Audrey Maple

Audrey Maple, born Elsie H. Schroeder in Trenton, New Jersey in 1899, was an American actress, singer, and vaudeville performer whose stage career spanned from 1910 to 1929. Her father was a musician, a background that likely informed her early entry into performance.

Before establishing herself on Broadway, Maple worked in vaudeville as part of a novelty act known as Pianophiends. She also appeared in the operetta The Love Waltz during the 1908–1909 season, where she became the subject of considerable publicity for participating in an eight-minute kiss during a dance scene.

Maple's Broadway career encompassed a range of musical productions. Her earliest credited Broadway appearance came in The Arcadians in 1910, followed by The Firefly, which ran from 1912 to 1913. She continued performing through the mid-decade with roles in both Molly O and Katinka in 1916, and Good Night, Paul and Victor Herbert's Her Regiment in 1917. The following years brought additional credits including Monte Cristo Jr. in 1919 and Tangerine, which ran from 1921 to 1922. Her later Broadway work included Princess April in 1924, Naughty Riquette in 1926, My Princess in 1927, Angela from 1928 to 1929, Sunny Days in 1928, and The Street Singer, which ran from 1929 to 1930.

Beyond the stage, Maple appeared in two films: The Plumbers are Coming in 1929 and Enlighten Thy Daughter in 1934. Her personal life attracted frequent newspaper coverage, including a 1928 car accident in Chicago that killed her co-star, dancer Rosalie Claire, from which Maple survived.

In 1940, she married engineer and inventor Ernest A. Zadig and retired from performing. Maple died in New York on April 18, 1971, at the age of 72.