Mabel Green advertises Odol mouthwash, London, 1912

Mabel Green (1887-1975), English actress and vocalist, photographed for an Odol mouthwash advertisement, 1912
(photo: unknown, probably Bassano, London, circa 1908-1912)

Mabel Green, whose real name was Mabel Gladys Coomber, was born in the Notting Hill area of London on 1 November 1887, one of the children of Alfred Coomber (1852-1924), a removal contractor, and his wife Matilda (née Tanner), widow of Samuel Preston Green (1848-1880), a builder/carpenter and joiner. Mabel’s first husband was a solicitor, Tom Stanley Steel (1871-1920), whom she married in South Africa in 1912 and divorced in London in 1917. Her second husband, and his second wife, was Julius Sigismund Wetzlar (1866?-1938), Deputy Chairman of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Ltd. Mabel’s third and last husband was Zante Gower Burmester (1885-1971), whom she married at Holy Trinity, Kensington Gore, on 11 January 1940.

Clarice Mayne and Mabel Green in Humpty Dumpty, Glasgow, 1907

Clarice Mayne and Mabel Green as principal boy and girl in the pantomime, Humpty Dumpty, Grand Theatre, Glasgow, Christmas 1907
(photo: Bassano, London, 1907)

This real photograph postcard of Clarice Mayne and Mabel Green as the principal boy and girl in the pantomime, Humpty Dumpty, Grand Theatre, Glasgow, Christmas 1907, was published in 1907/08 by The Rotary Photographic Co Ltd, London, in its Rotary Photographic Series, no. 4885 A.

Other members of the cast included Fred Kitchen, Jack and Evelyn, Ernest Rees, Ernie Mayne and Sam Poluski junior.

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)