December 1995 Blazer

Singer Actress Viola Gillette won International acclaim

THE HISTORY BLAZER NEH'S OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. IT8410 1 ( 801) 533- 3500 FA][ ( 801) 333- 3303 Singer- Actress Viola Gillette Won International Acclaim AT THB TURN OF THE CENTURY THE NEW YORK TIMES wondered if there was something in the mountain air in Utah to produce exceptional actresses and singers. Seven Utah women had their names in lights on Broadway, the newspaper noted: Maude Adams, Emma Lucy Gates, Viola Gillette, Hazel Dawn, Margaret Romaine, Ada Dwyer, and Julia Dean. The question cannot be answered, of course, but one singer and actress often returned to her mountain home for extended visits and at the end of her stage career settled into a graceful and active retirement in Bountiful. Viola Pratt was born in Salt Lake City on October 7, 1871, to Milando M. and Elizabeth Rich Pratt. A granddaughter of two prominent LDS leaders, Orson Pratt and Charles C. Rich, she became one of the leading light opera singers and comediennes of her time, starred opposite A1 Jolson and other famous actors, and entertained at the White House. Early in her career she married George Gillette, who apparently died several years later. She retained the name Viola Gillette throughout her career. Viola began her vocal studies in Salt Lake City with Evan Stephens, J. J. McClellan, and Willard Weihe, and in 1889 made her debut. She sang in local productions of The Daughter of the Regiment, 7k Bohemian Girl, and Lo Traviata. Encouraged by her teachers to go east for further study, Viola earned the money to do so while attending the University of Utah. She told reporters in 1949: ' I was teaching simultaneously in 10 different schools. I gave a half- hour lesson at one, then got in my buggy and drove to the next, until I had covered all 10." When ready to go east she raffled off her ' horse at a dollar a chance. The luclq winner later complained, she joked, that the horse wanted to turn in at every school it passed. After two years of vocal study in New York she joined a light opera company at the Chevy Chase Theater in Washington, D. C . , and then she toured U . S . cities and in England with Victor Herbert's group. She briefly formed her own opera company. By the turn of the century she was receiving rave reviews. Although sometimes called a mezzo soprano and even a soprano, her voice was usually described as a glowing contralto with an exceptional range. In the theatrical tradition of that day she often appeared as a young man; Prince Charming in The Sleeping Beaq was one of her famous roles. According to George D. Pyper, the Salt Lake Theatre impresario, her appearance in male attire ' rather shocked her Puritan home folk. " In 1902, when Viola was starring in this role in Chicago, she celebrated her birthday by having her mother come to see her as Prince Charming. According to a newspaper article, members of the Chicago Yacht Club also planned to attend the performance, and Viola was described as an " enthusiastic Yachtswoman." The reporter wryly noted that the famous star was ' disinclined to state just what anniversary of her birth Tuesday will mark." ( more) One of the highlights of her career occurred during the administration of President McKinley when she was invited to sing at a private concert in honor of the Austrian ambassador. ' Everything was glorious!" she wqote to her parents. " I was treated like a queen. * The morning after the concert she received an inscribed gold bracelet and a thank you card from the wife of the ambassador, who later sent her carriage to pick up the singer for a luncheon at the White House. What comes across in newspaper accounts about the singer is her zest for life and her down-twarth attitude. She frequently returned home after a season on the stage to visit her family. One feels sure she was trying hard not to laugh when she described her enormous family to a reporter. Her grandfathers, ' old- school Mormons," with their numerous wives and children now had a huge group of descendants, she said. Then she described a reunion in Salt Lake City attended by some 2,090 family members who had to camp out in tents for lack of hotel accommodations. She never lost her quick wit or her love of the outdoors. In 1927 she told a reporter that she planned to visit the scenic wonders of southern Utah and Yellowstone. Her first trip through Yellowstone, she said, " was on horseback, with pack mules carrying camping equipment, and now I want to try it in the up- to- date automobile. " In 1912 Viola was part of a Gilbert and Sullivan revival. She toured the country on a special train with the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival Company, called ' the greatest gathering of opera comedians brought together in many years." The tour was a huge success, and Viola got rave notices as Little Buttercup in H. M. S. PiMfre. The Son Francisco Chronicle said she had received " the adulation of the foremost musical critics of the country," and the New Orleans Picayune said ' she lived up to the reputation her talents had already [ garnered and]. . . . won encore after encore. " She married another star in the company, baritone George J. MacFarlane. They continued to perform together frequently and were hits in a vaudeville act that George wrote. He later became a Hollywood producer, and she appeared in several silent movies. But Broadway was her milieu. Viola played opposite A1 Jolson for three years in the 1920s and again in the 30s. She was on tour with him in 1932 when she received word that her husband had been killed by an automo-bile while crossing the street to mail her a letter. Jolson immediately sent her to California and kept paying her salary, generous acts she would never forget. In 1937 the singer ended her international career and sought the quiet of Utah. She had planned to live temporarily in Bountiful with " Grandma" Martha Clark Burnharn, but they enjoyed one another's company so much that the arrangement became permanent. She devoted her energies to teaching music to Davis County youngsters and participating in Bountiful music circles, s e ~ n ag term as president of the Bountiful Arts Guild. Her alma mater recognized her by making her a member of the University of Utah Emeritus Club; she served as its vice- president. When reporters visited her in Bountiful she was as likely to recall a disaster on stage as a triumph. She told, for example, of singing Ortrud in Lohengrin. Supposed to die at the end of the act, she got a wrong cue and ' died too early." The chorus had to step over her body to exit. The " famous mocking- bird of musical comedy" died of cancer on April 1, 1956. See Viola MacFarlane clipping file in Utah State Historical Society Library. llm HISTORY BLAZER is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone [phone] ( MBM)