Clarita Vidal (20 January 1883 – 17 June 1919) was an actress in Edwardian musical comedies, later known for her wartime work in Italy as Countess Chiquita Mazzuchi.
Early life Vidal's origins were unclear, even to herself. "I really don't know what my nationality is," she confessed to a reporter in 1901."Recruiting the Ranks of the Famous Florodora Sextette" San Francisco Examiner (December 29, 1901): 28. via Newspapers.com She said she was born in Singapore, the daughter of a Spanish ambassador and an Englishwoman.United States Congress, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, Regulating Collection of Money: Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs (U.S. Government Printing Office 1919): 23–24. Elsewhere she was described as a native of the "Sunny South", raised in Spanish diplomatic circles in Algiers,"Clarita Vidal" The Royal Magazine (October 1903): 483. possibly as Chiquita Saavedra de Cervantes."To be Married To-Morrow" Sketch (June 30, 1909): 389.Jack Drouillard, "Sister Chick, in Trenches since 1914, Decorated Twice for Bravery" Evening World (May 21, 1918): 16. via Newspapers.com"Countess Gives War Talk Here" Indianapolis Star (November 12, 1917): 4. via Newspapers.com
Career
Vidal was a Florodora girl, and counted among the "beauties" of the stage.Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen 2d., "Beauty in the Modern Chorus" Cosmopolitan (March 1903): 494. Her Broadway appearances included roles in The Silver Slipper (1902–1903)Leslie Stuart, Owen Hall, W. H. Risque, The Silver Slipper: A Musical Comedy (T. B. Harms 1901). and Cynthia (1903). In London, she was seen in The New Regime (1903), The School Girl (1903), and His Highness, My Husband (1904).J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1900–1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013): 140, 149, 201. "All the beauties of the day were in The School Girl," recalled actress Billie Burke. "I remember Clarita Vidal, famous and smick-smack, who posed as if she were made of wax, with just one expression of sheer beauty."Billie Burke, With a Feather on my Nose (Pickle Partners Publishing 2015).
She married in 1909 and left the stage, but reappeared in the news by late 1915"Wounded Soldiers Nursed in Cellars" Boston Globe (December 17, 1915): 4. via Newspapers.com as "Mme. Daisy Mazzuchi""Sails for War Zone with Ambulances" Chicago Tribune (February 1, 1916): 21. via Newspapers.com or "Countess Chiquita 'Chick' Mazzuchi","Sister Chick the White Devil of Rheims" Atlanta Constitution (September 16, 1917): 4. via Newspapers.com working as a nurse at Latisana, or an ambulance driver,"Italy's First Woman Ambulance Driver Here Seeking Aid" Riverside Daily Press (July 18, 1917): 3. via California Digital Newspaper Collection or both,"Shell-Torn Wounded Tended Under Fire by Woman Nurse and Hospital Organizer on Italian Front" Chicago Commerce (August 3, 1917): 3. during World War I."Soldiers Worship 'Chick'" Traralgon Record (August 9, 1918): 6. via Trove"Italian Nurse Hurt in Aeroplane Raid" The New York Times (August 20, 1916): 14. In 1917 she was a speaker at war relief fundraisers in New York,Chloe Arnold, "Mrs. Mazzuchi's Work in War Inspiring to Women Throughout the World" The Sun (January 13, 1918): 43. via Newspapers.com telling of wounds she received (including a bullet"Table Gossip" Boston Globe (June 24, 1917): 57. via Newspapers.com) in her work in Italy."Representatives Hear War Speakers" Printers' Ink (October 4, 1917): 97.
Her use of the title "Countess" was criticized by the Italian consul in Chicago,"'Angel of Marne' Doffs Halo to Swear Vendetta" Chicago Tribune (November 16, 1917): 13. via Newspapers.com and her speeches were found to contain "grossly exaggerated" claims of her nursing experiences in the war zone."Woman's Title False, Italian Consul Says" Chicago Examiner (November 14, 1917): 1. via Chicago Public Library She agreed to stop speaking or collecting money for war relief"'Countess' Ordered to End 'War Fund'" New-York Tribune (August 3, 1918): 7. via Newspapers.com when New York district attorney Edward Swann inquired about her work."Swann Summons Countess" The New York Times (June 23, 1918): 14. "Countess Quits War Work" The New York Times (August 3, 1918): 16. via "Wiping Out the War Charity Profiteers and Wasters" San Francisco Examiner (September 22, 1918): 47. via Newspapers.com
Personal life She married her first husband, an Englishman called Lord Seymour,"Italian Countess from War Zone to Make Talk Here" Indianapolis Star (November 4, 1917): 61. via Newspapers.com when she was sixteen; he was killed on their honeymoon in South Africa. She married E. G. Mazzuchi in 1909. She had a daughter named Rita. She divorced her second husband before 1918.
References
External links
A 1904 postcard portrait of Clarita Vidal, in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery (UK). A 1918 news photo of "Countess Mazzuchi" raising money for the American Red Cross, in the collection of the Library of Congress. The 1915 Italian passport of "Chick Mazzuchi", in nurse's uniform; in the collection of the Library of Congress. "Chick Mazzuchi driving an ambulance in France", a photograph in the collection of the Library of Congress.