Molly Wynne as Jack in the pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, Crystal Palace, London, Christmas 1912

Molly Wynne (active early 20th Century), English actress and singer, as she appeared as Jack in the pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, produced at Crystal Palace Theatre, south London at Christmas 1912.
(postcard photo: Elwin Neame, London, 1912, negative no. 2252-9)

‘FUN AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.
‘All hypochondriacs ought to go to the Crystal Palace pantomime, ”Jack and the Beanstalk.” Jaundiced indeed will be their view of life if they fail to laugh. There are go-ahead comedians like Mr. Alfred Passmore, Mr. Bobbie Hall, Mr. Alfred Hurley, and Messrs. McKie and McKay. There is reality about Giant Big Bloke, played by Mr. J.M. East; there is a dainty little Jack in Miss Molly Wynne, and there is an outstanding artist in acting, singing, dancing, and smiling in Miss Doris Lee. The vast Giant Big Bloke puts his baby to bed, and this terrible infant is a quaint little chap full of antics, a ”comforter” in his mouth, and a sash around his waist. This little comedian is Little Tony, and the grotesque contrast of giant and ”child” is very comical.
‘I a good all-round company even the Fairy Queen has a voice, and the singing of Miss Violet Parry in this character of ”Fairy Star of Hope” called forth rounds of applause. Of course, there is ”Everybody’s Doing It!” and it is given with spirit and artistic effect by Miss Euphan Maclaren and Mr. Harry Davis. Political allusions, for the moment at any rate, are kept down. They are confined to the two great so-called ”above party” subjects – the Navy and the Insurance Act. When discussing beneath the frowning walls of Giant Big Bloke’s cloudland castle a map of places in the air one of the comedians points to a place marked ”Lloyd George’s Sanatorium.” ”It’s non-existent,” retorts another. ”This is a map,” answers Jack, ”of places in the air.” The scenery and the ballets deserve a special word. Village scenes in the fairest English countryside, such as you may find in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Sussex, are presented with an air of reality, while the silvery aerial ballet, the ”Dances of the Fairy Beans,” and the ”Palace of Happiness” are all beautifully done. ”Jack and the Beanstalk” is Mr. Bannister Howard‘s seventh Crystal Palace pantomime. He and the authors, Messrs. Brian Daly and J.M. East, and all concerned are to be congratulated on having exemplified the truth that a pantomime can avoid coarseness without approaching dullness. The Crystal Palace is much nearer London than it used to be, and the pantomime is jolly.’
(The Standard, London, Thursday, 26 December 1912, p. 4b)

Nellie Waring, English variety theatre vocalist

Nellie Waring (active 1907-1920), English popular vocalist and variety theatre and vaudeville entertainer. Her professional partnership with the American J.W. Wilson (John W. Musante, 1863/69?-1928), comedy duo, appears to have begun about 1912.
(photo: James Bacon & Sons, Leeds, circa 1910)

Shea’s Theatre, Buffalo, New York, August 1909
‘The bill at Shea’s Theater this week is full of entertaining qualities and every feature was liberally applauded at both performances yesterday. Nellie Waring, the clever and sprightly comedienne from England, has a pleasing voice and she sings her own topical songs inimitably. Her costumes are quite charming and her dancing is dainty and skillful [sic].’
(The Buffalo, Courier, Buffalo, New York, Tuesday, 24 August 1909, p. 7f)

‘Nellie Waring, the dainty English comedienne, who heads the bill at Shea’s theater this week, has made an instantaneous hit, and she has been called the second Alice Lloyd for the tunefulness of her songs and delightful personality.’
(The Niagara Falls Gazette, Niagara Falls, New York, Tuesday, 24 August 1909, p. 4b)

‘Nellie Waring is the latest of the English singers to invade our shores and she has met with a favorable reception.’
(Los Angeles Herald, Los Angeles, California, Sunday, 24 October 1909, part III, p. 8c)

J.W. Wilson and Nellie Waring appeared with nearly 150 other music hall and variety favourites in the ‘Variety’s Garden Party’ tableau at the first royal music hall performance at the Palace Theatre, London, on 1 July 1912, attended by King George V and Queen Mary.

