Truly Shattuck

Truly Shattuck
Burr McIntosh Monthly August, 1905
Born	Clarice Etrulia de Bucharde (1875-07-27)July 27, 1875 San Miguel, California, U.S.
Died	December 6, 1954(1954-12-06) (aged 79) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Musical Actress
Spouse(s)	Stephen A. Douglas,

Truly Shattuck (July 27, 1875 – December 6, 1954) was a soubrette star of vaudeville, music halls and Broadway whose career began in tragedy and ended in relative obscurity.

Truly Shattuck was born at San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California in an adobe house adjoining the historic Mission San Miguel Arcángel. Her birth name was said to be Clarice Etrulia de Burchards (or Burcharde) which has proven difficult to verify through public records. Shattuck was the surname of her stepfather, who like her birthfather, nothing here is known. Truly’s mother was Jane Shattuck.

In 1893 Jane Shattuck murdered Harry Poole, her daughter's boyfriend, after he refused to commit to marriage after the couple spent the night together. Shattuck's mother was originally convicted of first degree murder, but was later released after winning a temporary insanity appeal. At the time Shattuck was a chorus girl at the Tivoli Opera House in San Francisco and as a result of the national exposure generated by Poole's murder, her career began to take seed.

Truly Shattuck made her first New York vaudeville appearance at Tony Pastor's theater in 1896. Her first major role came the following year playing Mephisto in "Very Little Faust and Much Marguerite", staged at Hammerstein's Olympia Theatre. Shattuck went on to tour for a number of seasons as a lead performer in several traveling burlesque and vaudeville companies. When John Philip Sousa's marches were the rage in the 1890s, Truly caused a bit of controversy by putting words to his music and singing them at music halls such as Koster & Bial's in New York. Shattuck spent the last year or so of the 19th century in Germany performing at Berlin and Dresden before supporting Edna May in the 1900 London production of An American Beauty,

In 1904 she went from vaudeville to Broadway to play Celestine in the musical An English Daisy, at the Casino Theatre and later that year in George M. Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones at the Liberty Theatre. In 1906 she played Mrs. Franklin-Jones-Berrymore in the musical farce The Governor's Son staged at the Aerial Gardens (now the New Amsterdam Roof). She created the role of Violette in Parisian Model at the Broadway Theatre in 1906 and the following year she played Adelaide Forster (the lady) in the George Broadhurst play The Lady from Lane's staged at the Lyric Theatre and Casino Theatre. Her last Broadway roles came in 1910 as Trixie Stole in Judy Forgot at the Broadway Theatre and as Alma in “Alma, Where Do You Live?” with Weber and Fields