Camille D'Arville (June 21, 1863 – September 9, 1932), born Cornelia "Neeltye" Dykstra, was a Dutch-born light opera singer and a vaudeville performer. She was a member of The Bostonians. (Her surname is also found as Darville, d'Arville, and D'arville.)
Early life Neeltye Dykstra was from the province of Overijssel the daughter of Cornelius Dykstra, a merchant.A. D. Storms, The Players Blue Book (Sutherland & Storms 1901): 242. At the age of 12 she began her voice training in Amsterdam. There she made her concert debut at age 14, and pursued further training in Vienna. She changed her name to Camille D'Arville soon after her opera debut in London."Camille D'Arville" Grande Musica.
Career
In London D'Arville was associated with the Gaiety Theatre; she appeared in the shows La Vie, Chilperic, Rip Van Winkle, Falka, Mynheer Jan, Carina, and Cymbria, among others. She moved to the United States in 1888."Camille D'Arville's Arrival", The New York Times (April 2, 1888), p. 8. Her stage appearances included roles in The Queen's Mate (1888), Venus (1893), Oscar Hammerstein I's Santa Maria (1896), The Belle of London Town (1907), A Daughter of the Revolution, The Bohemian Girl, Robin Hood, Madeleine, The Highwayman, and The Mascotte.Marwell Hall, ed., Gallery of Players from the Illustrated American (Lorillard Spencer 1895): 40-41.Johnson Briscoe, The Actors' Birthday Book (Moffat Yard 1907): 142. She was associated with the Bostonians light opera company for some of these shows. She was known for "cavalier" parts, in which female characters were disguised in masculine hat, tunic, boots, and tights for part of the show."Camille D'Arville" in Lewis Clinton Strang, Famous Prima Donnas (L. C. Page 1900), pp.: 209–213."She wears a military costume which is charmingly becoming to her, also a short curly blond wig," one reviewer noted."Camille Darville" Opera Glass (October 1895): 151. In 1894, she headed the Camille D'Arville Light Opera Company."'Prince Kam' Applauded" New York Times (January 30, 1894): 5. She retired from the stage after 1908, though she had announced an intention to retire after her second marriage as early as 1900, writing "I believe that any other woman who pursues a profession after her marriage makes a miserable failure of it.""Camille D'Arville Tells Why She Leaves the Stage", San Francisco Call (August 26, 1900), p. 10.
Later in life, she worked behind the scenes with the Reginald Travers Company, as a financial patron and artistic advisor."Camille D'Arville" Oakland Tribune (September 18, 1932): 29. via Newspapers.com She also purchased a large prune ranch near Los Gatos, California, in 1913."Santa Clara Orchard in Los Gatos Hills", San Francisco Call (April 13, 1913), p. 61. During World War I she was president of Stage Women's War Relief branch in San Francisco.Tantalus, "Social Prattle", San Francisco Daily Times (May 18, 1918), p. 13."Musicians Now are Pledged", Dramatic Mirror of Motion Pictures and the Stage (June 29, 1918), p. 915. She was also president of the San Francisco Light Opera Company."Camille D'Arville, Opera Star, Dies", The New York Times (September 11, 1932), p. 30.
Personal life Camille D'Arville married twice. Her first husband was Andrew Wilson Lyons, an acrobat. They married in 1879 and divorced in 1899."Camille D'Arville's Former Husband Demands Damages" St. Louis Republic (May 11, 1902): 3. via Chronicling America, Library of Congress. She married businessman Ernest Willard Crellin and lived in San Francisco, California in her later life."San Francisco to be the Singer's Future Home" San Francisco Call (August 26, 1900): 10. via California Digital Newspaper Collection She died in 1932, aged 69 years, in San Francisco. She was survived by Crellin, by her son Louis Lyons Wilson, and by her sister Lena Dykstra."Lena Dykstra" New York Sun (September 4, 1945): 92.
References
External links
A cabinet card of Camille D'Arville in the American Vaudeville Museum Archive at the University of Arizona. Another cabinet card of Camille D'Arville, from the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State University. Cigarette card featuring Camille D'Arville, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Camille D'Arville's listing at IBDB.