Marie Löhr, Australian-born English actress, photographed in London, circa 1907

Marie Löhr (1890-1975), Australian-born English actress
(photo: Dover Street Studios, London, circa 1907)

Marie Löhr, Australian-born English actress

Marie Löhr (1890-1975), Australian-born English actress
(photo: Dover Street Studios, London, circa 1907)

Adelina Balfe, a Gaiety Girl, photographed by the Dover Street Studios, London, circa 1909

Adelina Balfe (1888?-1948), Welsh born actress and Gaiety Girl
(photo: Dover Street Studios, London, circa 1909)

Adelina Balfe, whose real name was Dorothy Winifred Davies, was born in Swansea, Wales, about 1888. Her brief theatrical career began in 1906 but she did not attract attention until she was contracted to appear in small parts at the Gaiety Theatre, London, first in Havana (25 April 1908) and then in Our Miss Gibbs (23 January 1909). It was shortly after the beginning of the run of the latter that Miss Balfe married Lieutenant Gerard Randal Klombies (1887-1934), of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, son of (Carl) Robert Klombies (1842?-1920) and his second wife, Henrietta Sophia (née Peek). The couple had a daughter and were divorced in 1918 after which Miss Balfe was married for a second and third time.

* * * * *

‘GAIETY GIRL’S MARRIAGE.
‘The marriage is reported of Miss Adelina Balfe, who is playing Sheila in Our Miss Gibbs at the Gaiety Theatre, London, to Lieutenant Gerard Randal Klombies, of the 2nd Dragoon Guards.
‘Miss Balfe appeared at the Gaiety that afternoon and evening as usual.<br. ‘The secret of the wedding was well kept, and even the bride’s closest friends knew nothing about the event till it was over.
‘Some particulars of the happy couple were published in the Evening News. The bridegroom – a lieutenant in the 2nd Dragoon Guards – is said to be a rich man in his own right, besides being the son of a wealthy mill-owner in the North. The bride who was described in the register as ”an actress, daughter of Herbert Davies, deceased, musician,” was born in Kilkenny [sic], and her dark beauty and nervous, generous temperament are typically Irish. She is just eighteen years of age, her husband being twenty-one.
‘Miss Adelina Balfe – to give her the name by which she is known to playgoers – joined the Gaiety Company in Havana, playing the part of Lolita, one of the ”Cigarette Girls.” her first stage experience was, however, with Mr Weedon Grossmith.
‘The young lieutenant first saw his bride about four months ago. It was a case of love at first sight, but some little time elapsed before he could secure an introduction. In the interval he occupied the same box every night until a common friend brought the young people together.
‘At the ceremony the bride, wearing heavy squirrel furs, a long fur coat, and a large hat of light blue shade, was accompanied by her mother. After the ceremony she repaired to the Gaiety Theatre, where she took her part of Sheila in Our Miss Gibbs. She also appeared at the evening performance. She is under a three years’ contract with Mr George Edwardes, and had expressed her intention of seeing it out.’
(The Marlborough Express, Blenheim, New Zealand, Friday, 2 April 1909, p. 2c)

Viva Birkett, English actress, circa 1907

Viva Birkett (Mrs Philip Merivale, 1887-1934), English actress
(photo: Dover Street Studios, London, circa 1907; postcard published by the Rotary Photographic Co., London, Rotary Photographic Series, no. 4863A, circa 1907)

Sarah Bernhardt in London, 1907, for the publication of her autobiography

Sarah Bernhardt (1845-1923), French tragedienne, in London, October/November 1907, for the French season and the publication of her autobiography, My Double Life

Madame Sarah Bernhardt and some of her Company; a group taken at the Royalty Theatre, London, October/November 1907.
left to right: Madame Allisson, M. Richard, M. Gerval, Mdlle. Flori, Madame Cerda, Madame Renée Parny, M. Mathillon, M. Maxudian, Madame Blanche Defrene, Madame Sarah Bernhardt, M. Decœur, Mdlle. Seylor, Madame Boulanger, M. Deneubourg, Madame Due, M. Piron, M. Guide, and M. Bouthors.
(photo: Dover Street Studios, London, 1907)

‘The interest of the playhouse in the feminine has been greatly increased during the week by the publication of My Double Life, the autobiography of Sarah Bernhardt, and the appearance of the lady herself at the Royalty. There has been so little of the mollusc [a reference to the comedy, The Mollusc, Criterion Theatre, London, 15 October 1907] about her that she might have well called it My Sextuple Life, for she has crammed into it enough to fill the lives of half-a-dozen ordinary women. She has dabbled in all the arts and touched the heights of passion in a way that would obsess most other women completely. It is a lively book tingling with sensations, and will interested everybody who cares to come into contact with a personality which feels life – and death for that matter – acutely. Her appearance at the Royalty is the most interesting event of the French season. Mr. Heinemann, who publishes the book (at 15s.) has also issued a cheap single-volume edition of Mr. Bram Stoker’s book on Sir Henry Irving.’
(J.M. Bulloch, The Sphere, London, Saturday, 26 October 1907, p.82b)

