Mary Sybil Kidd Maynard Lewis[1] (January 7, 1900[1][2][note 1] – December 31, 1941) was an American lyric soprano and actress who had an active performance career in musicals, operas, vaudeville, and in film during the first half of the twentieth century.

Lewis gained a new home after she was found outside a church while she waited to meet a friend when the service ended.

[6] She also worked in a town in southern California as one of a group of women who sat in circles singing songs, with oil workers throwing money at them.

[5] Lewis joined the chorus of The Greenwich Village Follies of 1920,[7] and by the time the show opened, she had been named its prima donna.

Plans had called for such a contract for the following season, but an offer to Lewis from the Chicago Opera Company prompted Metropolitan officials to act sooner.

Her curtain call after that debut resulted in "the throwing of bouquets, handy knots of violets, thrown from front seats all about the orchestra pit".

[11] Following her Metropolitan Opera debut, Lewis had "an extensive concert tour" and recorded arias and songs for the Victor Talking Machine Company.

[8] Her later roles with the Metropolitan Opera included Antonia, Gilda, Guiletta, Juliet, Lauretta, Marguerite, and Thaïs.

"[12] The contract initially received attention in 1930 when it was recorded on sound film[14] — the first time such documentation was used in place of a written agreement.

[15] The subsequent conflict attracted attention from other actors because it was one of the first legal actions to enforce the morals clause that had recently become a standard part of most stars' contracts.

[16] Radio programs on which Lewis appeared included The Atwater Kent Hour on NBC[17] and Melody Moments on the Blue Network.

[19] In 1934, she sang in a recital sponsored by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences at the Academy of Music[20] and at a concert in Paterson, New Jersey.

[21] In 1936, Lewis sang on Ben Bernie's NBC radio program[22] and performed at a nightclub in New York, singing two popular songs and three operatic airs.

[25] Mary Lewis: The Golden Haired Soprano, a set of two compact discs (Marston 52047) was released in 2009.

The set was produced by Ward Marston, and it contains "all known Lewis recordings, both acoustic and electric",[10] including six previously unpublished numbers.