Vida Whitmore (1882 – February 23, 1978), later Vida L. W. Hudson, was an American musical theatre actress, businesswoman, and major benefactor of Columbia University.
Early life Vida L. Whitmore was from Petersburg, Virginia, one of seven siblings born to Emmet Archer Whitmore and Martha Merrill Whitmore."Miss Virginia L. Whitmore" Progress-Index (May 28, 1959): 26. via Newspapers.com
Career Whitmore went to London in 1903 with the show Dolly Varden.J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1900–1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013): 157. On Broadway she appeared in The Earl and the Girl (1905), Miss Dolly Dollars (1905), Up and Down Broadway (1910)."The Players" Everybody's Magazine (January 1911): 121."Eddie Foy in the New Musical Extravaganza, 'Up and Down Broadway', at the Casino" The Theatre (September 1910): 85. and The Balkan Princess (1911).Cecil A. Smith, Glenn Litton, Musical Comedy in America: From The Black Crook to South Pacific, From The King & I to Sweeney Todd (Routledge 2013): 118.
She co-founded Whitmore & Lyden Dressmaking Company, incorporated in New York in 1907."New Millinery Corporations: New York" Millinery Trade Review (February 1907): 125. The company employed twenty dressmakers in its first year of operation."Actors Sometimes Leave the Stage" Chicago Tribune (April 7, 1907): 94. via Newspapers.com
Personal life and legacy Vida Whitmore married twice. She married Mandeville de Marigny Hall in 1908. He was still married to his first wife at the time, and was soon arrested for passing bad checks and other crimes."Suit for Divorce and Crime Charges Await Him" Chicago Tribune (August 9, 1908): 8. via Newspapers.com Hall pawned about $20,000 worth of Whitmore's jewelry while they were on honeymoon in Europe."Wife of Mandeville Hall Accuses Him of Swindling in Application for Divorce" Buffalo Courier (August 14, 1908): 2. via Newspapers.com That marriage was annulled in 1912."Gaby's Successor Adopts New Role" Inter Ocean (February 29, 1912): 3. via Newspapers.com She married Percy Kierstede Hudson, a stockbroker, after being named in his well-publicized 1928 divorce."Elizabeth C. Hudson v. Percy K. Hudson" Supreme Court Appellate Division Nov. Term 1927 Vol. 20 (1927): 35."Testifies Against Wife" New York Times (June 16, 1928): 32. The couple were living in Guatemala in 1959.
She was widowed in 1962,"Percy K. Hudson, Ex-Stock Broker" New York Times (March 15, 1962): 35. and she died in 1978, aged 95 years, in Palm Beach, Florida. Together the Hudsons left twelve million dollars to Columbia University.Edith Evans Asbury, "Columbials Left $12 Million Gift" New York Times (April 12, 1978): NJ17.C. David Tiefer, "Alumnus Leaves Engineering Trust Fund Worth $8 Million" Columbia Daily Spectator (February 22, 1974): 1-2. There are several professorships at Columbia named for Percy K. and Vida L. W. Hudson."Prof. Laine Appointed Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor of Biomedical Engineering" Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University (November 14, 2011).
References
External links Vida Whitmore Hudson's gravesite in Georgia, on Find a Grave. (Her gravestone gives a birthdate of 1892, which is unlikely given her stage work in 1903 and 1905.)