Mrs. Barry

Mrs. Barry, born Josephine Richards on December 28, 1870, in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, was an American vaudeville entertainer who performed alongside her husband as part of the duo Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Barry. She died on September 29, 1958, at the age of 87.

Richards met Jimmy Barry, a Boston-born actor whose father was an Irish-born harness maker, while both were working in the acting profession. The two married in 1895 and spent several years performing together as serious actors before transitioning to vaudeville in 1899 under the billing Mr. and Mrs. Barry. Her Broadway appearance came in 1871 in the production Birth.

As a vaudeville team, the Barrys developed comic sketches of their own creation, incorporating original songs and dances. Their stage personas were rooted in rustic, unsophisticated characters known as rubes, and their performances featured cross-talk between the two. Their style was noted for its subtlety rather than broad clowning, and their dialogue was described as brightly written. Among the sketches they performed were The Skin Game, around 1905, Village Cut-Ups, around 1906, At Hensfoot Corners, around 1908, and The Rube, around 1914. For certain performances, they were joined by Jimmy's brother, William H. Barry, who was born in 1871 and died in 1959.

Josephine and Jimmy Barry made their home at Dingmans Ferry in Delaware Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania. The couple continued performing into the 1920s before retiring toward the end of that decade. Jimmy Barry died on January 4, 1940, at the age of 72. The family's connection to vaudeville extended further through Jimmy's younger sister, Edwina Barry, born in 1886 and died in 1988, who was also a vaudeville performer and comedian and who married Josephine's brother, William Richards, though the two later divorced.