About May Irwin
May Irwin (born Georgina May Campbell; June 27, 1862 – October 22, 1938) was a Canadian born American actress, singer, theatrical producer and star of vaudeville, and rose to prominence in the Gilded Age. She was a child star performing in a troupe headed by Tony Pastor alongside her sister Flo Irwin, and their success on stage saved the family from poverty after the untimely death of her father. She was among one of the earliest performers to record commercially and appeared in The Kiss (1896 film), one of the first commercially distributed films. In 1892 she founded The May Irwin Company, making her one of the first women to own and operate her own theatrical enterprise. They created a singing act, billed as the "Irwin Sisters," that debuted at the Adelphi Theatre in nearby Buffalo, New York in December 1874. In 1896, Edison's Kinetoscope production, The Kiss, became the first screen kiss in cinematic history. Originally from Canada, she and her sister Flo Irwin found theater work after their father died.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.