John Bardsley (1883-1916), English tenor

autographed halftone postcard photograph of John Bardsley (1883-1916), English tenor
(photo and postcard: unknown, United Kingdom, circa 1910)

Before leaving for the United States in August 1913 to fulfil a contract with the Aborn Opera Company, John Bardsley sang at several Promenade Concerts in London between 1906 and 1911. Among other commitments (see below) he also appeared in two musical plays: Butterflies, at the Apollo Theatre, London (12 May 1908), with Ada Reeve, Louis Bradfield and Hayden Coffin; and A Persian Princess, at the Queen’s Theatre, London (27 April 1909), with George Graves, Carrie Moore and Ruth Vincent. He also made a number of gramophone recordings.

‘Shortly after singing faintly, ”Drink to me only with thine eyes,” John Bardsley, a tenor who formerly was a member of the Covent Garden Opera Company in London and the Century Opera Company in New York, fell back on his bed and died.’
(The Wairarapa Daily Times, Saturday, 13 May 1916, p. 3b)

‘New York. – Dying of pneumonia, John Bardsley, tenor, sat up in bed, sang ”Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes,” and fell back dead.’
(The Day Book, Chicago, Illinois, Friday, 7 April 1916, p. 30b)

‘JOHN BARDSLEY BURIED.
‘Was Formerly Well Known as a Singer of Operatic Roles.
‘John Bardsley, formerly a well known tenor of the Aborn Opera Company and for the last two years one of the entertainers at Shanley’s, was buried yesterday from the undertaking rooms at 2748 Broadway. He died early Thursday morning of pneumonia.
‘Mr. Bardsley was born in Lancaster, England, and was 32 years old. He won the Ada Lewis free scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London when 17 years old and at 25 was tenor with the Beecham Opera Company at the Covent Garden. He made his first appearance in the United States with the Aborn troupe and was especially successful in light opera roles. One of his best successes was in ”Pinafore” at the [New York] Hippodrome [9 April 1914].
‘His wife and three small children were at his bedside during his illness. Mr. Bardsley leaves three brothers, all of whom are with the British troops in France, one of them being a captain. Burial was at Woodlawn Cemetery.’
(The Sun, New York, Saturday, 8 April 1916, p. 9g)

Maudi Darrell and George Graves in The Belle of Britanny

Maudi Darrell (1882-1920) as Toinette and George Graves (1876-1949) as the Marquis de St. Gautier in The Belle of Britanny, Queen’s Theatre, London, 24 October 1908
(photo: Foulsham & Banfield, London, 1908)

This real photograph postcard, no. 7444B in the Rotary Photographic Series published in 19087 by the Rotary Photographic Co Ltd of London, shows Maudi Darrell as Toinette and George Graves as the Marquis de St. Gautier in the comic opera The Belle of Britanny, which was produced at the Queen’s Theatre, London, on 24 October 1908. The piece was written by Leedham Bantock and P.J. Barrow, with lyrics by Percy Greenbank and music by Howard Talbot and Marie Horne. Other members of the cast included Lawrence Rea, Davy Burnaby, E.W. Royce senior, Walter Passmore, Lily Iris (replaced during the run successively by May Hackney and Millie Legarde), Maud Boyd, Blanche Stocker, Minnie Baker, Gladys Saqui and Ruth Vincent. The production ran for 147 performances.

An American production of The Belle of Britanny opened at Daly’s Theatre, New York, on 8 November 1909, in which Toinette was played by Elsa Ryan and de St. Gautier by Frank Daniels.

a scene from To-night’s the Night

a scene from George Grossmith and Edward Laurillard’s production of To-Night’s The Night, first staged (after a trial at New Haven) at the Shubert Theatre, New York, 24 December 1914, with, left to right, James Blakely as Montagu Lovitt-Lovitt, George Grossmith as Dudley Mitten and Emmy Wehlen as June

the piece ran at the Shubert until March 1915 after which, with various cast changes, it toured the United States;
meanwhile, Blakely, Grossmith and others returned to London, where
To-Night’s the Night opened at the Gaiety Theatre on 28 April 1915,
when the part of June was played by Haidée de Rance (later replaced by Madge Saunders)
(photo: White, New York, 1914/15)

‘There has been, inevitably, an influx of English actors and English plays. Six entire theatrical companies are said to have arrived in their entirely in New York. Charles Frohman announced the past week that he intended to close his Duke of York’s Theater in London and transplant the company to Chicago. Marie Lohr, Irene Vanbrugh and Godfrey Tearle will head the Chicago all-star company.
‘George Grossmith, Jr., and Edward Laurillard intend bringing a company of 60 players, including a majority of the Gaiety favorites, to this country [a modernized version of] the old farce, ‘Pink Dominoes. In the cast are Emmy Wehlen, Iris Hooey [sic], Max Dearly, Robert Nainby and Mr. Grossmith himself. They will sail for New York November 28.’
(The Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Saturday, 21 November 1914, p. 12a/b)

