Evelyn Bargelt
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September 9, 1877
Evelyn Bargelt | |
|---|---|
 Evelyn Bargelt, from a 1913 publication | |
| Born | Evelyn May Bargelt September 9, 1877 Traverse City, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | March 4, 1957 (aged 79) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Cartoonist, entertainer |
Evelyn May Bargelt (September 9, 1877 – March 4, 1957) was an American artist and entertainer, known as a "cartoonist-reader" and "one of the Chautauqua queens"[1] when she toured the United States with her live painting show on the Chautauqua and lyceum circuit before 1920.
Bargelt was from Traverse City, Michigan,[2] the daughter of Henry (Harry) Smith Bargelt and Mary Loisette Carter Bargelt.[3][4] She attended the Cumnock School of Oratory and the Chicago Art Institute.[5]
Career
Bargelt's stage act involved giving literary readings,[6] accompanied by music,[7] while she drew the stories' scenes, in pastel on paper.[8][9][10] "She is a reader of ability, and a cartoonist of unusual cleverness," reported one magazine in 1908.[2] She headed the Evelyn Bargelt Concert Company and toured the Chautauqua and lyceum circuit.[11][12][13] During World War I, she went to Belgium and France to entertain American troops there.[14][15]
Off stage, Bargelt painted portraits in Chicago.[16] She had exhibits of her portraits at Marshall Field's in 1934,[17] and at the Drake Hotel in 1939.[18]