Clementine de Vère

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Clementine de Vère, 1903

Clementine Lisine de Vère , also Clementine de Vere (born December 20, 1888 in Brussels , † March 31, 1973 ) was a British actress and illusionist . She was a British citizen , although she was born in Belgium and lived in France for a long time . She became known under the stage name "Ionia".

Life

Clémentine Lisine de Vère was the eighth child of the illusionist Charles de Vère and his wife Julia Ferret de Vère, who used to perform under the name "Okita"; one of her sisters was Constance Élise de Vère . The family moved to Paris in 1892 , where Clémentine de Vère is said to have been influenced by the artists of the Folies Bergère .

On May 5, 1904, at the age of only 15, she married the American circus artist and tamer Herman Weedon (actually: Herman Armond Wirtheim) from the Bostock Circus. In June, the couple traveled to New York on the Deutschland , as Weedon had an engagement at Coney Island . It is possible that she accompanied him in the following years on his professional trips, which also took him to Egypt and the Belgian Congo . From the connection with Weedon, the son Frank H. Weedon, later also known under the name Frank Wirtheim Tchitcherine, emerged in 1907.

1909 Clémentine de Vère, however, was apparently not, instead, with Weedon traveling were Clémentine de Vère and her brother Camille in The Wizard her father's business in Paris operates until Camille to diabetes mellitus died. Charles de Vère then gave up his business and retired to Rosny-sous-Bois , where he was apparently working on preparing a big show for his daughter. In 1911 she came on stage as "Ionia"; The show, which required six tons of equipment, first appeared on January 30th at the Bermingham Hippodrome in England. "Ionia" had great success; the show could be seen in Vienna , Berlin , Paris and other places that year . The last contemporary mention apparently took place in the March issue of The Sphinx magazine in 1911, the cover of which showed a photograph by de Vères. The text in this issue dealt with her appearance in Manchester . In 1914 Clémentine de Vère appeared again in Vienna as “Ionia”, this time in a pantomime .

By this time she had already met Prince Vladimir Eristavi Tchitcherine in Austria - in 1913 - whom she married on June 21, 1919 in Paris, after their first marriage had been divorced on June 23, 1917. At that time, Herman Weedon was employed at Selig Zoo in Los Angeles , where he worked until 1920. Her father's claim that she was in Moscow during the Russian Revolution turned out to be false. Apparently, Charles de Vère was disappointed that his daughter had no longer continued the lavish show and tried to sell the tricks and equipment to contain the financial losses he had suffered. The sudden disappearance of the character "Ionia" from the stages of the world may have been linked to the closure of the Folies Bergere of New York. This theater had opened in the spring of 1911 and had to close again in October of the same year due to financial difficulties. Apparently Clémentine de Vère had a contract with this theater and could not find a suitable replacement.

In the 1920s, Clémentine de Vère temporarily lived with her second husband in Washington, DC , and later at 26 Avenue de Neuilly in Paris. On October 26, 1928, this second marriage was also divorced, but Clémentine de Vère retained the princess title she had obtained through the marriage. She lived in Monaco and France for the rest of her life and was buried next to her parents in Paris after her death in 1973.

“Ionia” was a popular poster motif; a number of Art Nouveau depictions by the Moody brothers in Birmingham are known. Today they are considered expensive collector's items.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the presentation of Charles Greene III. The artist's gravestone can be seen on YouTube towards the end. In contrast to many English-language publications, the name is accented here.
  2. ↑ Year and short biography on themagiccafe.com
  3. ↑ Illustration and explanation from magicpostergallery.com
  4. ^ Charles Greene III: Ionia. The Queen of Mystery. In: Magic. December 2006, p. 68 ff., Here p. 70.
  5. ^ Charles Greene III: Ionia. The Queen of Mystery. In: Magic. December 2006, p. 68 ff., Here p. 73.
  6. ↑ Biography on www.all-about-magicians.com ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.all-about-magicians.com
  7. ↑ a "Ionia" poster
personal data
SURNAME De Vère, Clementine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Vère, Clémentine Lisine (full name); De Vere, Clementine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actress and illusionist
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Brussels
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 1973