Madcap May

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY <br>Kurin (Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem), the under secretary for history, art, and culture at the Smithsonian Institution, offers an engaging portrait of a forgotten icon: the once famous Madcap May Yohe (1866-1938). Born to innkeepers in Bethlehem, Pa., May grew up to be a world-renowned stage actress of the early 20th century, as famous for her roles as for her love life. The tallest tales can be found in the truest stories, and Yohe lived a life full of such exoticism--her collection of pets just a minor example of her flamboyance--that today's celebrity antics seem quaint by comparison. After multiple scandalous dalliances and engagements, she married Lord Hope--of the Hope Diamond--and later divorced him for the dashing son of New York political royalty. Both men were disappointments, but the trials of love could not stop this stage goddess from her calling. Kurin's breezy biography transports the reader to the pomp of a lost era and shows us a diva who entertained, enraged, and surprised a nation through the end of one century and the beginning of the next. Kurin rediscovered Yohe in his research around the Hope Diamond and its legend; his portrait of this madam of the stage is a credit to her one-time notoriety and lingering ghost. Photos. (Sept.) <br>LIBRARY JOURNAL <br>New York City in the 1890s--it was the Gilded Age, and sumptuous gluttony was the norm. Every night the theater district overflowed with lobster parties, diamond-studded bachelors, and scandalous women. Singer and musical theater actress May Yohe was one of the most notorious women of the era, whose life was seemingly tailor-made for the gossip columns. In this first biography of Yohe, Kurin (undersecretary for history, art, & culture, Smithsonian Inst.; Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem) explores her trajectory from poverty to worldwide acclaim (and to wearing the Hope Diamond) to scrubbing floors during the Great Depress