Gertrude Glyn as she appeared as Sonia during the run of The Merry Widow, Daly’s Theatre, London, 1907-1909

Gertrude Glyn (1886-1965), English musical comedy actress, as she appeared as understudy to Lily Elsie in the role of Sonia during the first London run of The Merry Widow, produced at Daly’s Theatre, Leicester Square, on 8 June 1907 and closed on 31 July 1909.
(photo: Bassano, London, probably 1908 or 1909; postcard no. 1792M in the Rotary Photographic Series, published by the Rotary Photographic Co Ltd, London, 1908 or 1909)

Gertrude Glyn began her career in 1901 at the age of 15 with Seymour Hicks when he cast her in one of the minor roles in the ‘musical dream,’ Bluebell in Fairyland (Vaudeville Theatre, London, 18 December 1901), of which he and his wife, Ellaline Terriss were the stars. Miss Glyn was subsequently under contract to George Edwardes, appearing in supporting roles at the Gaiety and Daly’s theatres in London and where she was also one of several understudies to both Gabrielle Ray and Lily Elsie. She also seen from time to time in other United Kingdom cities. Her appearances at Daly’s in The Merry Widow, The Dollar Princess (1909-10), A Waltz Dream (1911), and The Count of Luxembourg (1911-12) were followed during 1912 or 1913 by her taking the role of Lady Babby in Gipsy Love (also played during the run by Avice Kelham and Constance Drever), in succession to Gertie Millar.

On 10 April 1914, Gertrude Glyn and Elsie Spain sailed from London aboard the SS Otway bound for Sydney, Australia. Their first appearances there were at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, on 6 June that year in Gipsy Love in which they took the parts respectively of Lady Babby and Ilona, the latter first played in London by Sari Petrass.

Gipsy Love, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, 6 June 1914
‘A thoroughly artistic performance is that offered by Miss Gertrude Glyn, another newcomer, in the role of Lady Babby. Although her singing voice is not a strong point in her equipment of talent, this actress artistically makes one forget this fact in admiration for the skilful interpretation of her lines and lyrics, and also the gracefulness of her dancing and movements. Another point of excellence about Miss Glyn’s work is that she acts easily and naturally, always keeping well within the pictures and confines of the character she impersonates.’
(The Referee, Sydney, NSW, Wednesday, 17 June 1914, p. 15c)

Gertrude Glyn’s last appearances were as Lady Playne in succession to Madeline Seymour and Mary Ridley in Paul Rubens’s musical play, Betty, which began its long run at Daly’s Theatre, London, on 24 April 1915 and ended on 8 April 1916.

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Gertrude Glyn’s real name was Gertrude Mary Rider. She was the youngest daughter of James Gray (or Grey) Rider (1847/49-1900), a civil servant, and his wife, Elizabeth. She was baptised on 24 October 1886 at St. Mark’s, Hanwell, Middlesex. She married in 1918.
‘CAPTAIN BULTEEL and MISS GERTRUDE GLYN (RIDER).
‘The marriage arranged between Captain Walter Beresford Bulteel, Scottish Horse, youngest son of the late John Bulteel, of Pamflete, Devon, and Gertrude Mary Glyn (Rider), youngest daughter of the late James Grey Rider, and of Mrs. Rider, 6, Windsor Court, Bayswater, will take place at St. Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, on Thursday, May 9, at 2.30.’
(The Times, London, 7 May 1918, p. 9c)
Bulteel, one of whose maternal great grandfathers was Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), was born in 1873 and died in 1952; his wife (Gertrude Glyn) died on 16 October 1965.

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Irene Desmond, English musical comedy actress

Irene Desmond (1884-1975), English musical comedy actress, who appeared in supporting roles in The Belle of Mayfair (Vaudeville Theatre, London, 11 April 1906) and The Merry Widow (Daly’s Theatre, London, 8 June 1907).
(photo: unknown, probably London, circa 1907)

Irene Desmond, whose real name was Irene Marguerite Pix, was the elder daughter of John Henry Charles Pix (1851-1887), a German born stuff merchant and naturalized British subject, and his wife, Emilie (née Stead, 1860-), who were married in Yorkshire in 1881. The couple’s younger daughter was the actress, Gladys Desmond (Gladys May Pix, Mrs Herbert G. Reynolds, 1886-1945). Emilie (Emily) Pix subsequently married James Kelly in 1900.

