May Irwin

May Irwin was a Canadian born American actress, singer, theatrical producer and star of vaudeville, and rose to prominence in the Gilded Age. She was a child star performing in a troupe headed by Tony Pastor alongside her sister Flo Irwin, and their success on stage saved the family from poverty after the untimely death of her father. She was among one of the earliest performers to record commercially and appeared in The Kiss, one of the first commercially distributed films. In 1892 she founded The May Irwin Company, making her one of the first women to own and operate her own theatrical enterprise.