‘Living Pictures’ at the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, London, 1894: Marie Studholme, Constance Collier and Hetty Hamer as the Three Graces

Marie Studholme (1872-1930), Constance Collier (1878-1955) and Hetty Hamer (active 1890-1910), English actresses, as ‘The Three Graces’ among the ‘Living Pictures,’ first presented at the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, London, on Monday evening, 5 February 1894.
(photo: W. & D. Downey, London, 1894; published as a postcard by The Rotary Photographic Co Ltd., Rotary Photographic Series, no. 351 B, London, about 1902)

‘An addition to the Empire programme was made last night, when a series of ”Living Pictures” was presented. The back of the stage was focussed down to a large gilt frame, in which the pictures were set, the figures of the various subjects being embodied by several ladies. The first, ”Courtship,” showed a pretty couple (Misses Sheppard and Deroy), dressed in the Directoire style, leading over a rustic bride, amid the freshness of the Springtime. The next with ”Night,” in which Miss Hetty Hamer and Miss [Constance] Collier, two white-draped figures crowned with electric stars, were reclining amid Doré-like surroundings of jagged, tapering peaks against a mystic blue background. ”Duet” was a piece of marble statuary delicately tinted with changing lights that swept over the motionless figures (Madame Fionde and Miss Blowey). ”A Funny Song” was as glowing in colour as if fresh from the brush of the painter, and the expression of the three figures (Senorita Candida and Messrs [William] Lewington and [C.] Perkins) was admirable. One of the prettiest dealt with the old subject, ”Loves me! Loves me not,” in the familiar way, but in a bright Italian atmosphere, and with the blue sea as a background, the perfect taste of the accessories increasing the personal charm of the performers, Miss Marie Studholme and Miss Barker. Miss Deroy made a fascinating picture as a girl ascending an old staircase (the warm colours of her dress blending in complete harmony with the oaken wainscotting), and bidding a sweet ”Good-night.” Miss Hetty Hamer was another bright figure in ”Pets,” a Greek girl feeding pigeons in a corner of some secret grove. ”The Billet-doux” was placed in the powder and patches days, a young beau indulging in a moment’s flirtation with the maid, who is about to take his missive to her mistress (the Misses Belton and Hill). ”Springtime” was a poetic conception of the ”Sweetness of the year.” So charming was the grace of the young girl (Miss Hinde), dreamily resting among the branches of a pink-blossomed almond tree, that the audience vainly tried to interrupt the progress of the series in order to gaze again at the dainty sight. ”Charity,” in which Senorita Candida and Miss Deroy appear, is a somewhat conventional subject, representing a benevolent patrician offering her fur cloak to a homeless wanderer as shelter against the falling snow. ”The Three Graces” needs no further explanation, when it is said that the Misses Hetty Hamer, Collier, and Marie Studholme formed the trio. The series was concluded by a study in bronze, ”The Defence of the Flag,” portraying a vigorous patriotic group; but several of the favourites had to be repeated before the audience was satisfied. Excellent alike in conception, mouthing, and representation, the ”Living Pictures” at the Empire will prove a strong attraction.”
(The Standard, London, Tuesday, 6 February 1894, p. 3c)

‘Tableaux Vivants at the EMPIRE. A noticeable addition has been made to the programme at the EMPIRE Theatre, which promises to crown the house for some time. Never behindhand when anything savouring of novelty is I the air, the management have now introduced a series of ”Living Pictures,” produced in the style which has long been familiar to pleasure-seekers in France, Germany, and Russia. Similar representations have, of course, been given in London, but of the EMPIRE tableaux there is only this to be said: they are as well done, as richly and effectively mounted as is possible, with no suggestion of tinsel or tawdriness. The dramatis personæ are the Misses Hetty Hamer, Marie Studholme, Sheppard, Deroy, Collier, Blowey, Madame Fionde, Señorita Candida, and Messrs. Lewington and Perkins. The ”Living Pictures” meet with a good reception nightly, and it will be a pity of they do not remain in the programme for a long time to come.’
(The Graphic, London, Saturday, 10 February 1894, p. 151b//c)

Whereas Mesdames Studhome, Collier and Hamer were then actresses or members of the chorus at the Gaiety and Prince of Wales’s Theatres in London, all the others mentioned in connection with the ‘Living Pictures’ were ballet dancers or pantomimists employed at the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square. All were then under contract to the impresario George Edwardes.

