Vera Brady Shipman (May 26, 1889 – February 11, 1932) was an American composer, journalist, talent manager, and concert promoter, based in Kansas and Chicago.
Vera Brady Shipman | |
|---|---|
 Vera Brady Shipman, from a 1918 publication. | |
| Born | Vera Corinne Brady May 26, 1889 Salina, Kansas |
| Died | February 11, 1932 Chicago, Illinois |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | journalist, composer, clubwoman |
| Known for | arts journalism, concert promoter |
Early life
editVera Corinne Brady was born in Salina, Kansas,[1] the daughter of John Leeford Brady and Julia Mary Simons Hoinville. Her father was a newspaper editor in Kansas,[2] and later in Oregon and Idaho.[3] He also served in both houses of the Kansas Legislature, between 1904 and 1913. Her uncle was James H. Brady, Governor of Idaho.[4] Her mother lived in Chicago.[5] Vera Brady attended Hyde Park Academy High School in Chicago,[6] and the Cosmopolitan School of Music.[7]
Career
editShipman taught music and played in churches as a young woman.[8] She played piano accompaniment for various vocalists and instrumentalists, including singer Permelia Gale and cellist Vera Poppe.[9] She wrote music, including a setting of "Po' Li'l Lamb" by Paul Laurence Dunbar,[10] a song sung by her client Rosa Olitzka in concerts.[11][12] She composed the music for Twenty Little Songs for Children (1914), with lyrics by Francesca de Capdevila (who later married cellist Pablo Casals).[13]
Shipman was an arts journalist.[14] She wrote for Radio Digest,[15] Social Progress,[16][17] Musical America,[18] and was music and literary editor of The Salina Daily Union.[19] She also wrote film reviews,[20] and was a correspondent from the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1920.[21] She was heard on radio in the 1920s, including a report from Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans in 1923.[22] She was a vice president of the Chicago chapter of American Pen Women of Illinois.[23] She was a publicist for a Chicago department store,[24][25] and she booked tours and managed musical performers.[26][27]
Personal life
editBrady married Melville Percy Shipman, a newspaper colleague of her father's, in 1913.[28][6] They had two daughters, Mary Juliet Shipman (1915-1986)[29] and Sarah Ann Shipman (1921-1926).[30] Vera Brady Shipman moved from Kansas to Chicago in 1922.[31] She died in 1932, aged 42 years, in a Chicago hotel room, possibly by suicide,[32][33] though her family announced that she died from a heart attack.[24] Her grave is in Lawrence, Kansas.[34]
References
edit- ^ "Personal". The Salina Evening Journal. February 26, 1918. p. 2. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brady Baby". The Salina Daily Union. February 25, 1918. p. 5. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Untitled news item". The Oregon Exchange. 8: 27. December 1924.
- ^ Murdock, William Gray (1909). Brady Family Reunion and Fragments of Brady History and Biography. s.n. pp. 111.
John Leeford Brady.
- ^ "Chicago". The Santa Fe Magazine. 18: 82. October 1924.
- ^ a b "Miss Vera Brady's Marriage". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. September 11, 1913. p. 5. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Miss Brady's Recital". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. June 15, 1911. p. 5. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Miss Brady a Teacher". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. August 28, 1911. p. 3. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bloomington, Il". Music News. 11: 29. January 10, 1919.
- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1915. p. 1326.
- ^ "Salina". Music News. 11: 14. March 28, 1919.
- ^ "May Be Heard Here". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. October 16, 1915. p. 5. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Songs for Little Folks". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. October 17, 1914. p. 8. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Untitled news item". Statesman Journal. October 8, 1924. p. 8. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Halper, Donna (2015-02-11). Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting. Routledge. ISBN 9781317520177.
- ^ Shipman, Vera Brady (November 1923). "America's Great Tenor". Social Progress. 7: 359–360.
- ^ Shipman, Vera Brady (December 1923). "An Ideal Social Leader". Social Progress. 7: 379–380.
- ^ "Salinas to Have Two Concert Series During Coming Winter". Musical America. 28: 206. October 19, 1918.
- ^ "Covers Story by Plane". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. May 6, 1920. p. 1. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Shipman, Vera Brady (February 5, 1920). "Photoplay Review". The Salina Daily Union. p. 2. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Vera Brady Shipman". The Salina Daily Union. June 3, 1920. p. 1. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Radio 'Listeners In' at 11:35 Heard Vera Brady Shipman". The Salinas Daily Union. February 16, 1923. p. 8. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Chicago Branch of the American Pen Women of Illinois". Chicago Tribune. June 1, 1930. p. 84. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Dies Unexpectedly". Lawrence Journal World. February 12, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ "Obituaries: Vera Brady Shipman". Women's Wear Daily. February 19, 1932. p. 21 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "Vera Brady Shipman". Music News. 11: 12. March 7, 1919.
- ^ "Shipman Concert Series". The Musical Leader. 36: 274. September 19, 1918.
- ^ "About Vera Brady Shipman". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. August 17, 1915. p. 4. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Untitled society item". Statesman Journal. November 9, 1924. p. 16. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Granddaughter of Former Statesman Editor Dies in Pocatello, Idaho". Statesman Journal. December 30, 1926. p. 7. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Shipman". Music News. 14: 9. February 24, 1922.
- ^ "Chicago Club Editor is Discovered Dead in Room". Wausau Daily Herald. February 12, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Woman Editor Found Dead; Mrs. Vera Shipman of Chicago Paper is Believed a Suicide". The New York Times. February 12, 1932. p. 12 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "Gone to Kansas". St. Cloud Times. February 17, 1932. p. 6. Retrieved August 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.