August 2, 1918 - Clara Kimball Young

Today Mary goes to the movies with her coworker, Miss Thielacker, to see Clara Kimball Young (1890-1960) in The Claw.  A detailed bio of Young can be found at Columbia University Libraries' Women Film Pioneers Project.

Mary mentions the Stanley Theatre Orchestra's playing selections from Her Regiment.  Her Regiment was a Broadway operetta with music by Victor Herbert and lyrics by William LeBaron that played for 56 performances in New York at the end of 1917.  Midi files of the music can be heard at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive.

Mary mentions that "I can say the feeling came over me when I hear music like that I long for the old life, the stage, and wonder if I will ever be in back of the footlights again.  I suppose never."   She leaves us with this mysterious reference, to be clarified indirectly by a diary notation in a couple days and by her career choice years later.