‘NEW ACTS NEXT WEEK [October 1912] …
‘Nellie Waring. Singing Comedienne. 17 Mins.; One [stage set]. Bronx.
”’England’s Sparking and Dainty Comedienne” is Nellie Waring’s billing this week at the Bronx. Miss Waring is just a pretty girl. She sings four English made songs. For each there is a change of gown, and, in order the clinch the conventionality of the turn, a male ”plant” is seated in a box. The spotlight is aimed at him while she sings to him. In addition tot eh young woman’s limited abilities as a performer, her songs are not good. Jolo.’
(Variety, New York, Friday, 18 October 1912, p. 20c)

* * * * *

‘FORTUNES WASTED
‘VARIETY ARTIST DEAD
‘Pauper Despite High Pay
‘SPECIAL TO ”THE NEWS”)
‘LONDON, January 3 [1928]
‘The death is announced of Mr. Jack W. Wilson, variety artist, who once visited Australia.
‘Wilson, who was known as Mustante [sic], partnered Miss Nellie Waring in Britain, America, Australia, and South Africa. He was a contemporary of Cinquevalli, the famous juggler, and Chirgwin, ”the white-eyed Kaffir.”
‘He lost three fortunes on the Stock Exhange and the turf. Before he was 30 he gambles away £10,000 of his theatrical earnings in real estate in Seattle.
‘In 1898 he took £30,000 from Australia, but he lost £20,000 in a wheat gamble in New York.
‘An effort to make a recovery on the turn in 1907 resulted in a loss of £7,000, and further fortunes followed in the same way.
‘Wilson earned £100 a week in England and £200 in America, but died penniless of pneumonia at the Fulham Hospital [London]. Miss Waring sat at his bedside for 14 hours.
‘Wilson was born in California. He was the son of a ”forty-niner” (miner who went to California in the early days of the gold rush). He ran away with a travelling circus, then entered vaudeville, and later played in straight plays.’
(The News, Adelaide, South Australia, Wednesday, 4 January 1928, p. 7d)

Alice Waldie (née Florence May B. Bond, 1886-1937), LRAM, Welsh-born soprano/mezzo soprano and entertainer, was long associated with Will Gane (1880-1957) and his P.P and P. Concert Party (Pierrot, Piano, and Pierrette), ‘a feast of fun and harmony.’
(postcard photo: J. Garratt, 115 North Street, Leeds, Yorkshire, circa 1914)

William James Gane married his first wife, Matilda Louisa Kinnaird, an actress, in 1907, by whom he had three children. Following her death in 1931 he married Alice Waldie in 1933.

Alice Waldie, Welsh-born concert party entertainer

Alice Waldie (née Florence May B. Bond, 1886-1937), LRAM, Welsh-born soprano/mezzo soprano and entertainer, was long associated with Will Gane (1880-1957) and his P.P and P. Concert Party (Pierrot, Piano, and Pierrette), ‘a feast of fun and harmony.’
(postcard photo: J. Garratt, 115 North Street, Leeds, Yorkshire, circa 1914)

William James Gane married his first wife, Matilda Louisa Kinnaird, an actress, in 1907, by whom he had three children. Following her death in 1931 he married Alice Waldie in 1933.

Jeanne Giralduc, French soprano

Jeanne Giralduc (active late 1880s-early1900s), French soprano, who formed a successful partnership with her husband, the baritone A. Ducreux as duettists. M. and Mme. Ducreux, who made several recordings in Paris in 1906 for the Odeon label, also appeared several times at the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, London.
(photo: unknown, probably Paris, circa 1895; Ogden’s Guinea Gold Cigarettes cigarette card, issued in England, circa 1900)

Johann Strauss the younger’s operetta, A Night in Venice, Daly’s Theatre, New York, 1884

six chorines from the first American production of Johann Strauss the younger‘s operetta, A Night in Venice (Eine Nacht in Venedig), which was staged by J.C. Duff’s Comic Opera Company at Daly’s Theatre, New York, on 26 April 1884 for the summer season before embarking on a tour. A ‘Grand Pigeon Ballet’ was introduced into the third act, lead by the premier ballerina, Eugenia Cappalini. A Night in Venice was revived at the American Theatre, New York, in 1888 by the Castle Square Opera Company.
(cabinet photo: Sarony, New York, probably 1884)

