Irma Hopper
Hennetta Irma Prichard Hopper was an American fencer, singer, and songwriter. She competed in the women's individual foil events at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics.
Early life and education
Irma Prichard was born in Galesburg, Illinois, the daughter of James R. Prichard and stepdaughter of Etta Stephens Prichard. Her father was a judge. She was a singer, and trained for a stage career, earning her diploma at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1917.Career
Wartime service
Hopper served in the Women's Motor Corps during World War I. She was one of the first relief workers on the scene at a munitions plant explosion in Morgan, New Jersey, in 1918.Music and writing
Hopper wrote music and lyrics for songs, often for stage use. Among her songs were "Just Like a Violin", "Just Around the Corner", "We're in Love", "The Gold Fish", "I'm in Love with a Maid", "The Days of Long Ago", "Just Try and Weather the Storm", "A Warning", "When I'm Near You, "Aladdin's Lamp", "When Love Will Not Die", "Wild Rose", "Will o the Wisp", "Rose of the Cabaret", "Under a Thousand Eyes", "When the Time to Say Goodnight Comes", "Old Fashioned Days", and "Somebody You'll Pass This Way Again". Her song "Paris" was in a musical comedy, Say When, but cut before the show appeared on Broadway.Hopper wrote and recited a poem at a 1919 event at the Plaza Hotel, to benefit the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. She performed her songs on radio programs in 1924. In 1925, she went to Paris as "envoy" of the Metropolitan Opera Company, to secure several noted singers for the opera's new season.