The Blue Moon

colour lithograph cover (after original artwork by Richard Pannett) to the score of The Blue Moon, a musical play by Harold Ellis, revised by A.M. Thompson, with lyrics by Percy Greenbank and Paul A. Rubens and music by Howard Talbot and Paul A. Rubens, published by Chappell & Co Ltd, London, 1905, printed by H.G. Banks Ltd.

The Blue Moon, was first produced at the Opera House, Northampton, on 29 February 1904, before its London premier at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, on 28 August 1905. The principal parts on the opening night in London were played by Courtice Pounds, Fred Allandale, Walter Passmore, Willie Edouin, Eleanor Souray, Florence Smithson (a stylized portrait of whom is on the above score cover), Billie Burke and Carrie Moore.

Harry Monkhouse

a cabinet photograph of Harry Monkhouse (1854-1901), English actor,
as Duvet in the comic opera Captain Thérèse,
by Alexandre Bisson and F.C. Burnand, with music by Robert Planquette,
which was produced at the Prince of Wales’s Theatre, London, on 25 August 1890.
The cast also included Hayden Coffin, Joseph Tapley, Tom A. Shale,
Attalie Claire (in the title role), and Phyllis Broughton
(photo: Alfred Ellis, London, 1890)

‘Monkhouse, Harry. (John Adolph McKie.) – there is no more general favourite than Mr. Harry Monkhouse, who is a native of Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he was born in 1854. Of course he was never intended for the stage – actors and actresses never are – and his parents, who were Presbyterians, gave him a liberal education at Newcastle Grammar School, which they intended should fit him either for a clergyman or a doctor. From acting in amateur theatricals and assisting behind the scenes at the local theatre on benefit nights, he rose to the dignity of small parts, and at length secured his first regular engagement at the Theatre Royal, Blythe, where Mrs. Wybert Rousby seeing him act, offered him his next engagement to go to Jersey as one of her company. From the Grecian, where he first played in London, he migrated to the Alhambra, and thence to the Gaiety for three years. He met, whilst touring with the Nellie Farren Gaiety Company, Mr. Wilton Jones, who wrote for him a very funny burlesque entitled Larks, and with this and other plays, he made several long and very successful provincial tours. Just as every comedian fancies himself a tragedian, so Mr. Monkhouse, who made his name in burlesque, fancies himself for parts in melodramas where pathos is the prevailing characteristic, and squeezes into his characters a little touch of pathos whenever the chance occasion offers. As Bouillabaisse in Paul Jones (1889) he made himself wonderfully popular, and the way he eventually worked up the part during its run at the Princes of Wales’ Theatre was very marked. As Gosric in Marjorie and M. Duvet in Captain Thérèse he further added to his reputation for originality and humour. There he also played during the run of The Rose and the Ring and Maid Marian, but was drafted over to fill the ranks at the Lyric when the second edition of La Cigale was produced, and played with great drollness the part of Uncle Mat.’
(Erskine Reid and Herbert Compton, The Dramatic Peerage, Raithby, Lawrence & Co Ltd, London, 1892, pp. 154 and 155)

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)

May Leslie Stuart (fl. early 20th Century)
English actress and singer,
as she appeared in A Waltz Dream,
Daly’s Theatre, London, 7 January 1911
(photo: Foulsham & Banfield, London, 1911)

‘In the course of an interesting chat with an Era representative recently Miss May Leslie Stuart, the charming daughter of Mr. Leslie Stuart, said: –
‘“Following some chorus work at Daly’s in The Count of Luxembourg [20 May 1911] and A Country Girl [probably on tour], Mr. Arthur Collins offered me the part of an Italian girl in The Hope at the [Theatre Royal, Drury] Lane [14 September 1911]. My next engagement was with Mr. Hale Hamilton in Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford at the Queen’s [14 January 1913] – when, you may remember, I played the part of the ingénue, Dorothy. I recall that this was a somewhat strenuous rôle, in that much kissing was a rather prominent feature. The run ended, I paid a most pleasant visit with my husband, Mr. Cecil Cameron, to the United States. Mr. Cameron is, by the way, playing Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Granville Barker in New York.
‘“I appeared with my husband at the Alhambra in a sketch entitled The Girl Next Door. I am afraid I am guilty of writing the ‘book.’ Edward Royce produced the sketch, and it was so successful that it ran for six weeks at the Alhambra, and then for a good while in the provinces.
‘“As I think you will be aware, it was originally arranged that clever and charming Ada Reeve should take up her old part of Lady Holyrood in Florodora [revival, Lyric, London, 20 February 1915], but for reasons of health this was eventually found to be impossible. And so – here I am! I am quite delighted to have the opportunity of playing the part, also to sing the rather “catchy,” in more senses than one, number ‘Jack and Jill,’ which my father has written for me.’
(The Era, London, Wednesday, 24 March 1915, p.7d)

Florodora revived, Lyric Theatre, London, 20 February 1915
‘Miss Evie Greene, the original Dolores, got a most enthusiastic reception on her first appearance, and her beautiful singing and fine acting enraptured her audience. The years that have elapsed since Miss Greene first played this part seem merely to have strengthened the magnetism of her personality. She has never sung “Queen of the Philippine Islands” better than she did on Saturday night; indeed, her performance has lost none of the sprit and charm of the original impersonation… As Lady Holyrood, Miss Ada Reeve’s original part, Miss May Leslie Stuart displays a fresh sense of humour and gives a very natural performance, clever and full of piquancy. She sings “Tact” excellently, and also a song, “Jack and Jill,” of which the words and music have been specially written by [her father] Leslie Stuart for this revival, and which wins hearty applause … In response to great enthusiasm Miss Evie Greene made a little speech at the end of the evening, acknowledging herself to be an old friend, but trusting that she did not “look the part.”’
(The Era, London, Wednesday, 24 February 1915, p.11b)

