Mena Cleary

Wilhelmina Cleary Masury (1867 — June 27, 1929), known professionally as Mena Cleary, was a Canadian-born American actress and singer, a member of the original cast of Victor Herbert's Prince Ananias in 1894.

Mena Cleary

Early life

Mena Cleary was the daughter of Martin Cleary and Maria Coghlan Cleary. She attended a convent school in Ottawa, Canada, then moved to Boston, where she studied music. She also studied voice in Paris with Giovanni Sbriglia.[1]

Career

Mena Cleary was a soprano,[2] her voice "by no means powerful but...very sweet," and "managed with rare skill".[1] Cleary was a member of The Bostonians, a performing troupe.[3] She appeared as "Mirabel" in the original cast of the comic opera Prince Ananias by Victor Herbert, when it debuted in 1894.[4] She also appeared in Girofle-Girofla in 1884[5] Fra Diavolo and The Poachers in 1888,[6] and in Robin Hood, Fatinitza and The Maid of Plymouth in 1894, with the Bostonians.[7]

In 1886, while performing in Fra Diavolo in New Haven, Connecticut, her hair caught fire from a lighted candle on stage. Her co-star Tom Karl quickly extinguished the flames, but his hands were badly burned instead.[8] Members of the audience fainted and shrieked, but Cleary resumed her part "with difficulty" after the fire was out.[9] Her 1888 turn as "Ginetta" in The Poachers drew admiration from a critic in Minnesota, who assured readers that "she is a very clever actress, with such winning ways, and a smiling pretty face, and a voice, while it is not a very great volume, is sweet in tone and as clear as the sound of a bell."[6]

Personal life

Mena Cleary married "millionaire physician, yachtsman, and globe trotter" John Miller Masury in 1897; they divorced in 1909.[10][11] Mena Cleary Masury died in 1929, aged 62 years, in Brookline, Massachusetts.[12]

Her sister Louise Cleary married a popular singer, Eugene Cowles, whom she met through Mena Cleary's work (Cowles was also in the original cast of Prince Ananias). Their sister Eleanor Cleary married Gerrit Fort.[13] Another sister, Phillinda A. Cleary, married Harley Ellsworth Cummings.[12]

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References
  1. "Notes" The Theatre (October 11, 1887): 270.
  2. "Notes of the Week" New York Times (September 11, 1887).
  3. Stanley Green, ed., The World of Musical Comedy (Da Capo Press 1984): 379. ISBN 9780306802072
  4. "Some Memorable Casts" Washington Post (May 25, 1905): TP6.
  5. "The Theaters" Star Tribune (April 19, 1888): 4. via Newspapers.com
  6. "Broad Street Theatre" The Times (November 4, 1894): 14. via Newspapers.com
  7. "Her Hair Caught Fire" New York Times (February 5, 1886): 1.
  8. "An Actress Loses Part of her Hair by Fire" Vicksburg Herald (February 4, 1886): 3. via Newspapers.com
  9. "Divorce for Mrs. Masury" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (March 25, 1909): 1. via Newspapers.com
  10. "Will Again Heed Footlights' Call" Washington Times (March 28, 1909): 7. via Newspapers.com
  11. "Mena Cleary Masury" Boston Globe (June 28, 1929): 8.
  12. Mellificia, "Society Bee Hive" Omaha Daily Bee (November 12, 1912): 8. via Newspapers.com
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