Description Song Bird of Pictou

Song Bird of Pictou

From her father's tavern to Broadway

Even at 6 years of age, dainty, blue-eyed Christie MacDonald was a singing sensation with the stagecoach passengers who stopped at her Irish father's tavern on Church Street in Pictou, Nova Scotia.  This was back in the early days of stagecoach travel in the colony.  While Christie sang and entertained every day when the stagecoach stopped at the tavern, her real debut to entertainment in the small town that was beginning to grow, was when she appeared at a local church in 1881. This occasion was remembered and talked about by listeners for a long time.  It was even recalled many years later by Christie MacDonald herself.  In her 80s she told of that time in her youth when, while singing, her skirt fell off revealing her many-patched red bloomers and sent her scurrying to cover.  That was her first appearance in public. Later, in 1913, Christie became the toast of her birthplace in the town that gave her birth.

Although Christie had a wonderful voice for singing, her parents, in her youngers days, didn't encourage her to advance to a singing career.  But she was encouraged by a young man of fine musical talent who came from 20 miles away, a place that was to become known as River John and is so called to this day.

That young man was John Stromberg.  He encouraged Christie in her singing, but the young girl needed little urging as she was a natural in the art of singing.  Besides John Stomberg, there were others who heard Christie MacDonald and predicted that she would go far in a singing career.  The one who gave the most local encouragement was known as Madam Flora Wilson.  She was a former professional singer, who, on a visit to Pictou, was so pleased with the setting that she married and settled in the small town.

Christie received considerable assistance and training from Madame Wilson.  But there were others, particularly John Stromberg, a man who was to become famous, left River John and took up work and residence in New York.

The home in which Christie MacDonald entertained as a child, and in which she was born, is still standing on Church Street in Pictou.  It has undergone considerable changes, and different tenants have occupied it since the days it was a famous inn kept by her parents as a boarding and lodging house.

As noted, Christie MacDonald was born in this house on Church Street. At the age of five years she attracted a visitor from the stagecoach: Henry White from New York. He was a man of some influence in the musical world of the USA. When White returned to Pictou some years later, he remembered "little" Christie MacDonald and her outstanding singing voice.  He knew he was not mistaken in the talent of Christie MacDonald, who had grown into a lovely young lady.  After hearing her outstanding singing voice, Mr. White urged her parents to allow Christie to go to New York where singing lessons could be arranged for her. After much persuasion, the parents consented and, with her sister Bella going with her as a companion, the trip was made. After considerable training in singing, Christie was introduced to a critical New York audience. With her singing of "Home Sweet Home" and "Coming Through The Rye," Christie took that huge audience by storm, which was the beginning of her outstanding musical singing career. 

Christie MacDonald, in the years that followed, travelled considerably singing in the United States and then in musical circles in Europe.  Sister Bella accompained her everywhere, helping with the languages in the various countries on the European tour.

At various times relatives of Christie MacDonald living in Pictou were invited to New York as guests of the featured singer as she starred in "The Hook of Holland." In this production, Christie MacDonald, the "Song Bird" of Pictou, scored an outstanding success and received a standing ovation at each performance.

As fas as can be learned, Christie MacDonald never returned to her birthplace, although there were times when she planned to make a visit.  But despite this, the citizens of Pictou and vicinity took her to their hearts, and it was from these same Pictonians that she received the affectionate name the "Song Bird" of Pictou.

For the record, Christie MacDonald's forebears go back to Kenneth MacKenzie and his wife Isabella MacAskill, natives of Arsynt, Rosshire, Scotland.  They arrived in Pictou in 1803 and took up land grants at Waterside, about five miles from Pictou. They had three sons: Alexander, Murdock and Neil.

Christie MacDonald was first married to Joe Jefferson.  He became world famous playing the character of Rip Van Winkle.  That marriage ended in divorce.  Later, Christie married Henry Lloyd Gillispie, a wealthy socialite, and it was a happy marriage.

In her singing career, Christie sang with such a great singer as Reonald Werranrath, in the years between 1910 and 1920.

Christie MacDonald, with her petite figure, blue eyes and golden glow of hair, often was asked to play the part of a boy in some classic production.  She was the toast of Broadway as she starred in "Spring Song," "Maxicana," and the "Mikado." Her final appearance on stage was the revival of "Florrdora" in 1910.

Later during her singing career, her parents, John and Jessie MacDonald, moved to Boston where they attended many of their daughter's performances.

The "show stopper" in Christie MacDonald's career was the song, "Sweethearts."  This was written for her by the famous Victor Herbert, and it was first heard at the Amstradam Theatre in New York.

After she ended a very successful singing career, she and her husband, Henry Gillispie, retired to a home in Westport. Christie's first child, also named Christie, was born on September 12, 1915. As the daughter grew up, she did inherit some of her mother's singing talent, but, although she had some auditions, she did not have the talent that took her mother to the forefront in a singing career. The daughter gave up her singing attempts in 1933 when she was 19.

Christie MacDonald, although retired for some years, did sing a final time at the funeral of Madame Wilson who had encouraged her in early years.

As a special note, Christie MacDonald's daughter, Christie, became Mrs. John Fenton.

At Christie MacDonald's death in 1962, at the age of 87 years, her body was cremated according to her request. Her ashes were scattered three ways: one, at the stage door where she had become famous in the long years before; another vial of her ashes was buried at, or near, her home in Westport; and the final tube of ashes was scattered on the harbour waters in Pictou where, as a little child, she had watched the shipping.