May Leslie Stuart, accompanied by her father Leslie Stuart on the piano, made four gramophone recordings in London during 1915 for the HMV label. These were ‘Jack and Jill’ from the 1915 revival of Florodora (03430) and ‘Don’t Blame Eve’ (03431), both re-issued on C590; and ‘Is That You, Mr. O’Reilly?’ and ‘Heligoland’ from the revue, 5064 Gerrard (Alhambra, Leicester Square, London, 19 March 1915. In 1916, Miss Stuart appeared as Lady Orreyd in Sir George Alexander’s film production of The Second Mrs Tanqueray

Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz
in an incident from Die keusche Susanne,
Carltheater, Vienna, 18 March 1911
(photo: L. Gutmann, Vienna, 1911)

This real photograph postcard, published in Vienna in 1911, is of Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz in the operetta, Die keusche Susanne by Georg Okonkowski, with music by Jean Gilbert. The piece, which was originally produced at the Wilhelm-Theater, Magdeburg, on 26 February 1910, was first seen in Berlin at the Neues Operetten-Theater on 6 August 1911. The English adaptation, entitled The Girl in the Taxi, by Frederick Fenn and Arthur Wimperis, was first seen at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 5 September 1912, when the part of Susanne was played by Yvonne Arnaud.

For further information, see Kurt Gänzl, The Encyclopedia of The Musical Theatre, Blackwell, Oxford, 1994, vol. I, pp. 766-768.

Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz
in an incident from Die keusche Susanne,
Carltheater, Vienna, 18 March 1911
(photo: L. Gutmann, Vienna, 1911)

This real photograph postcard, published in Vienna in 1911, is of Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz in the operetta, Die keusche Susanne by Georg Okonkowski, with music by Jean Gilbert. The piece, which was originally produced at the Wilhelm-Theater, Magdeburg, on 26 February 1910, was first seen in Berlin at the Neues Operetten-Theater on 6 August 1911. The English adaptation, entitled The Girl in the Taxi, by Frederick Fenn and Arthur Wimperis, was first seen at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 5 September 1912, when the part of Susanne was played by Yvonne Arnaud.

For further information, see Kurt Gänzl, The Encyclopedia of The Musical Theatre, Blackwell, Oxford, 1994, vol. I, pp. 766-768.

Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz
in an incident from Die keusche Susanne,
Carltheater, Vienna, 18 March 1911
(photo: L. Gutmann, Vienna, 1911)

This real photograph postcard, published in Vienna in 1911, is of Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz in the operetta, Die keusche Susanne by Georg Okonkowski, with music by Jean Gilbert. The piece, which was originally produced at the Wilhelm-Theater, Magdeburg, on 26 February 1910, was first seen in Berlin at the Neues Operetten-Theater on 6 August 1911. The English adaptation, entitled The Girl in the Taxi, by Frederick Fenn and Arthur Wimperis, was first seen at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 5 September 1912, when the part of Susanne was played by Yvonne Arnaud.

For further information, see Kurt Gänzl, The Encyclopedia of The Musical Theatre, Blackwell, Oxford, 1994, vol. I, pp. 766-768.

a stereoscopic photograph of Willie Edouin as the phrenologist Anthony Tweedlepunch, impressing Charles E. Stevens as Cyrus W. Gilfain in the original production of Leslie Stuart’s successful musical comedy, Florodora, which opened under the management of Tom B. Davis at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 11 November 1899.
(photo: The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Co Ltd, London, 1899)

Mr Edouin repeated his Tweedlepunch when Florodora was first presented to American audiences at the Casino Theatre, New York, on 10 November 1900.

Little Miss Nobody, produced at the Lyric Theatre, London, 14 September 1898

programme cover for Little Miss Nobody,
produced at the Lyric Theatre, London, 14 September 1898

(printed by Haycock, Frith Street, Soho, London, 1898,
from original artwork by Bernard Partridge)

Little Miss Nobody, a musical comedy in two acts, written by Harry Graham, with music by Arthur E. Godfrey and additional music by Landon Ronald, was produced by Tom B. Davis at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 14 September 1898. The cast included Kate Cutler as Elsie Crockett (the title role), Cairns James, Yorke Stephens, Lionel Mackinder, Lionel Brough, Maria Davis, Alice de Winton, Lydia West, Dora Dent and Gracie Leigh. The piece ran for 200 performances, closing on 18 March 1899.

For further information see Kurt Gänzl, The British Musical Theatre, Macmillan, Houndmills and London, 1986, vol. I, p. 699.

Madge Rossell (fl. late 19th/early 20th Century),
English actress/chorus girl
(photo: unknown, circa 1895)

This halftone cigarette card of Madge Rossell was issued with Ogden’s Midnight Flake tobacco during the mid 1890s. Although little is known about Miss Rossell, she is recorded as having appeared in small parts in various musical plays, including An Artist’s Model (Daly’s, London, 18 September 1895), A Modern Don Quixote (Lyric, London, 21 May 1898), A Greek Slave (Daly’s, London, 8 June 1898), and Hidenseek; or, The Romance of a Ring, Globe, London, 10 December 1901).