Actress Nora Bayes ~ It Was a Stage Name!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 26 (LEGEND)


For this week's prompt of LEGEND I am focusing on the famous relative I grew up hearing about - the actress Nora Bayes.


This famous relative was paraded out at all family gatherings. By the time my grandmother was growing up, Nora Bayes had passed away as a celebrity. Grandma saw her in movies, and listened to her songs. Nora Bayes was one of the first famous celebrities to exist in the early 1900s. If she were alive today she would be a coach on a reality music show.

In looking at her family history it's clear that there was a tremendous amount of dysfunction.

She fits nicely into my family story.

"How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?" (Nora Bayes, 1919)
Youtube Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgqVCJpRqWQ&list=RDEMnfMJhGDQNHZ3KX3TTMQIaw&start_radio=1

This LEGEND was just that - a legend. 

Nora Bayes' birth name was Rachel Eleanora Goldberg.  BAYES was her stage name. My Bayes family line is British. Nora Bayes's family line is Jewish. Nora Bayes is not my relative. 

How did she choose the name Bayes -- that will not be known for sure, but 

"Eleanora tried out stage names including Dora and Nora, and eventually a last name Bayes. According to an article in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency printed the day of her funeral, it was a Jewish stage manager that informed her that Dora Goldberg was not a name under which she could make it on the stage. Nora was easy enough to adopt. However, he suggested going through the alphabet to pick a better last name — and not just any alphabet, but the Hebrew one with the Ashkenazic pronunciation. He started from the beginning, saying "Aleph, Bays…" when she stopped him right there and reportedly said "That's it! Bays." Thus, Dora Goldberg became Nora Bayes."1

Many times I have told my grandmother we aren't related to Nora Bayes. The last time she mentioned it again, I smiled & said how exciting that was.  I realized that I wan't responsible for altering my senior grandmother's reality. 


I'm the keeper of the stories - not the story police! 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Sources:

1 Edwards, Bill. Ragpiano.com, retrieved June 26th 2019 from  http://ragpiano.com/perform/nbayes.shtml

Bayes, Nora. How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm video, YouTube, retrieved June 26th 2019 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgqVCJpRqWQ&list=RDEMnfMJhGDQNHZ3KX3TTMQIaw&start_radio=1



Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge, https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

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