George MacFarlane

MacFarlane was born in Kingston, Ontario on November 17, 1878. He had six older siblings, and was the son of Alice Gentle (not to be confused with Alice Gentle, opera singer), who was also a musical theatrical performer.{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=41938 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=Alice Gentle | accessdate=December 30, 2014}} The turn of the century would see him appearing in musicals in Montreal, eventually leading to him being cast in 1902 in the role of Captain Corcoran in the Gilbert and Sullivan light opera HMS Pinafore.{{cite web | url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/028011-1030-e.html | publisher=The Virtual Gramophone | title=George MacFarlane, baritone and actor (1877 or 1878-1932) | date=March 28, 2012 | accessdate=December 30, 2014}} By 1903 he was in New York City, where he had a starring role in the musical comedy The Fisher Maiden at the Victoria Theater.{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=5751 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=The Fisher Maiden | accessdate=December 30, 2014}}

Between 1903 and 1928 he would appear in over two dozen Broadway productions, including musical comedies, straight plays, and operettas,{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=68167 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=George MacFarlane | accessdate=December 30, 2014}} including several stints as Corcoran in HMS Pinafore. In 1907 he would appear in the play The Girl and the Bandit, where he met his second wife, Viola Gillette;{{cite book|author1=Harry Prescott Hanaford|author2=Dixie Hines|title=Who's who in music and drama: an encyclopedia of biography of notable men and women in music and the drama|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinmusica00hinegoog |quote=Bandit.|accessdate=August 1, 2012|year=1914|publisher=H.P. Hanaford|page=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinmusica00hinegoog/page/n148 134]}} the two would marry on April 10, 1920. The two would appear in several plays together, including MacFarlane's first big success, 1909's The Beauty Spot.{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=6640 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=The Beauty Spot | accessdate=December 30, 2014}} 1913 would see the beginning of his recording relationship with Victor Records, which would last until 1917. In 1918, he would switch to Columbia Records, where he would record four records, all in that year. He would return to Victor in the early 1920s, where he would make several more records.{{cite web | url=http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/13201/MacFarlane_George_vocalist_baritone_vocal | publisher=Discography of American Historical Recordings | title=George MacFarlane (vocalist : baritone vocal) | accessdate=December 30, 2014}} He would earn the nickname of "America's Favorite Baritone".

Other notable Broadway performances were in the title role in The Mikado in 1912 and again in 1913. 1913 would also see MacFarlane appear in the operetta Miss Caprice (an Americanized version of the German piece, Lieber Augustin),{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=7660 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=Lieber Augustin | accessdate=December 30, 2014}} in which he would record the Jerome Kern song, "Look in Her Eyes", which would be his first recording hit. His next Broadway performance, the Lee Shubert and Jacob Shubert musical The Midnight Girl (from the German book Das Mitternacht Madel), garnered him another hit, this time in a duet with Margaret Romaine on "Oh Gustave".{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=6447 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=The Midnight Girl | accessdate=December 30, 2014}} He would have two other hits that year, "Can't You Hear Me Calling, Caroline" and "Your Eyes", with the former being one of the biggest hits of the year. 1915 would see him have another hit, "A Little Bit of Heaven", which reached number one on the charts that year.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIjdrCMii4k | publisher=YouTube | title=George MacFarlane — A Little Bit of Heaven (Shure, They Call it Ireland) (1915) | date=January 7, 2011 | accessdate=December 30, 2014}}

The following year he would appear in the Klaw & Erlanger production of Miss Springtime, which ran from 1916 to 1917.{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=8446 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=Miss Springtime | accessdate=December 30, 2014}} Although he did not perform the song in the play, MacFarlane would record the Kern song "My Castles in the Air" for Victor Records, which would become another hit for him in 1917. 1917 would see his first foray into the film industry, although he would not appear in front of the camera. Webb Singing Pictures was a silent film where the on-screen performers mimed performing to recorded songs. Along with Enrique Caruso and other singers, MacFarlane was one of the recording artists. The rest of the 1910s, and most of the 1920s would see MacFarlane focusing on the stage, both as an actor and a producer.{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=103870 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=George MacFarlane Productions Inc. | accessdate=December 30, 2014}}

1929 would see MacFarlane's return to the big screen, appearing in five films that year in supporting roles. Over the next three years he would be in an additional twelve films, also in supporting roles. On February 22, 1932, MacFarlane was rushing to a preview of one of the five films to be released that year in which he appeared. After mailing a letter, he was struck and killed by the driver of an automobile as he crossed the street on the way to the theater.{{cite news | newspaper=The Film Daily | title=Geo. MacFarlane Killed | date=February 24, 1932 | page=2 | url=https://archive.org/stream/filmdailyvolume55859newy#page/444/mode/2up/search/%22George+MacFarlane%22}} Two of the films he appeared in, The Famous Ferguson Case and The Heart of New York, would be released after his death.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&Type=CA&Tbl=PN&CatID=&ID=58966&searchedFor=George_MacFarlane_&SortType=ASC&SortCol=RELEASE_YEAR | publisher=American Film Institute | title=George MacFarlane | accessdate=December 30, 2014}}

(Per Broadway Internet Database)

(Per AFI database)

{{reflist|30em}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIjdrCMii4k MacFarlane singing "A Little Bit of Heaven" (1915)]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2r3ZU0rOA4 MacFarlane singing "That's An Irish Lullaby"]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgSnQmE59UM MacFarlane singing "Look In Her Eyes" (1914)]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn9MdvdqbqY MacFarlane duet with Margaret Romaine, "Oh Gustave" from the 1914 Broadway musical, The Midnight Girl']
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IzCAhc2zyk MacFarlane singing "Can't You Hear Me Calling, Caroline"]

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Category:American male silent film actors

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male stage actors

Category:1878 births

Category:1932 deaths

Category:Burials at Salt Lake City Cemetery

Category:Male actors from Kingston, Ontario

Category:Canadian male stage actors

Category:Road incident deaths in California

Category:Pedestrian road incident deaths

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:20th-century Canadian male actors

Category:20th-century Canadian male singers

Category:Musicians from Kingston, Ontario

Category:20th-century American male singers