Cleo Mayfield

Biography Mayfield was born on August 6, 1898,[1] as Cleo Empey, the youngest daughter of Mr. Clarence B. Empey and his spouse Nellie Musick in Hutchinson, Kansas.[2][3][4] As a child, she attended the North Side school in Hutchinson,[5] before moving with her family to Kansas City, Missouri at the age of twelve.[4]

Mayfield first met Cecil Lean in Chicago in 1912, during the production of The Military Girl at the Ziegfeld Theatre.[6] By 1913, she had assumed the stage name Cleo Mayfield.[7] For the remainder of Lean's career, the two would frequently appear together in theatrical productions.[8] In February 1914, Mayfield married Cecil Lean in a civil ceremony in Chicago.[9] Prior to their marriage, Mayfield and Lean had been in a romantic relationship for over two years that only a few of their closest friends knew about.[9][2] In July 1935, in the presence of Mayfield, Lean collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack in Manhattan.[8][a]

Over the course of her career, Mayfield made numerous appearances on Broadway stages and toured widely—as far afield as London—in a variety of musicals.[11] Her Broadway appearances include productions of: The Man with Three Wives, The Blue Paradise, Miss 1917, Look Who's Here, The Blushing Bride, and Innocent Eyes.[12] Her notable theatrical appearances away from Broadway include the touring production of No, No, Nanette that debuted in Detroit in January 1925.[13][14]

Mayfield made her final Broadway appearance in 1944, in a comedy play called Right Next to Broadway.[15] After a lengthy struggle with cancer, Mayfield died on November 8, 1954, at her residence in New York City at the Ansonia Hotel.[15][16]

Notes

Contemporary newspaper accounts agree that Lean collapsed while walking outside a Manhattan theater; they variously identify that theater as either the Booth Theatre[10] or the Plymouth Theatre.[8] References

"Cleo Mayfield". loc.gov. Retrieved October 26, 2018.

"Cleo Empey Married". The Hutchinson News. XXVII (309) (Last ed.). February 23, 1914. p. 11. Retrieved July 23, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"[No title listed.]". The Hutchinson Gazette. XII (198). February 8, 1914. p. 4. Retrieved October 17, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Work of Hutchinson Girl is Making a Success of Vaudeville with Cecil Lean". The Hutchinson News. XXVII (102). June 23, 1913. p. 2. Retrieved October 17, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"The City Schools". The Hutchinson News. XI (147). February 10, 1896. p. 6. Retrieved October 17, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Cecil Lean Dies on Street in N.Y." The Philadelphia Inquirer. CCXIII (19) (Late City ed.). New York. July 18, 1935. p. 2. Retrieved October 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Cleo Mayfield, Hutchinson Girl, Makes Good On Stage". The Hutchinson News. XXVII (269) (Early Mail ed.). January 7, 1914. p. 12. Retrieved October 17, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Cecil Lean Dies Near N.Y. Theatre". Evening Courier. LII (41) (Final ed.). July 19, 1935. p. 3. Retrieved October 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Hutchinson Star Weds". Wichita Daily Eagle. LVII (82). February 25, 1914. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Cecil Lean, 57, Musical Comedy Star, Succumbs". The Chicago Tribune. XCIV (172) (Final ed.). July 18, 1935. p. 18. Retrieved October 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Cleo Mayfield Dies, Star of 20s". The Philadelphia Inquirer. CCLI (133) (Final City ed.). November 10, 1954. p. 25. Retrieved October 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Cleo Mayfield". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved October 18, 2018.

Green, Stanley (2011). Broadway Musicals: Show by Show (7th ed.). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 81. ISBN 9781557837844. Retrieved October 22, 2018. By the time No, No Nanette arrived in New York, a second road company had been touring since January 1925 (with Cleo Mayfield, Cecil Lean, Donald Brian, and Ona Munson), and a London facsimile had been running for six months.

"Theater". The Chicago Tribune. LXXXIV (3) (Final ed.). January 3, 1925. p. 13. Retrieved October 22, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Cleo Mayfield, 57, Actress, Dies in N.Y." The Central New Jersey Home News (Late City ed.). Associated Press. November 9, 1954. p. 21. Retrieved October 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

"Cleo Mayfield". Daily News. XXXVI (117) (Final ed.). November 9, 1954. p. 403. Retrieved October 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. External links "Cleo Mayfield". Find a Grave. July 3, 2005. Categories: 1898 births1954 deathsVaudeville performersActresses from Kansas City, KansasSingers from KansasPeople from Hutchinson, KansasAmerican stage actressesAmerican musical theatre actresses20th-century American actresses20th-century American singers20th-century women singersMusicians from Kansas City, KansasBurials at Kensico CemeteryDeaths from cancer in New York (state)

U.S. Census of 1910

Cleo Empy United States Census, 1910 Name Cleo Empy Event Type Census Event Date 1910 Event Place Hutchinson Ward 3, Reno, Kansas, United States Gender Female Age 22 Marital Status Single Race White Race White Relationship to Head of Household Boarder Relationship to Head of Household Boarder Birth Year (Estimated) 1888 Birthplace Kansas Father's Birthplace Illinois Mother's Birthplace Illinois Sheet Letter A Sheet Number 2 Household Role Sex Age Birthplace John D Secoy Head M 67 New York Florance Secoy Wife F 44 Pennsylvania Ruth W Secoy Daughter F 17 Kansas Diamond B Secoy Son M 12 Kansas Clarance B Empy Boarder M 46 Illinois Hester E Empy Boarder F 45 Illinois Cleo Empy Boarder F 22 Kansas Joseph Classon Roomer M y Switzerland Anna Classon Roomer F y France Citing this Record "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2ZW-SRQ : accessed 19 November 2018), Cleo Empy in household of John D Secoy, Hutchinson Ward 3, Reno, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 164, sheet 2A, family 23, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 453; FHL microfilm 1,374,466.

U.S. Census of 1920

Cecil Lean United States Census, 1920 Name Cecil Lean Event Type Census Event Date 1920 Event Place Manhattan Assembly District 7, New York, New York, United States Gender Male Age 42 Marital Status Married Race White Race White Relationship to Head of Household Head Relationship to Head of Household Head Birth Year (Estimated) 1878 Birthplace Canada Father's Birthplace England Mother's Birthplace England Sheet Letter B Sheet Number 5 Household Role Sex Age Birthplace Cecil Lean Head M 42 Canada Cleo Lean Wife F 31 Kansas Mellie Canpeg Mother-in-law F 55 Illinois Citing this Record "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJYG-ZNK : accessed 19 November 2018), Cecil Lean, Manhattan Assembly District 7, New York, New York, United States; citing ED 557, sheet 5B, line 55, family 77, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1197; FHL microfilm 1,821,197.