Irene Desmond was married on 15 February 1910 at St. George’s, Hanover Square, London, to Sir Richard William Levinge (1878-1914), 10th Bt. Her second marriage was on 31 August 1916 to Robert Vere Buxton (1883-1953) whose maternal grandfather was John Laird Mair Lawrence (1811-1879), 1st Baron Lawrence of the Punjaub and of Grately.

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‘ACTRESS’S QUIET WEDDING.
‘SIR R.W. LEVINGE MARRIED TO MISS IRENE DESMOND.
‘Sir Richard William Levinge, of Knockdrin Castle, Millingar, Ireland, was married yesterday, at St. George’s, Hanover-square, to Miss Irene Desmond. The Rev. David Anderson, the rector, took the service. The bride, who was given away but Mr. Close, wore a dress of soft grey crêpe de Chine trimmed with lace and chiffon, and a large black hat adorned with grey feathers, while she wore a long chinchilla stole, and carried a bag muff to match. After the service the wedding party drove to the Carlton Hotel, where luncheon was served, Sir Richard and Lady Levinge leaving early in the afternoon for their honeymoon tour.
‘Miss Irene Desmond was a well-known musical comedy actress. The time and place of the wedding were kept secret, and only a few select friends of the bride and bridegroom were present.’
(The Standard, London, Wednesday, 16 February 1910, p. 7c)

Gabrielle Ray to return to the stage, London, April 1914

Gabrielle Ray (1883-1973), English musical comedy dancer and actress, as Polly Polino in Peggy (Gaiety Theatre, London, 4 March 1911), during her final professional appearances prior to her marriage on 2 March 1912 to Eric Loder (1888-1966) at St Edward’s Roman Catholic Church, Windsor.
(photo: Bassano, London, 1 June 1911)

London, April 1914
‘Gabrielle Ray is coming back to the stage. Leastwise I am told so in the most emphatic manner by the press agent of one of the leading theatrical managers in London. Miss Ray was, of course, one of the most popular of Daly’s theater [London] stars and at one time enjoyed the distinction of being the most photographed beauty in stageland. Her picture post cards sold in hundreds of thousands and no one was surprised when she captured a scion of the Loder family, famous in sporting circles and on terms of intimacy with royalty. Unfortunate the union was not a happy one and it was not long before it was a case of ”as you were” by permission of the courts. Lately Miss Ray, who, after her marriage, was seen very little by her former companions in the theatrical profession, has been returning to her old haunts and has been a regular attendant at all the costume balls so much frequented by the more swagger actresses.
‘Gabrielle Ray was never a great actress and never had any voice, but she had a dainty beauty and charm that was more valuable to her than either voice or talent would have been. Her biggest successes were made in unambitious dances that called for little more than grace and the ability to pose. I am told that in her new engagement, which will be announced shorty, she will continue in the line of her old successes.’
(John Ava Carpenter, ‘The News from London,’ The Chicago Sunday Tribune, Chicago, Sunday, 12 April 1914, section VIII, p. 2e/f)

Amy Webster, who appeared in the first English production of The Merry Widow at Daly’s Theatre, London, and was later sent to America

Amy Webster (active 1900-1908), English actress/showgirl, at about the time of her appearance as Jou-Jou during the long run of the first English production of The Merry Widow, which was produced at Daly’s Theatre, London, on 8 June 1907 and closed on 31 July 1909. During that time Jou-Jou was at various times also played by Dolly Dombey, Dorrie Keppell and Gladys Carrington.
(photo: Rita Martin, London, probably 1908)

Amy (sometime Aimee) Webster was born in London about 1886, the daughter of Frederick Webster, about whom nothing is at present known. She is thought to have made her first professional appearance as an extra in The Price of Peace, the ‘Drama of Modern Life’ produced at Drury Lane Theatre on 20 September 1900. She remained at Drury Lane until early 1903, a period during which she was seen in two more dramas and also in two pantomimes, Blue Beard and Mother Goose (26 December 1901 and 26 December 1902 receptively). She then progressed to adult roles, as Mary Macclesfield in The Little Cherub (Prince of Wales’s Theatre, London, 31 January 1906) and its revised edition entitled The Girl on the Stage (same theatre, 5 May 1906) in which her part was renamed Gertie Macclesfield. Her last appearances were in The Merry Widow, as above.
Amy Webster was married for the first time on 15 March 1906 at Fulham Register Office to Owain Edward Whitehead Greaves (1882-1941); their wedding was kept secret owing to his position in the Royal Horse Guards. In January 1907 he was posted to India and between August that year and March 1908 she is said to have committed adultery with Eric Loder (who in 1912 married Gabrielle Ray) and George Jervis Wood (who in 1909 married Rosa, Countess von Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya und Vásáros-Namény). When Greaves sued his wife for divorce in 1909, she and Wood denied any wrongdoing while Loder failed to appear or file an answer. Rufus Isaacs represented Greaves; Sir Edward Carson represented Wood. (The Times, London, 27 March 1909)

