Claire Schade

Claire Antoinette Schade (1893 – 1991) was an American vaudeville actress and toe dancer. Born in Bloomington, Illinois, she left school early, at the age of 9, for her career. She performed in vaudeville as part of her family's act, The Four Schades, which was centered around her; they were known for their skit, "Mistakes Will Happen". The Four Schades was successful in her adolescence but lessened in popularity when she got older. She performed in several theater plays, including "For His Brother's Crime" and "Dreamland". Writer Frederick J. Simonelli described her as "the Shirley Temple of her era". She earned enough as an actress to make a living and had her share of fans, but never achieved celebrity.

In 1915, Schade married fellow vaudeville performer George Lovejoy Rockwell, with whom she had three children. She largely retired from performance in 1918 after the birth of their first child, George Lincoln Rockwell, and entirely retired after the birth of their second the next year. They divorced in 1924, though due to a misstep in the legal paperwork were not legally divorced until 1936. Schade moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to live with her sister, where she largely raised the children. Her sister largely controlled her finances from then on. Her eldest son George Lincoln Rockwell later became a high-profile neo-Nazi and the founder of the American Nazi Party. She was one of the only people in their family who did not cut contact with him. She expressed some sympathy for his views; she financially supported him and may have financially contributed to the American Nazi Party herself. She died in 1991.