Millie Hylton

Millie Hylton (1868-1920), English actress and singer, tells a story, 1909
(photo: Alfred Ellis & Walery, London, circa 1900)

‘“Oh, You Coward!”
‘Miss Millie Hylton, the well known vaudeville actress, told a good story of an incident which occurred when she was touring in Holland some time ago. In the company in which she was playing there was a well known lion tamer who had a termagant of a wife, and at every rehearsal the ill-assorted couple were quarrelling bitterly. One night matters came to a crisis. The lion tamer had just finished his performance, and was bowing himself off the stage amid the plaudits of the audience when his wife made a grab at him and began to belabor him soundly. The poor fellow stood it as long as he could then suddenly he broke from her grasp, and flying toward the cage of his fiercest lion, he opened the door and popped in. For some time the virago stood and taunted him in a vain endevor to induce him to come out but the lion tamer was not to be moved. At last, after she had exhausted every possible epithet, she put her face close to the bars and hissed out: “Oh, you coward!”’
(from Woman’s Life, The La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Wednesday, 10 March 1909, p.3g)

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Louise Montague

a carte de visit photograph of Louise Montague (1859-1910),
American actress and singer
(photo: Sarony, New York, circa 1883)

‘Miss Louise Montague, a member of the variety-theatre profession born in New York, aged 21, has been selected by Mr. Forepaugh as the winner of his prize of $10,000 for the handsomest woman in the country. In complexion she is a semi-brunette. Her lips are cherry, teeth regular and pearly, and visible at every smile through a large but not disproportionate mouth; has large expressive brown eyes, a symmetrical nose and an intelligent cast of countenance. In conversation – and she is possessed of a fund of sparkling talk – every feature if animated, and her flashing eyes and health-tinted cheeks, coupled with a vivacious manner, lend an additional charm to her demeanor. She is of medium height and figure and has a little foot.’
(The Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Monday, 4 April 1881, p. 2b/c)

New York, 29 April 1887.
‘Capt. Alfred Thompson and Joseph Brooks, composing the Imperial Burlesque Company, have been sued for [$]8500 by Miss Louise Montague, whom they had engaged for four weeks, commencing May 29th, and whom they discharged because she would not sing for them, so that they might judge of her vocal powers.’
(The Era, London, Saturday, 14 May 1887, p. 15e)

‘Louise Montague, the $10,000 beauty, is making the hit of The Gondoliers in the company that is touring through the West [United States], and she makes it by high kicking. It was reported a year ago that she was studying for opera and it is evident that the report was true.’
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sunday, 20 April 1890, p, 18g)

‘Don Juan [to be produced on 28 October 1893] at the Gaiety [London], is to have the services of Mr. Arthur Roberts, Mr. Robert Pateman, Mr. Arthur Playfair, Mr. Edmund Payne, Miss Millie Hylton, Miss Sylvia Grey, Miss Katie Seymour, Miss Cissie Loftus, and Miss Louise Montague, a young singer from America.’
(The Birmingham Daily Post, Birmingham, England, Monday, 18 September 1893, p. 6h)

‘LOUISE MONTAGUE DEAD.
‘Was Famous ”Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty” of Forepaugh’s Circus.
‘Louise M. Montague, once heralded over the country as the ”Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty,” died on Tuesday at her home, 164 Manhattan Avenue. Louise Montague was an actress with Edward E. Rice’s company in The Corsair, and later became a star of David Henderson’s Sinbad the Sailor.
‘Adam Forepaugh, the circus proprietor, determined to make her beauty the feature of his circus, and in 1878 he engaged her to travel with his circus. She was advertise as the ”Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty,” and rode in the parades in a gorgeous chariot especially constructed for her.’
(The New York Times, Thursday, 17 March 1910)

‘DEATH DRAWS VEIL ON $10,000 BEAUTY
‘Louise Montague, Who Captured the Big Beauty Prize Money, Dies.
‘NEW YORK March 16 [1910]. – ”Montague, Louise M., died on Tuesday at her residence, 184 Manhattan avenue.”
‘This simple death notice appeared in the New York papers today. It was written in the main by Louise Montague herself a week before her death, the day on which death would come being left blank, to be filled in by the undertaker.
‘Few who read this notice know that the Louise Montague, whose death was so simply chronicled, was the woman who was once heralded far and wide over the country as the ”Ten Thousand Dollar Beauty.”
‘After the first rage over her had subsided she sought the quiet of private life, but a few years afterwards went on the stage because it was discovered that she had talents equal to her beauty.
‘Then Forepaugh with a showman’s acumen, offered a $10,000 prize for the most beautiful woman in America and had the judges select Louise Montague. Riding on a gorgeous chariot she was a feature of his circus parades.
‘But just before she died she asked that all the old pictures of herself in the days of her fleeting glory be brought to her, and tonight they stood on the mantel and on chairs in the room where Louise Montague lay in her coffin. Pinned on the wall was a glaring, many-colored poster – ”Forepaugh’s prize beauty” – and over the mantel was a faded photograph, life size of Louise Montague as ”Sindbad the Sailor.”’
(Evening Bulletin, Honolulu, Friday, 1 April 1910, p. 10c/d)

Millie Hylton, English actress and singer

a cabinet photograph of Millie Hylton (1870-1920), English actress and singer (photo: James Bacon & Sons, 81 Northumberland Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, circa 1900)

Millie Hylton, Horace Mills, Lydia Flopp, Coralie Blythe et al on UK tour of The Circus Girl, August 1897

‘Considerable excitement was caused at the Portsmouth Town Station on Sunday last by the discovery that the chief baggage van of the special train conveying Mr George Edwardes’s Circus Girl company had caught fire through an over-heated axle. Expensive costumes were hurriedly thrown out on to the platform, and the principal properties were saved. The ladies were very much upset, and Miss Millie Hylton and [her sister] Miss Lydia Flopp both fainted. Messrs Page, Horace Mills, and Charles Stevens were conspicuous in their activity in saving the property of the company.’ (The Era, London, Saturday, 14 August 1897, p. 10b)

The Circus Girl touring company at the Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, week beginning Monday, 9 August 1897

‘… Of the ladies Miss Millie Hylton invested the part of Mrs Drivelli [created by Connie Ediss when The Circus Girl was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 5 December 1896]with clever low comedy, speaking with a true cockney twang, though scarcely looked plump enough for the part, but always charming and refreshing, her song ”Oh, what a wet, wet day,” and ”The proper way to treat a lady” being vociferously redemanded. Miss Lydia Flopp as Dora Wemyss [created in the original production by Ellaline Terriss] was naïvely natural, and acted and sang delightfully, her ”Little bit of string” being a great favourite… . Miss Coralie Blythe delighted everyone with her fresh conception of the part of Lucille [a circus slack wire walker, created by Katie Seymour].’ (The Era, London, Saturday, 14 August 1897, p. 11d)