To-Night’s the Night, on tour in the United States, at the Lyric Theatre, Philadelphia
‘Tonight’s the Night is a drama from the English of Fred Thompson – as we Drama Leaguers put it about Ibsen. Anybody at the Lyric could tell it came from London by the flora, fauna and indehiscent polycarpellaries. When a stout gentleman, with a dreadnought wife says, ”What a pretty shape that house maid has. I mean what a pretty shape he has made the house”; when that fell remark is brazenly followed up by allusions to law cases and corkscrews; when a stony stare is described, with intent to kill, as a geological survey, then you may truly know that you are in the presence of English whit and ‘humour.
‘Those an ”med’cine” and ”ridic’lous” didn’t settle the question of pedigree or pleasure for the audience at the Lyric last night, for you can suffer that sort of thing in any Frohman importation. The present specimen was redeemed, redeemed completely and gloriously, by a real London company, doing the piece just as it would have done it if Tonight’s the Night had been produced at the Gaiety first instead of over here in America. The chorus proved it the minute it came on. It had a ladylike air about it. It breathed the refinement of duchesses in reduced circumstances. Probably that was because we are naturally too unused to the English girl to be able to detect subtle shadings. No doubt there are dozens of Englishmen who could say, ”That one isn’t a lady,” or ”This one will be some day.” But that doesn’t matter. There they were with their fresh complexions – fresh, but not from the rouge box – their softly curling flaxen hair, their gray-blue eyes, their gleaming teeth and their large, admirable noses. A languid chorus, maybe, that dawdled among while the music kicked up its heels and ran off. But a change for us! The second string wasn’t so good, but what can you expect in one show? ‘At any rate, you need not expect so many excellent principals. Lauri de Frece, a good-looking tenor-or-thereabouts with a sense of humor, capable of going punting on the sofa and flinging flowers to himself. Teddy Webb, playing the sort of fat uncle part James Blakely always does – and used to do in the present case. Wilfred Seagram, another of those good-looking young Englishmen, holding down, quite successfully, George Grossmith’s shoes. Edward Nainby, as a grotesque in the style of George Graves. Maurice Farkoa, cooing his songs with all the art of a chamber recital. Davy Burnaby, polite comedian, and added feature.
‘As for women – Ethel Baird, as an Iris Hoey: Allison Skipworth, as a matron of a decidedly subtle type, and Fay Compton, her delightful self, a beautiful women and also an artist in the subtleties that make ladies’ maids ladies’ maids, even if they are adored by sundry leading men.
‘And outside all the list of the Allies, Emmy Wehlen, the Von Hindenburg, the Von Kluck, of Tonight’s the Night, dashing from the eastern front to the west, sweeping down on Warsaw, plunging a new drive on Paris. Languid English girls are very nice, ever so much nicer than American tango fiends. But ‘way for the lady from Germany!
‘All of which forgets the plot and music. For the first, understand that Tonight’s the Night is supplied with the dramatic details of that veteran farce, The Pink Domino – perhaps a few too many for the amount of music. And as for the music, it may not be up to American tunes as ragtime, but its composer is aware of the existence of the bassoon. And that is a good deal.
‘Tonight’s the Night is fresh from England, fresh as an English daisy. So far it has acquired only three bad habits: allusions to B.V.D.’s, Fatimas and the inevitable Ford.’
(The Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tuesday, 4 May 1915, p. 7a)

Adrienne Augarde

Adrienne Augarde (1882-1913),
English actress and singer
(photo: The Biograph Studio, London, circa 1905)

‘AUGARDE, Adrienne:
‘Actress, made her first appearance on the stage in the chorus of the J.W. Turner Opera Company, rising gradually on tour to prominent parts. She went to London the following year, joining George Edwardes’s The Duchess of Dantzic company, playing the leading ingénue rôle at its opening at the Lyric Theatre, London in 1903. Following this she created the title rôle in Lady Madcap at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1904. She came to New York, appearing in The Duchess of Dantzic with the original English company. She remained in the United States only two months and returned to London to assume the title part [sic] in The Little Michus, produced at Daly’s Theatre, 1905. She appeared in See -See for two months and a half, and then created the rôle of the Princess in The New Aladdin, produced at the Gaiety Theatre [29 September 1906].’
(Walter Browne and E. De Roy Koch, editors, Who’s Who on the Stage, B.W. Dodge & Co, New York, 1908, p.24)

Adrienne Augarde with one of George Graves’s Gazekas
at the time of her appearance as Blanche-Marie
in the first English production of André Messager’s The Little Michus,
Daly’s Theatre, London, 1905-1906
(photo: Bassano, London, 1905/1906)

‘Death of Adrienne Augarde.
‘One of the most gifted of musical comedy comediennes, Adrienne Augarde, died in Chicago last week following an operation for appendicitis. Miss Auguarde’s most recent successful performance in this country was in The Dollar Princess. An enthusiastic critic once said of Miss Augarde, “Give her two bits of ribbon, a frock as simple as a maid’s, a snatch of a song as simple as her frock, and she will outshine a regiment of stage beauties anywhere.” Miss Augarde made her debut on the London stage ten years ago. She made a tremendous hit singing Renee in The Duchess of Dantzic.
(The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Sunday, 23 March 1913, Magazine Section, p.3a)

‘“MAKE-UP” BOX HER CASKET.
‘Ashes of Adrienne Augarde, English Actress, Mailed to Former Home.
‘Chicago, Mar. 22 [1913]. – A silver casket wrought from a “make-up” box will carry the ashes of Adrienne Augarde, the English actress, whose body was cremated here yesterday.
‘The casket, consigned to Mrs. Henrietta Augarde, the actess’ mother, was mailed today to England.’
(The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Sunday, 23 March 1913, p.1e)