Paula Edwardes

Paula A. Edwardes (1878 – after 1926) was an American performer who worked in musical comedy and vaudeville, appearing on Broadway between 1898 and 1907. Born in New York City or possibly Boston, Massachusetts, she was raised in Boston, where she began her theatrical career as a chorus girl.

Edwardes made her stage debut in 1894 in the chorus of Tabasco, a burlesque opera whose premiere production was mounted by Thomas Q. Seabrooke. She subsequently appeared in The Belle of New York in 1897, a production that traveled to London; her sister Peggy Edwardes was also a member of that company. She also had a part in The Great Ruby during this period.

Her Broadway career encompassed several productions across nearly a decade. She appeared in the musical A Runaway Girl during the 1898–1899 season, followed by both The Show Girl and The Defender in 1902. Winsome Winnie followed in 1903, and she later appeared in The Man from Now in 1906 and Princess Beggar in 1907. Edwardes was recognized for performing soubrette roles using an exaggerated style that at least one reviewer described as "Americanized Cockney."

Beyond her stage work, Edwardes attracted attention in other contexts during the peak of her career. In 1906, ragtime composer Cora Folsom Salisbury dedicated a piano valse caprice titled "Paula" to her. The following year, Edwardes contracted to have recordings — referred to at the time as "electric music" — played in theatre lobbies before her live performances, making her one of the first musical theatre performers to be recorded for such purposes. Also in 1907, rumors circulated that she was engaged to steel magnate Joseph E. Schwab, a claim both parties denied. By 1910, she was headlining a variety show in New York City.

As she aged out of soubrette roles, Edwardes was unable to secure other parts, and her career declined. Critic George Jean Nathan wrote of an encounter with the older Edwardes in which she was dressed girlishly and presented herself as her own teenaged niece, apparently in an attempt to recapture the recognition of her earlier years. In 1926, a police officer discovered Edwardes standing on a New York City street corner in the rain, holding a crucifix and praying. She stated that a dream had directed her to do so, and she was escorted to Bellevue Hospital for care.