Letty Lind and Hetty Hamer

Letty Lind (1862-1923),
English actress, dancer and singer,
contrasted with
Hetty Hamer (fl. late 1880s-early 20th Century),
English Gaiety Girl, showgirl and later music hall celebrity

Letty Lind as Daisy Vane in An Artist’s Model,
Daly’s Theatre, London, 2 February 1895.
(photo: W. & D. Downey, London, 1895)

‘Letty Lind the Idol of the Theatre Goers – Hetty Hamer Is a Beauty Devoid of Talents …
‘To be a favorite on the state in the “Modern Babylon,” a woman must be equipped in at least one of three ways. She may be only beautiful, and the lack of talent will be overlooked; if she startles by her “fetching” quality, audacity, diablerie, she may be plain and sublimely stupid; or she must legitimately amuse and interest according to English canons, which, by the way, are frequently ours. Two of these types are found in The Artist’s Model [sic], the comic opera which has held a London stage now for very nearly a year – Letty Lind and Hetty Hamer.
‘We are familiar with the dainty little Englishwoman who transformed skirt-dancing into a sort of butterfly art four or five years ago. London pets her. In the blue jean trousers and blouse of the Paris street urchin, as she dances in her diminutive clogs and smiles in her odd, one-sided way, she sparkles into the sympathy of the watchers. Her face is piquant – an honest, little face – but of absolute beauty she has scarcely any, and after three years’ illness she returned to the stage last year with only an echo of a voice, even for spoken lines. Her charm, however, does not depend on beauty of face or voice. She seems a sprite, her every glance an unreserved expression of the part she plays; her smile flashing over every part of a crowded house an invisible lasso knitting the attention and homage of her audience. And then, lastly, and most important, those little feet of hers! In the timings of the “Tom-tit” dance they waft the blues away as gracefully as clouds of tobacco smoke; acrobatic sky assaults find no exponent in Letty Lind. She is a born comedienne. Seldom does a dancing member of a comic-opera company give any semblance of reality to the lines of the libretto – as a rule it is considered quite enough to strut through the part; but as the runaway school-girl in Paris, playing truant in the blouse and cap of a saucy gamin, she is satisfying enough to dispense with songs and dances and still be a success.

Letty Lind as Di Dalrymple in Go-Bang, Trafalgar Square, London, 1894
(photo: probably Alfred Ellis, London, 1894)

‘In contrast to her stands Hetty Hamer. Her photographs decorate the theater lobbies as prominently as those of the principals, yet she does nothing. She is an actress as she might be a model in a cloak shop. Her face is beautiful, though lacking in shades of expression. She neither sings nor acts. She merely exists behind the foot-lights and draws her large salary because her eyes are like big, shadowed violets, her mouth like a Greek bow, the cut of her nose and chin strikingly classic. She suggests Hardy’s milkmaid heroine, Tess – the bovine calm in the large, clear eyes, the pouting lips, with the red pinch in the middle of the upper one, the surprised, ingenuous, unvarying smile. Lengthy notices are always given Hetty Hamer in the papers, and the interest the audience takes in her is eloquent of another national difference between the English and us – their critical appreciation of feminine beauty, merely as beauty, irrespective of talent and social status.
(The Gazette, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Wednesday, 20 November 1894, p.9a)

Hetty Hamer
(photo: W. & D. Downey, London, early 1890s)