Clarita Vidal

Vidal's origins were unclear, even to herself. "I really don't know what my nationality is," she confessed to a reporter in 1901.[2] She said she was born in Singapore, the daughter of a Spanish ambassador and an Englishwoman.[3] Elsewhere she was described as a native of the "Sunny South", raised in Spanish diplomatic circles in Algiers,[4] possibly as Chiquita Saavedra de Cervantes.[5][6][7]

Clarita Vidal, from a 1909 publication.

Vidal was a Florodora girl,[3] and counted among the "beauties" of the stage.[8] Her Broadway appearances included roles in The Silver Slipper (1902-1903)[9] and Cynthia (1903). In London, she was seen in The New Regime (1903), The School Girl (1903), and His Highness, My Husband (1904).[10] "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."[11]

"Chick" Mazzuchi driving an ambulance, from a 1917 publication.

She married in 1909 and left the stage, but reappeared in the news by late 1915[12] as "Mme. Daisy Mazzuchi"[13] or "Countess Chiquita 'Chick' Mazzuchi",[14] working as a nurse at Latisana, or an ambulance driver,[15] or both,[16] during World War I.[17][18] In 1917 she was a speaker at war relief fundraisers in New York,[19] telling of wounds she received (including a bullet[20]) in her work in Italy.[21]

Her use of the title "Countess" was criticized by the Italian consul in Chicago,[22] and her speeches were found to contain "grossly exaggerated" claims of her nursing experiences in the war zone.[3][23] She agreed to stop speaking or collecting money for war relief[24] when New York district attorney Edward Swann inquired about her work.[25][26][27]

She married her first husband, an Englishman called Lord Seymour,[28] when she was sixteen; he was killed on their honeymoon in South Africa.[2] She married E. G. Mazzuchi in 1909.[5] She had a daughter named Rita. She divorced her second husband before 1918.[3]

• Clarita Vidal at the Internet Broadway Database
• 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.