Madame Bernhardt asleep in her coffin. The celebrated photograph from My Double Life, the memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt, published in London in October 1907 by William Heinemann. (photo: unknown, Paris, 1880s)

‘It was by a curious coincidence that the week which saw the production of Mr. [Roy] Horniman’s play [The Education of Elizabeth, Apollo Theatre, London, 19 October 1907] should also have seen the publication of Madame Bernhardt’s autobiography My Double Life, which gives an extraordinarily vivid impression of the working of the wheels of the real theatrical mind, not so much in a direct way but so far as its entire spirit is concerned. The impression of the book has been heightened by the opportunity of seeing Sarah at the New Royalty, where Mr. Gaston Mayer is conducting a very brilliant French season. Madame Bernhardt, like everybody with a temperament, varies greatly, but of recent years she has seemed really to be getting younger. The mere ability of being able to play such stuff as [Victorien Sardou’s] La Sorcière is extraordinary.’
(The Sphere, London, Saturday, 2 November 1907, p.104c)

Julia Sanderson

Julia Sanderson (1887-1975), American actress and vocalist at about the time of her appearance in the musical comedy The Hon’ble Phil, Hicks Theatre, London, October to December 1908. G.P. Huntley, Herbert Clayton, Horace Mills, Denise Orme, Eva Kelly and Elsie Spain were the other principals.
(photo: The Dover Street Studios, London, 1908/09)

‘Two English Musical Plays At Rival Theaters This Week.
‘Two of George Edwardes’ London musical comedy successes will be the leading novelties of the week at the theaters, both The Quaker Girl and The Sunshine Girl being seen in Washington for the first time, the former after noteworthy engagements in London, New York, and Boston, and the latter coming to the Capital for its American debut after a continuous run of more than a year in the English metropolis, where it is till on view nightly at the Gaiety.
‘Washington will be particularly interested in the premiere of The Sunshine Girl at the Columbia tomorrow night, for upon this occasion a new Charles Frohman star will be evolved from the will be evolved from the nebulosity of chorus girl, soubrette, and leading lady. The honor is to be bestowed upon the talented and piquant Miss Julia Sanderson, who has been a Washington musical comedy favorite since the days of the ill-fated Dairymaids, whose cast she deserted during an engagement five years ago in the theater where she is now to become start.
‘Miss Sanderson’s career is not marked by many of those hardships which are usually related as warnings to the stage-struck girl. Her father, Albert Sackett, is an actor, and through his influence she secured an engagement with the Forepaugh stock company in her home city, Philadelphia. Here she divided her time between playing maid and pursuing her grammar school studies, for she made her debut in the theatre when she was 15.
‘As a member of the chorus with Paula Edwardes’ company in Winsome Winnie. Miss Sanderson entered the musical comedy field. She had an opportunity to play the title role when Miss Edwardes retired from the cast on account of illness. The understudy was at that time advertised as the youngest prima donna in the world.
‘But the sudden elevation did not result in any permanent advancement for Miss Sanderson. She went back to the ranks in A Chinese Honeymoon and in Fantana, but was given a hit when De Wolf Hopper revived Wang, after which she joined The Tourists.
‘Miss Sanderson has appeared in London in two successes, first with G.P. Huntley in The Honorable Phil and later with Ellaline Terriss in The Dashing Little Duke. ‘While not so recognized in the size of billboard and program type, Miss Sanderson has been a star in popular appreciation for two years, her graceful dancing, harm of manner, and small, but dulcet voice having won generous approbation in both The Arcadians and The Siren.
‘Mr. Frohman has engaged a capable musical comedy cast to support his new satellite. Joseph Cawthorn has for several seasons been a comedy mainstay for Elsie Janis, and Alan Mudie will be recalled as the agile dancer in The Arcadians.’
(The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Sunday, 26 January 1913, Magazine Section, p.2a)

