Chauncey Olcott (July 21, 1858 – March 18, 1932) was an American stage actor, songwriter and singer of Irish descent. Olcott was elected to The Lambs in 1882, when the Club was just eight years old. If he is remembered for anything today, it’s for writing the classic “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” (1913).
He was born in Buffalo, New York. His mother, Margaret (née Doyle), was a native of Killeagh, County Cork.
In the early years of his career Olcott sang in minstrel shows, before studying singing in London during the 1880s. Lillian Russell played a major role in helping make him a Broadway star. When the producer Augustus Pitou approached him in 1893 to succeed William J. Scanlan as the leading tenor in sentimental operettas on Irish themes, Olcott accepted and performed pseudo-Irish roles for the remainder of his career.
Olcott combined the roles of tenor, actor, lyricist and composer in many productions. He wrote the complete scores to Irish musicals such as Sweet Inniscara (1897), A Romance of Athlone (1899), Garrett O’Magh (1901), and Old Limerick Town (1902). For other productions he collaborated with fellow Lamb Ernest R. Ball and George Graff in works such as The Irish Artist (1894), Barry of Ballymore (1910), Macushla (1912), and The Isle o’ Dreams (1913). There are some 20 such works between 1894 and 1920.
He was a good songwriter who captured the mood of his Irish-American audience by combining melodic and rhythmic phrases from traditional Irish music with melancholy sentiment. Some numbers from his musicals became very popular, such as “My Wild Irish Rose” from A Romance of Athlone, “Mother Machree” from Barry of Ballymore, and “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” from The Isle o’ Dreams. Sometimes he used tunes from others, such as that of the title song from Macushla from Irish composer Dermot Macmurrough (pseudonym of Harold R. White) or “Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral” (Irish Lullaby) by James Royce Shannon for his production Shameen Dhu (1914).
In 1925, a serious illness forced him to retire, and he moved to Monte Carlo where he died of pernicious anemia in 1932. His remains were brought home and interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.
In 1970, Olcott was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.