‘Johann Stausss’ new operetta, ”Night in Venice,” was produced and warmly applauded in Vienna last Tuesday night [9 October 1883], the Viennese adopting this method of making some reparation to the composer for the abuse with which the composition was received on the occasion of its original presentation in Berlin [Neues Friedrich Wilhelmstadisches Theater, 3 October 1883]. The Germans hissed the operetta all through its performance, and the critics severely condemned it as unequal to any of Strauss’ previous efforts, describing the libretto as utter nonsense, and the music poor, thin and utterly unworthy of the composer.’
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Sunday, 14 October 1883, p. 1b)

‘… The piece is put upon the stage with the usual liberality of this house in scenery and costumes. A special feature was made in the bill of a pigeon ballet executed by twenty dancers. The result gave an insufficiently-rehearsed dance and occasioned some ridicule for the pigeon dresses, which would have been pretty and effective but for a feather-brush tail adorning each of the ballet exciting the sarcastic mirth of the audience at each peculiar movement of the dancers… .’
(The New York Clipper, New York, Saturday, 3 May 1884, p. 106b)

‘One of Strauss’ recent operas, ”A Night in Venice,” was produced at Daly’s Theater the other night by Manager Duff. Mr. Duff is distinguished from other managers by his profound contempt for the libretto of any opera with which he may be concerned. The result of this contempt is a rather severe pecuniary loss for the past two years. His method of bringing out comic opera is to buy the music for any reasonable sum and turn it over to the leader of his orchestra. Then he hires a man for any sum, from $10 upward, to translate the score from German or French into English. ”A Night in Venice” contains some charming melodies and several concerted pieces that are extremely pretty. It is as melodious as ”The Merry War’‘ and ”Prince Methusalem.” which were by the same composer, and with a good libretto it might become as successful as either of these very successful operas. Now it is a failure. As time advances, Mr. Duff’s contempt for good librettos is apt to prove expensive.’
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Sunday, 4 May 1884, p. 3c)

Florence St. John (née Margaret Florence Greig, 1855-1912), English actress and vocalist
(photo: Alfred Ellis, 20 Upper Baker Street, London, NW, negative no. 13721-14, early 1893; see the National Archives, London, COPY 1/412/470)

This photograph was taken during the run of the musical farce, In Town, following its transfer in December 1892 from the Prince of Wales’s Theatre, London, to the Gaiety Theatre, London, in which Miss St. John played the part of Kitty Hetherton.

Florence St. John, star of burlesque and comic opera, photographed in 1893

Florence St. John (née Margaret Florence Greig, 1855-1912), English actress and vocalist
(photo: Alfred Ellis, 20 Upper Baker Street, London, NW, negative no. 13721-14, early 1893; see the National Archives, London, COPY 1/412/470)

This photograph was taken during the run of the musical farce, In Town, following its transfer in December 1892 from the Prince of Wales’s Theatre, London, to the Gaiety Theatre, London, in which Miss St. John played the part of Kitty Hetherton.

An incident in the original production of H.A. Jone’s play, The Masqueraders, London, 1894

an incident from the original production of Henry Arthur Jones‘s play, The Masqueraders with, left to right, Mrs Edward Saker as Lady Crandover, Beryl Faber as Lady Charles Reindean, W.G. Elliott as Montagu Lushington and Irene Vanbrugh as Charley Wisranger. The play opened at the St. James’s Theatre, London, on 28 April 1894.
(cabinet photo: Alfred Ellis, 20 Upper Baker Street, London, NW, negative no. 16228-2)

Emily Mary Kate Saker (1847-1912) was the widow of the actor manager, Edward Sloman Saker (1838-1883); before her marriage she was known on the stage as Marie O’Berne (or O’Beirne).

Beryl Crossley Faber (1872-1912) was the first wife of the playwright and novelist, Cosmo Hamilton (1870-1942). She was also the sister of the stage and film actor, C. Aubrey Smith.