Iris Hoey

Iris Hoey (1885-1979), English stand and screen actress
(photo: Dover Street Studios, London, circa 1906)
‘London, Aug. 9 [1907]. – Mad infatuation for Iris Hoey, an actress, led Shirley Fackle [i.e. Shirley Douglas Falcke], 18 years of age, son of a wealthy stock broker to attempt suicide by shooting himself while riding in a hansom cab with the firl, from whom he was about to be separated – almost an exact duplication of the tragedy, when Caesar Young killed himself while riding in a hansom cab with Nan Patterson, a New York actress. He is now in a hospital and may die.
‘for several months the young man has been infatuated with Miss Hoey – no kin to ”Old Hoss” – whom he met casually in a Strang restaurant [i.e. a restaurant in the Strand, London].
‘he followed her to her boarding house, leaving his own home, took rooms in the same house as the actress.
‘Fackle was employed in the Anglo-Egyptian bank and neglected his business, giving all his time to the company of Miss Hoey.
‘he followed her about England and his parents tried desperately to break the attachment.
‘On one occasion his father wrote to the actress, ”Art you the woman who has taken my baby boy away? I will have you kicked out of every theatre in London.”
‘Father Calls Halt.
‘Finally Fackle’s father decided to send him to Canada to force him away from Miss Hoey. It was this resolve that led to the shooting.
‘He called on the actress and had tea with her, so melancholy that he could hardly talk.
”’He then asked me to spend his last evening in London with him” said Miss Hoey, and after supper he told her that he intended to commit suicide.
”’I tried to laugh this off, but he said he was in earnest, but I could not believe it.
”’He drove me home in a cab. All the while he was very downhearted and said:
””This is the last time I shall see you for I mean to do what I have said.”’
‘She Couldn’t Prevent It.
”’I then realized for the first time that he was in earnest, and I refused to let him go home alone.
”’I jumped back into the cab after him and insisted upon taking him to his father’s house.
”’he was still lamenting the fact that he was very unhappy, and that this was the last time he would see me.
”’I did not know he had a revolver with him. When I found it out I held his hands to try to keep him from shooting himself.
”’Suddenly he succeeded in tearing one hand away and I saw the glitter of the revolver. The fire followed, the cab stopped, and Mr. Fackle, who had fallen down in a heap in the cab, was lifted up by a policeman. I was assisted by a lady and gentleman who were passing at the time. Mr. Fackle exclaimed to the policeman, ‘I have done it all myself.’
”’I was delirious for a time, but I remember going to the hospital in a cab. I was in a semi-conscious condition all the time.”’
(Albuquerque Evening Citizen, Albuquerque, Tuesday, 12 August 1907, p. 3b/c)

Shirley Douglas Falcke (1889-1957), dealer in art and art critic, was a grandson of David Falcke (1816-1866), a well-known antiques dealer of Bond Street, London, who retired in 1858 and whose collection of works of art was sold in an 18 day sale at Christie’s, beginning Monday, 19 April that year.

Mabel Russell

Mabel Russell (1887-1951)
English actress and singer
(photo: Dover Street Studios, London, circa 1908)

The tragic end of Mabel Russell’s first marriage, Maidenhead, England, 1911; and she is elected a Member of Parliament, 1923
‘Mrs. Stanley Rhodes, formerly Mabel Russell favorite of [G]aiety theater goers, London, was badly injured in an automobile collision at Maidenhead, England. Her husband, who was driving the car, was killed. He was only 21 and a nephew of the late Cecil Rhodes. They had been married but three months.’
(New Castle News, New Castle, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, 13 September 1911, p.6c. The actress Mabel Green, a passenger on that occasion in the Rhodes’s car, was also injured.)

‘Who’s Who in the Day’s News.
‘Mrs. Hilton Philipson
‘The membership of the England’s historic house of commons now includes a former chorus girl. The recent election of Mrs. Hilton Philipson brought this about. Mrs. Philipson, known on the stage as Mabel Russell, worked her way from chorus girl to stardom before quitting the footlights to wed Philipson in June, 1917.
‘She is the third member of her sex to enter the British house. Lady Astor and Mrs. Margaret Wintringham are the others who preceded her. Mrs. Philipson is a conservative and won her seat from Berwick-on-Tweed as such, defeating her liberal and labor opponents by a majority of over 6,000. She succeeds her husband, who was elected by the same constituency last November but who was disqualified because of alleged illegal acts on the part of his election agent. It is an odd coincidence that all three of the women house members succeeded their husbands.
‘Mrs. Philipson has been married twice. Her first husband was Stanley Rhodes a cotton magnate. He was killed in an auto accident in 1911 and following his death she took up [i.e. resumed] a stage career. She is now thirty-six and the mother of three children.’
(The Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Saturday, 9 June 1923, p.4)

an incident from The Jury of Fate,
with H.B. Irving as Rene Delorme and William Lugg as the stranger,
Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 2 January 1906 (photo: Dover Street Studios, London, 1906)

This real photograph postcard, published by J. Beagles & Co, no. 273 D, shows an incident with William Lugg and H.B. Irving from The Jury of Fate, a play in 7 tableaux by C.M.S. McLennan, which opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, on 2 January 1906 for a run of twenty-six performances. Alexandra Carlisle as Honorine was the leading lady.

an incident from The Jury of Fate,
with H.B. Irving as Rene Delorme and William Lugg as the stranger,
Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 2 January 1906 (photo: Dover Street Studios, London, 1906)

This real photograph postcard, published by J. Beagles & Co, no. 273 D, shows an incident with William Lugg and H.B. Irving from The Jury of Fate, a play in 7 tableaux by C.M.S. McLennan, which opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, on 2 January 1906 for a run of twenty-six performances. Alexandra Carlisle as Honorine was the leading lady.