Lydia Locke

Lydia Mae Locke was born in Liberty, Illinois and raised in Hannibal, Missouri, the daughter of Newton Bushnell Locke and Lucy Ann Holcomb Locke.

From 1911 to 1912, Lydia Locke performed with the London Opera Company under Oscar Hammerstein I.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13821038/lydia_locke_1912/ "Singer Badly Hurt"], Wilkes-Barre Record (November 2, 1912): 16. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She also gave recitals.[https://books.google.com/books?id=HO86AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Lydia+Locke%22&pg=RA1-PA38 "Lawrence, Mass., Admires Lydia Locke's Singing"], Musical Courier (July 11, 1918): 38. She made her New York stage debut in 1915, taking over the role of Marguerite in Faust at the Academy of Music.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13820938/lydia_locke_1915/ "Debut of Lydia Locke"], Brooklyn Daily Eagle (April 21, 1915): 18. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} Locke's activities off-stage, including vacations and fashion choices, were followed by the press.[https://books.google.com/books?id=dm9FAQAAMAAJ&dq=Lydia+Locke&pg=PA509 "Lydia Locke on the Southern Seas"], Musical Monitor (June 1918): 509.[https://books.google.com/books?id=HO86AQAAMAAJ&dq=Lydia+Locke+gown&pg=RA1-PA27 "Lydia Locke in Tafel Prize Gown"], Musical Courier (July 11, 1918): 27.

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Lydia Locke married seven times. Her first marriage, to gambler A. W. "Prince" Talbot, ended in 1909 when she shot him in a lawyer's office during an argument.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13819291/lydia_locke_1925/ "Like a Vamp in the Movies"] Pittsburgh Press (November 8, 1925): 108. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She was tried and acquitted in 1911 for Talbot's murder, successfully proving that he was an abusive husband, and further that the shooting was accidental.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/103470697 "Former Diva Faces Poison-Pen Charge"] The New York Times (September 30, 1925): 3. Her second husband was a fellow opera singer, Orville Harrold; they married in 1913 and divorced in 1917.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/97724656 "Opera Tenor's Wife Accuses Chauffeur"] The New York Times (May 4, 1915): 10.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/99926949 "Harrold Seeks Divorce"] The New York Times (July 8, 1917): 3. That same year, Locke married her third husband, Arthur Hudson Marks, a naval officer and businessman;[https://www.proquest.com/docview/145511360 "Lieut. Comdr. Marks Marries"] Washington Post (December 23, 1917): 8. they divorced in 1924. Her fourth husband was her young assistant Harry Dornblaser,[https://www.proquest.com/docview/103545683 "Mrs. Dormblaser Wins Points in Suit"] The New York Times (November 18, 1925): 14. who left her during their honeymoon in Europe,"[https://www.proquest.com/docview/180668070 Much Married Woman Held as Poison Penman"] Chicago Daily Tribune (September 30, 1925): 10. and died by suicide a few months later.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13819417/lydia_locke_1932/ "Single Again After her Fifth Marriage"] St. Louis Post-Dispatch (June 27, 1932): 26. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}

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After some legal entanglements involving ex-husband Arthur Marks, including a stolen baby, a false paternity charge,[https://www.proquest.com/docview/103375564 "Lay Plot to Ex-Wife to Palm off a Baby"] The New York Times (November 1, 1924): 25. and "poison-pen" letters about Marks' next wife,[https://www.proquest.com/docview/498569615 "Sued by Present Wife of her Third Husband"] Boston Daily Globe (September 30, 1925): A6. she married her fifth husband, Count Carlo M. Marinovich, in 1927;[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13819872/lydia_locke_1927/ "Ex-Opera Singer Weds 5th Husband"] Reading Times (May 4, 1927): 18. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} they divorced by 1932. There must have been a sixth husband, though the details of that are unclear. She counted her last husband, real estate developer Irwin Rose, as her seventh. They married in 1954 and lived in Yorktown Heights, New York at "Locke Ledge", her mansion, which they ran as an inn.Eric Grundhauser, [http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/lydia-locke-the-turn-of-the-century-opera-singer-with-a-soap-opera-life "Lydia Locke, the Turn of the Century Opera Singer With a Soap Opera Life"] Atlas Obscura (September 15, 2015).

Lydia Locke was erroneously reported dead in 1912,[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13826646/lydia_lock_reported_dead_1912/ "Hammerstein Star Fatally Hurt"] Buffalo Enquirer (November 1, 1912): 14. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} after a car accident that probably limited her stage career.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13826936/lydia_locke_1912/ "Auto Smash-Up Reveals St. Louis Singer is Bride"] St. Louis Post-Dispatch (November 3, 1912): 56. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} In fact, she died in 1966, aged 82 years. She had a son, Newton Locke, adopted in 1922 during her marriage to Arthur Marks.Bert Andrews, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13819817/lydia_locke_1939/ "Silence in Golden but Money Talks!"] Akron Beacon-Journal (July 23, 1939): 50. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13820373/lydia_locke_1941/ "Marks Estate Case Settled"] Palm Beach Post (February 19, 1941): 2. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}

Soon after her death, the Davenport House museum in Yorktown acquired a collection of her stage costumes. They displayed one of her concert gowns on a life-sized cardboard figure of Locke, beside a piano in the drawing room.Georgia Dullea, [http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83008557/1968-02-29/ed-1/seq-1.pdf "Lydia Locke Lives Again in Yorktown Exhibit"] Patent Dealer (February 29, 1968): 1.

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Category:1884 births

Category:1966 deaths

Category:People from Adams County, Illinois

Category:Singers from Illinois

Category:American operatic sopranos

Category:People from Hannibal, Missouri

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:Classical musicians from Illinois