Carolyn Thomson Minnesota Native Theater Star in New York

Only a Rose by Rudolf Friml, W.H. Post and Brian Hooker
Cover featuring Carolyn Thomson
Vintage Sheet Music

Only a Rose (Vintage Sheet Music)

New York: Henry Waterson, Inc., 1925

Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co., Selling Agents

This blog post by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

Cover Image: Carolyn Thomson as Katherine DeVaucelles

Russell Janney's new spectacular musical play, The Vagabond King. Founded on Justin Huntly McCarthy's romance, If I Were King. 

Music by Rudolf Friml. Book and lyrics by W.H. Post and Brian Hooker. Staged by Max Figman. Musical numbers by Julian Alfred. Music under direction of Anton Heindl.

The Sheet Music Cover

What makes this sheet music cover fabulous is the image of Carolyn Thomson in costume for the role of Katherine DeVaucelles.  The monochrome photo is set on an orange-gold background with a halo surrounding her head and torso. 

CLICK HERE to hear Carolyn Thomson sing Only a Rose (YouTube.com)

A Brief Biography of the Career of Carolyn Thomson

Please note: Among news articles about Miss Thomson there are many variations of this story. For this reason her story is hard to follow. 

Carolyn Thomson, the daughter of a lumber merchant in the Flour City, was born Walter and Lucretia Matthews Thomson on April 27, 1898, in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up in my hometown of Minneapolis, one of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, sometimes called the Minne-Apple. Miss Thomson "made it big," going from the MinneApple to the Big Apple of New York to star in stage shows. In an article from August 4, 1918 in the New York Herald she is called the "little prima donna." 

Before making it big, Thomson had roles in local Twin Cities' musicals and sang in a Presbyterian church choir. In many news accounts, she was discovered by Nellie Melba while playing a role at the Studio Arcade. A letter followed, offering Carolyn, still a teenager, a starring role in Adele in London, England. This was big news among the Society set, and even Minnesota's governor, A.O. Eberhart, wrote her a letter of congratulations. Great reviews followed opening night, naming her the "silver-voiced angel." High on the excitement, Carolyn cabled four words to Minneapolis, "Tremendous success: notices later."

When World War I broke out, Carolyn and her mother, Lucretia Thomson, sailed for New York, where after arrival went to see Lee Shubert and was promptly auditioned. She was sent right into rehearsals for Franz Lehar's new opera, The Star Gazer, as its leading lady was too sick to play the role.

Two Quotes by Carolyn Thomson

Buffalo Evening News, May 3, 1918

"I don't mean I have a blind faith, but if you know you have ability, after you have looked at yourself from every angle, then aim high. The chances are you will land better than if you reached the lower place for which you have tried with less faith, and there is always the chance of reaching the top if you aim for it." 

"Don't think if you land well up the ladder at the first jump, that you can stay there without work. It may be a whole lot easier to land than to stick."

When Carolyn married, she retired from the stage for a short time. The marriage lasted five years.Her role of Katherine DeVaucelles in The Vagabond King was the first upon return from retirement. 

According to news stories, Carolyn's first husband was Donald William Best whom she married in 1915 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There is a record of divorce granted from John T. Herne in 1927, and a 1944 article stating that she was married to a college professor and living in Glendale, California.

Carolyn Thomson

However the particular details land within Carolyn Thomson's story, she was a young lady with confidence and purpose who experienced a whirlwind rise to fame and a full life.  According to all accounts she remained a woman with the Midwest in her heart and not necessarily changed by the glitter and lights of fame on the stage.

List of Some of the Works in Which Carolyn Thomson Performed

Adele

Vagabond King

Maytime

The Star Gazer

Little Simplicity

Princess Virtue

The Belle of New York

The Right Girl

The Love Letter

The Poor Little Ritz Girl

Miss I Don't Know

Information Sources: Newspaper articles of the period, many of which are now in the public domain. For research like this I recommend a subscription to Newspapers.com.