Ida Adams | |
|---|---|
 Ida Adams and chorus inHoup La! | |
| Born | Ida M. Adams c. 1888 |
| Died | November 4, 1960(1960-11-04) (aged 71–72) |
| Occupation(s) | Stage actress, singer |
Ida Adams (c. 1888 – November 4, 1960), sometimes credited asIda M. Adams,[1] was an American-born actress and singer who worked chiefly inmusical theatre.
Her career from 1909 to 1914 was in theUnited States, then inLondon's West End from 1915 to 1917.
Adams's third appearance on stage was at theKnickerbocker Theatre onBroadway on April 27, 1909, playing Miss Glick inThe Candy Shop. Later that year, she toured inThree Twins, as Summer Girl and Boo Hoo Tee Hee Girl. In 1911 she was Desirée in the musicalThe Pink Lady at theNew Amsterdam Theatre, after which she went on tour with the show. She was next inFlorenz Ziegfeld'sA Winsome Widow (1912), at the Moulin Rouge, in New York, playing the role of Tony. From October 1912 she appeared in theZiegfeld Follies of 1912, which ran until January 1913.[2][3]
AfterZiegfeld Follies, Adams moved toLondon, playing at theLondon Hippodrome in 1915, appearing the next year in the revueHalf-Past Eight at theComedy Theatre, and then inCharles B. Cochran'sHoup La! (1916) atSt Martin's Theatre. She recorded two songs fromHoup La! forHis Master's Voice at theGramophone Company's studios atHayes, Middlesex, on 11 January 1917. The first of these was "Oh! How She Could Yacki Hacki Wicki Wacki Woo," accompanied by a female choir and the St Martin's Theatre Orchestra,[4][5] while the second wasPaul Rubens's "Wonderful Girl, Wonderful Boy, Wonderful Time", sung as a trio withGertie Millar andNat Ayer.[4]
Cochran later recalled thatBinnie Hale had "got her first chance" inHoup-La! as Adams's understudy, but that she had a "harassing debut" because Adams, having insisted on paying for her own clothes, had also stipulated that no understudy should wear them.[6] In 1977, a member of theHoup La! cast from 1916 recalled inThe Listener:
There was a wonderful American woman named Ida Adams in the cast. She was spectacular! They used to keep some staff on at the bank every night, so that she could put all her jewellery back after the show. Oh, she was glorious![7]
Adams's last known theatrical appearance was as Jane Gerson in the playInside the Lines (1917), which had a long run at theApollo Theatre, London.[2]The Sketch said ofInside the Lines "The charm and beauty of Miss Ida Adams are very attractive features of a remarkable and topically interesting production, in which also appear Miss Grace Lane, Mr. Eille Norwood, Mr. Frederick Ross, Mr. E. Dagnall, and other well-players."[8]
Adams died on November 4, 1960, aged 72.[9]
A costume drawing, “Miss Ida Adams”, in theMuseum of the City of New York, is attributed toLucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, who worked onZiegfeld Follies.[10]
Some sources conflate Ida M. Adams andIda M. Evans, an American short story writer active in the same era.[11]