Individuals >> Kellogg, Clara Louise (1842-1916)

Singer.

Albert Parry calls Clara Kellogg "the diva" and decribes her as "an American prima donna then at the sunset of her career but prosperous enough to be kind to the young art-gentry of New York and to go to Italy for her winters” (92). She was the link between Pfaff’s and Maria’s, "a New York restaurant popular among the "Bohemians" of the 1890s (92). Parry describes Kellogg’s gossip sessions in which she told “droll stories” about Ada Clare’s lover, Louis Gottschalk, and his “innumerable conquests of silly females. The frequenters of Maria’s gasped at this long-ago deviltry. They pressed Madame Kellogg for more details, forgetting to be discreet. But Madame primly assured them that she herself had had a good guardian in the person of her mother who warned her against Gottschalk. Madame said she had no dealings with Louis except professionally. The voluptuaries at Maria’s winked at each other behind Madame’s broad back" (92).

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References & Biographical Resources

Personne [Wilkins, Edward G. P.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New-York Saturday Press. 21 Apr. 1860: 3. [more about this work]

Personne mentions rehearsals for her at the opera; she is also refered to as "La Kelloggini" (3). [pages: 3]

Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 30 Sep. 1865: 136-137. [more about this work]

Figaro discusses the "attacks" made upon her in the Herald and her reception by the audience during the opera's opening this week. He argues that the Herald's discusssion of her singing created a more sympathetic and welcoming audience and that she should have the Herald defame her more frequently as it works to her advantage (136-137). Figaro reviews her performance as Marghertia in Faust (137). [pages: 136-137]

Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 7 Oct. 1865: 152-153. [more about this work]

Figaro reports that Bennett's treatment of Kellogg has been one of his biggest recent mistakes (152). [pages: 152]

Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 19 Aug. 1865: 40-41. [more about this work]

Figaro lists Miss Kellogg under Maretzek's soprano singers. Figaro claims he is surprised that Maretzek will have anything to do with Kellogg after her treatment by Bennett and the Herald last year (41). [pages: 41]

Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 23 Sep. 1865: 120-121. [more about this work]

Figaro reports that Kellogg will star in Faust, the opening opera of Maretzek's season (121). [pages: 121]

Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 14 Oct. 1865: 168-169. [more about this work]

Figaro wonders why Bennett at the Herald doesn't renew his previous year's attacks on Kellogg in light of his recent criticism of several other popular female performers (169). [pages: 169]

Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 21 Oct. 1865: 184-185. [more about this work]

Figaro reports that Kellogg had to sing the part of Mdlle. Parepa during Bateman's Wednesday concert at the Academy of Music (185). [pages: 185]

Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New-York Saturday Press. 24 Mar. 1866: 4, 5. [more about this work]

Figaro mentions that Kellogg's benefit was postponed and announces that it has been rescheduled (5). [pages: 5]

Kellogg, Clara Louise. Memoirs of an American Prima Donna. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1913. [more about this work]

[pages: FP (ill.),12(ill.),14(ill.),20(ill.),28(ill.),56(ill.),72(ill.),74(ill.),82(ill.),88(ill.)134(ill.),230(ill.)252(ill.),292(ill.)]

Parry, Albert. Garrets and Pretenders: A History of Bohemianism in America. New York: Covici, Friede, 1933. [more about this work]

Parry describes her as "the diva," "an American prima donna then at the sunset of her career but prosperous enough to be kind to the young art-gentry of New York and to go to Italy for her winters. She was the link between Pfaff's and Maria's," a New York restaurant popular among the "Bohemians" of the 1890s (92). Parry continues that "She remembered the fascinatingly drooping eyelids of Gottschalk, Ada's gay deceiver. She told at Maria's droll stories of his unnumerable conquests of silly females. The frequenters of Maria's gasped at this long-ago deviltry. They pressed Madame Kellogg for more details, forgetting to be discreet. But Madame primly assured them that she herself had had a good guardian in the person of her mother who warned her against Gottschalk. Madame said she had no dealings with Louis except professionally. The voluptuaires at Maria's winked at each other behind Madame's broad back" (92). [pages: 92]

Spofford, Harriet Prescott. "Clara Louise Kellogg." Our Famous Women: An Authorized Record of The Lives and Deeds of Distinguished American Women of Our Times. Hartford, Conn. : A. D. Worthington, 1884. 359-385. [more about this work]

[pages: 359-385]

Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske, eds. Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume III, Grinnwell-Lockwood. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1888. [more about this work]

Kellogg debut as Gilda in Rigoletto" in 1864 at the Academy of music in New York; however, she did not gain fame until 1864 as Marguerite in Gounod's "Faust." [pages: 506]