In 1912 Mrs Greaves gave birth to a daughter, Josephine, whose father was George Maria Joseph Alphonsus Grisewood (1891-1916) of the Grenadier Guards. He served with the Expeditionary Force in France from February 1915 and the couple were married in Marylebone while he was home on leave early in 1916. He died at the front near Merville on 27 March 1916 of pneumonia.

According to Grisewood’s grandson, his widow was subsequently obliged to sever her connection with both the Grisewood family and her daughter. In 1919 she was given a one-way ticket to America and duly arrived at the Port of New York aboard the SS Royal George on 23 February that year. Nothing is known of her life after that date.

Lily Elsie and Ivor Novello in The Truth Game, 1928/29

Lily Elsie and Ivor Novello as Rosine Browne and Max Clement in H.E.S. Davidson’s [i.e. Ivor Novello’s] light comedy The Truth Game, first produced at the Globe Theatre, London, on 5 October 1928. A tour followed its closure on 23 February 1929, returning to London (Daly’s Theatre) on 25 June 1929 for a further 22 performances.
(photo: E. Harrington, New Bond Street, London, 1928; postcard no. 339K published by J. Beagles & Co Ltd, 1928)

Gabrielle Ray’s birthday, 28 April; views on the effects of motoring on kissing

Gabrielle Ray (1883-1973), English musical comedy dancer and actress, who celebrated her birthday on 28 April.
(photo: Bassano, London, circa 1909)

‘THE MOTOR MOUTH.
‘EFFECTS ON KISSING.
‘The medical specialist who recently had the hardihood to assert that motoring would ultimately put an end to kissing, because it made the lips hard, will find few supporters among lady motorists, who are practically unanimous in describing his prophecy as nonsense.
”’King goes by favor,” said one young lady, ”and perhaps it is because no one will kiss him or take him for a motor drive that the poor man is setting up to be an authority on something that we understand better then he does.”
‘From the many inquiries made recently a Daily Mail representative arrived at the conclusion that ladies will not accept as a scientific fact that statements of the medical pessimist.
”’Motoring will go out of fashion before kissing will,” said Miss Marie Studholme. ”The gold wind makes one’s face hard for a little while, but most of the kissable people in the world are now motoring.”
‘Miss Gabrielle Ray thinks the medical specialist is a very funny man; ”but as I don’t go in for kissing,” she said, ”I don’t know much about hard mouths. I have done a lot of motoring, but very little kissing. At the same time, I think it would be a pity to discourage those who like kissing because it seems to please them very much. If I have by accident kissed anyone I have never heard any complaint about my mouths; but there, you see, I put cream on my face when going out in a motor-car, because before I used to do so the wind made my face very dry.”
‘Mlle. Mariette Sully, the charming French actress at Daly’s Theatre [in <HREF=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merveilleuses>Les Merveilleuses], says it is very wicked of the doctor to talk like that. ”If he had said that motoring sops kissing because the automobile shakes so much,” she could understand him; ”but hard lips, oh, no, not at all.”
‘At the Apollo Theatre Miss Carrie Moore [who is appearing in The Dairymaids] holds the same views. ”Motor drives do not make the lips hard. Of course not. Motoring is lovely, and I am sure it won’t put kissing out of fashion.”
‘At the Gaiety Theatre [where The New Aladdin began its run on 29 September 1906] Miss Kitty Mason suggested that motoring will cause wrinkles round the eyes. ”People screw up their eyes when motoring,” she said, ”and I think that must eventually cause wrinkles.” ”Oh, I hope not,” said the other ladies so loudly that Mr George Edwardes had to call for order to allow the rehearsal to proceed.’
(The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser, Grenfell, NSW, Australia, Saturday, 27 October 1906, p. 3c)

A tribute to Lily Elsie in the title role of The Merry Widow, Daly’s Theatre, London, 1907

a flyer issued by The Edison Bell Consolidated Phonograph Co Ltd, 30 Charing Cross Road, London, WC, in June 1907 for the Edison Bell recording of ‘The Merry Widow Waltz,’ ‘The enormously successful Waltz now being encored nightly at Daly’s Theatre, London.’

