May Arno Schwatt Scrapbooks

May Arno Schwatt was born in Pltava, Russia to Saul and Chaya Shamus Charsky. Her mother died when she was young and she immigrated to America with a sister in the early 1880s to join her father and older sister Jennie Charsky at the Rosenheym Jewish agricultural colony in New Jersey. She developed an interest in singing and acting. Under the stage name May Arno, she traveled as an actress and singer with a theater company in the early years of the twentieth century. May's older sister Jennie married Russian Jewish immigrant physician Dr. Charles Spivak and the couple migrated to Denver in 1896 for Jennie's health. Dr. Spivak later became a founder of the JCRS (1904) and executive director of the institution. May Arno married Jacob Marinoff who was superintendent of the JCRS Sanitorium in 1906. After divorcing, she married Dr. Herman Schwatt, who served as the Medical Superintendent of the JCRS from 1910 to 1915. While in Denver May Arno Schwatt opened a dramatic school for children, wrote articles, and performed at many functions in the Denver community. She died in Denver on February 19, 1968.