" in which she performed
African American influenced songs.  In the 1895
Broadway show The Widow Jones, she introduced "The
Bully Song" which became her signature number. The
performance also featured a lingering kiss which
was seen by Thomas Edison who hired Irwin and her
co-star John Rice to repeat the scene on film. In
1896, the Kinetoscope production, The Kiss (film,
1896)|The Kiss, became the first screen kiss in
cinematic history.

In addition to her performing and singing, May
Irwin also wrote the lyrics to several songs,
including "Hot Tamale Alley," with music written
by George M. Cohan. In 1907 she married her
manager, Kurt Eisfeldt, the same year she began
making records for RCA Victor|Berliner/Victor.

May Irwin's buxom figure was much in vogue at the
time and combined with her charming personality,
for more than thirty years she was one of
America's most beloved performers. In 1914, she
made her second silent film appearance, this time
in the feature-length adaptation of George V.
Hobart's play, Mrs. Black is Back.

A highly paid performer, Irwin was a shrewd
investor and became a very wealthy women.  She
spent a great deal of time at a summer home on
secluded Club Island in the Ontario part of the
Thousand Islands and at her winter home on Merritt
Island, Florida before retiring to a farm near
Clayton, New York where a street would eventually
be named in her honor.

May Irwin died in New York City on October 22,
1938.