‘The Merry Widow Waltz’ and other selections from Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow were recorded innumerable times, particularly after the play’s production in London (Daly’s Theatre, 8 June 1907), with Lily Elsie and Joseph Coyne, and in New York (New Amsterdam Theatre, 21 October 1907), with Donald Brian and Ethel Jackson respectively playing Prince Danilo and Sonia.

Gladys Saqui, Australian-born dancer in the pantomime Aladdin, Grand Theatre, Leeds, Christmas 1907

Gladys Saqui (1884-1919), Australian-born dancer, as she appeared as Nicee in the pantomime Aladdin, produced at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, at Christmas 1907. The principal parts in this production were played by Constance Hyem (Aladdin), Nell Emerald (Brigette), Frank Danby (Widow Trankey) and J.F. McArdle (Abanazar). The cast also included Hebe Bliss, G.H. Elliott and Olive Crellin.
(photo; J. Garratt, Leeds, 1907)

Gladys Mignon Saqui was born in Australia in 1884, one of the children of John ‘Jack’ Isaac Saqui (1855-1916), a cigar manufacturer and bookmaker, and his wife Esther (Stella) (née Barnett, 1852?-1946), who were both born in London’s East End and married in 1878. Two of Gladys’s sisters, Maie (1880-1907) and Hazel (1887-1975) were also actresses; the former was married in 1903 as his first wife to Arthur Hope Travers (1875-1938), a Grenadier Guardsman, and the latter was married in 1908 to the well-known actor manager, Nelson Keys (1886-1939). Maie and Gladys Saqui made professional appearances in their native Australia and once in England all three sisters were sometime under contract to George Edwardes. Maie first appeared in London in The Geisha (Daly’s Theatre, 25 April 1896 – 28 May 1898) towards the end of its run. Gladys Saqui appeared on tour and also as a dancer in The New Aladdin (Gaiety Theatre, London, 29 September 1907) and The Belle of Britanny (Queen’s Theatre, London, 24 October 1908).

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‘Miss Maie Saqui, the famous Gaiety girl, whose death is announced this week, belonged to a sporting family. Her grandfather, Austen Saqui [Abraham Austin Saqui (1834-1889)], was a well-known bookmaker and owner of racehorses in Australia. Her father, Jack Saqui, followed in his father’s footsteps as a penciller, and began at the early age of 14 years. At the age of 20 he was making books on the Melbourne Cup to the extent of £1,000. About the same time he married. His daughter Maie was trained as a dancer under her aunt, Mrs. [Julia] Green, the well-known teacher of dancing in Melbourne, who was originally a Miss Saqui. Maie was not intended for the stage, but when her father, a wealthy man, lost his money in the land boom, Mrs. Saqui brought her daughter to England, where her brilliant career is known to every one. During more recent years Miss Saqui retired, and left the stage, and although in delicate healthy for some time past, her death came as a great shock to her numerous friends and relatives, among whom is Miss Sadi Green, now married to a son of Mr. Purves, the Melbourne barrister, and residing in England.’
(The Register, Adelaide, South Australia, Saturday, 11 May 1907, p. 4e)

Maxine Elliott as Hermia in the revival of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, produced Daly’s Theatre, London, on Tuesday, 9 July 1895

Maxine Elliott (1868-1940), American actress, as she appeared in the role of Hermia, ‘playing the part with care and good judgment’ (The Era, London, Saturday, 13 July 1895, p. 7a) in the revival of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, produced by Augustin Daly at Daly’s Theatre, London, on Tuesday, 9 July 1895.
(photo: Alfred Ellis & Walery, 51 Baker Street, London, W, negative no. 19065-3)

Winifred Barnes, English musical comedy actress and singer

Winifred Barnes (1892-1935), English musical comedy actress and singer
(photo: Lallie Charles, London, circa 1916)

Winifred Barnes was born in Brixton, south London, on 18 November (or December) 1892, the younger daughter of William Bernard Barnes (1861-1943), a bicycle maker, and his Irish-born wife, Nora (née Buckley). Her successful but relatively brief career began during 1909 when she appeared in a minor part in the musical play, Our Miss Gibbs at the Gaiety Theatre, London. She later had starring roles in Betty (1915) and The Happy Day (1916), both at Daly’s Theatre, London. She retired from theatrical life in 1924 upon her marriage in Kensington to Roy Faulkner. Miss Barnes died suddenly after a brief illness in Eastbourne, Sussex, on 5 April 1935 aged 41.