May Beegle
May Beegle, from a 1919 publication.
May Beegle, from a 1919 publication.
Born
Alice May Beegle

October 23, 1882
Bedford, Pennsylvania
DiedDecember 8, 1943
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)theatrical manager, concert promoter

May Beegle (October 23, 1882 – December 8, 1943) was an American theatrical manager, publicist, concert promoter, and agent, known as the "dean of Pittsburgh impresarios."

Early life

Alice May Beegle was born in Bedford, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Thomas Paul Beegle Sr. and Margaret Keyser Beegle. She studied piano as a girl.[1][2]

Career

Beegle began working as a secretary at the Pittsburgh Orchestra.[3] She founded the Pittsburgh Orchestra Association and the Pittsburgh Friends of Music Society.[4] She organized the Ellis Concert Series and the Sewickley Concerts[5] before starting her own booking agency in 1923.[6] The May Beegle concert series began in 1921 with English singer Florence Easton,[7] and brought performing artists from Enrico Caruso and Anna Pavlova to Yehudi Menuhin and Marian Anderson to the city over the next three decades.[8][9] She also promoted orchestra concerts for children, reaching thousands of students in the Pittsburgh area.[1] She was active in the National Concert Managers' Association,[10][11] and was known as the "dean of Pittsburgh impresarios."[12] "Through May Beegle," noted a 1922 report, "Pittsburgh is promised an unusually brilliant season of orchestral and recital attractions."[13]

During World War I she and her sister Helena Viola Beegle worked with the American Red Cross in Pittsburgh.[14] She was a member of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Allegheny County, and of the Women's Press Club.[15]

Beegle was sued in 1929 by Italian opera singer Pasquale Amato, after she referred to him as a "has-been."[16]

Personal life

Beegle lived with her sister Helena in Pittsburgh. May Beegle died in 1943, aged 61 years (according to her death certificate; the New York Times and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obituaries gave her age as 56).[15][17] Her brother Thomas P. Beegle continued her concert series until his death in 1946,[18][19] and then his son Bill Beegle ran the May Beegle Concerts series, through 1954.[20] The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh holds a collection of programs from the May Beegle Concerts.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 "May Beegle Has Done Much for Music Here". The Pittsburgh Press. November 20, 1927. p. 94. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Lewando, Ralph (November 6, 1932). "Beegle Serves Decade". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 32. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Pittsburgh Orchestra". The Pittsburgh Sunday Post. June 23, 1907. p. 28. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ R. D. (September 23, 1920). "May Beegle Arranges Fine Concert Season for Pittsburgh". Musical Courier. 81: 11.
  5. ↑ Harvey B. Gaul, "Music Season De Luxe Awaits Pittsburgh" Musical America (November 15, 1919): 61.
  6. ↑ Ammer, Christine (2016-07-26). Unsung: A History of Women in American Music. ISBN 9781483577005.
  7. ↑ "Florence Easton". The Pittsburgh Post. August 15, 1921. p. 11. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "May Beegle - Pittsburgh Music History". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  9. ↑ Conner, Lynne (2007). Pittsburgh in Stages: Two Hundred Years of Theater. University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp. 97–98. ISBN 9780822943303.
  10. ↑ "Concert Managers Launch Plans for Collective Buying". Musical America. 31: 4. December 27, 1919.
  11. ↑ "N. C. M. A. Holds Meeting". Musical Courier. 81: 13. December 30, 1920.
  12. ↑ Wagner, Mary H. (2006). Gustav Mahler and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra Tour America. Scarecrow Press. p. 109. ISBN 9780810857209.
  13. ↑ "Pittsburgh Indebted to May Beegle". Musical Courier. 85: 17. September 21, 1922.
  14. ↑ Chapter, American Red Cross Pittsburgh (1922). The Pittsburgh Chapter, American Red Cross: A History of the Activities of the Chapter from Its Organization to January 1, 1921, with an Appendix Containing All Available Names of Those who Rendered Red Cross Service During that Period. Comp. and Prepared for Publication. p. 239.
  15. 1 2 "MAY BEEGLE DIES; CONCERT MANAGER; Founder of the Pittsburgh Orchestra Association Was a Leading Impresario". The New York Times. 1943-12-09. p. 28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  16. ↑ "Amato Charges Slander". The New York Times. November 5, 1929. p. 36 – via ProQuest.
  17. ↑ "May Beegle, Noted Concert Manager, Dies". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 9, 1943. p. 9. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "The Final Curtain". Billboard. August 10, 1946. p. 49.
  19. ↑ "Thomas P. Beegle, Concert Manager, Dies Here at 59". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. July 26, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ Mendlowitz, Leonard (March 4, 1954). "Bill Beegle Hits Top as Impresario". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. p. 21. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Holdings: May Beegle concerts". librarycatalog.einetwork.net. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
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