- Page 201 →Helen May Butler (1866-1957) is considered to be the first female leader of an all-woman band in the U.S. The band played all along the Chautauqua circuit, including every state east of Colorado, and at expositions in Berlin, Rio and Buenos Aires, to great acclaim. Butler was also a fine solo violinist and a composer. Her stirring march, “Cosmopolitan America,” was the official theme music of Teddy Roosevelt’s first Presidential election campaign. After his victory, her band gave a command performance at the White House. She retired in 1911, later emerging to conduct one more season at the urging of the Barnum and Bailey circus (about 1913-14). That season was the greatest popular success of her career. She then settled in the Cincinnati area, operated a small hotel, performed solo and small group music, and was active in endless civic organizations. Her daughter wrote of her: “She had a very wonderful life and was a remarkable woman.”
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