Irene Vanbrugh (née Irene Barnes) (1872-1949) was married in 1901 to the actor and director, Dion Boucicault junior.

Mdlle. Sylvia, Swedish soprano, as she appeared as Serpolette in Les Cloches de Corneville, Globe Theatre, London, 1880.

Mdlle. Sylvia (active late 1870s/early 1880s), Swedish soprano, as she appeared as Serpolette in Les Cloches de Corneville upon its reopening, Globe Theatre, Newcastle Street, London on Saturday, 4 September 1880. The part of Serpolette had been first played in London by he American soprano, Kate Munroe.
(cabinet photo: The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Co Ltd, London, 1880)

‘Mdlle. Sylvia, a young vocalist of Swedish extraction, made her first appearance in England on Wednesday last as the heroine of Offenbach’s Madame Favart, which still retains its popularity after nearly 500 continuous repetitions. Mdlle. Sylvia is young, graceful, and prepossessing. Her voice is a soprano of good quality and ample compass, and she sang with taste and expression, although at times so nervous that her intonation became unsatisfactory. She was heartily applauded, and will probably prove a valuable addition to the excellent company at the Strand Theatre.’
(The Observer, London, Sunday, 1 August 1880, p. 7d)

Globe Theatre, London, Saturday, 4 September 1880
‘On Saturday, September 4, the Globe Theatre, which has been newly decorated, will reopen for the regular season with Les Cloches de Corneville, the reproduction of which will derive additional interest from the engagement of Mr. [Frank H. ] Celli, who will personate the Marquis; and Mesdames Sylvia and D’Algua, who will respectively sustain the parts of Serpolette and Germaine. Mdlle. Sylvia is already known to the London public as having successfully impersonated Madame Favart at the Strand Theatre, during the absence of Miss [Florence] St. John. Mdlle. D’Algua will make her first appearance on the London stage, and Messrs. [Harry] Paulton, [Charles] Ashford, and Shiel Barry will reappear as the Bailie, Gobo, and the Miser. Les Coches will only be played for a limited number of nights, pending the production of a new comic opera from the pen of Offenbach.’
(The Observer, London, Sunday, 29 August 1880, p. 3f)

‘After a short recess, during which the auditorium has undergone a complete renovation, the Globe Theatre reopened on Saturday evening with the familiar but by no means unwelcome Cloches de Corneville as the staple entertainment. M. Planquette’s charming opera has not yet outlived its popularity, and no doubt it will attract the music-loving public while Mr. Alexander Henderson is getting ready the promised Offenbach novelty. The present cast is in many respects an excellent one. Mr. Shiel Barry, of course, retains his part of the miser, Gaspard, and plays it with the same intensity as heretofore; while Mr. Harry Paulton and Mr. Charles Ashford continue to impersonate the Bailie and his factotum, Gobo, in a manner which is well known. With these three exceptions the characters have changed hands. Mdlle. D’Algua is now the Germaine, Mdlle. Sylvia the Serpolette, Mr. [Henry] Bracy the Grenicheux, and Mr. F.H. Celli the Marquis. Unfortunately both Mdlle. D’Algua and Mdlle. Sylvia have but an imperfect acquaintance with the English tongue, and their speeches are therefore not readily comprehensible. Perhaps practice, in each case, may make perfect, but at present a little judicious “coaching” would make an improvement. Mdlle. D’Algua sings her music efficiently, and with some degree of artistic feeling; while Mdlle. Sylvia acts with plenty of vivacity throughout, and proves herself an accomplished vocalist. Mr. Bracy has a pleasant tenor voice, which he used fairly well, and Mr. F.H. Celli brings his ripe experience in opera to bear upon the part of the Marquis – a character usually assigned to a tenor, if our memory serve us right. The work is placed on the stage with all due regard for picturesqueness of effect, there is a capital chorus, and Mr. Edward Solomon has his orchestra thoroughly well in hand. So wholesome and refreshing is M. Planquette’s work that playgoers may perhaps disregard the oppressive head, which renders indoor amusements all but intolerable, and take the opportunity of renewing their acquaintance with the chiming of the Corneville bells. The opera is preceded by a farce.’
(The Standard, London, Monday, 6 September 1880, p. 3d)