Lady Dunlo (Belle Bilton)

a cabinet photograph of Lady Dunlo, the former Belle Bilton (1867-1906) of the Sisters Bilton, who, upon the death of her father-in-law in 1891 became the Countess of Clancarty
(photo: Bassano, London, circa 1890)

The Babes in the Wood, pantomime, produced at the Prince’s Theatre, Manchester on 21 December 1889,
with Lady Dunlo and Flo Bilton (formerly the Sisters Bilton), Little Tich, Jennie M’Nulty and Phoebe Carlo, et al

‘THE BABES IN THE WOOD AT THE PRINCE’S
‘Great efforts are being put forth to make the forthcoming pantomime of The Babes in the Wood, at the Prince’s Theatre, Manchester, even more than worthy of the reputation of that house. it promises, above all things, to be pantomime of surpassing beauty. The majority of the dresses and their fair wearers are likely to be of a high degree of attractiveness. Scenery, by K.J. M’Lennan and others, of great brilliance, has been prepared and the company of actors and actresses – and specially the latter – it would be difficult to eclipse. Mr. George Dance has written the book, and the interpolated lyrics and local references are the work of Mr. W. Richardson. The music of the pantomime is under the capable care of Mr. Alfred Haines.

a cabinet photograph of Flo Bilton (b. 1872), formerly with her sister Belle (Lady Dunlo) as the Sisters Bilton, English music hall singer and dancer
(photo: LPSCo, probably London, early 1890s)

‘The principal characters and their representatives will be: The Baron, Mr. Arnold Bell (who is stage manager of the pantomime); the Baroness, Miss Lydia Lillian; the Baron’s Page, Little Tich; Willie and Teddy (the Babes), Miss Jennie M’Nulty and Miss Phoebe Carlo; Tabitha (the schoolmistress), Mr. Tom Bass; Dorcas (the pupil teacher), Miss Nannie Harding; the ruffians, Mr. Louis Kellagher and Mr. Witty Watty Walton; Robin Hood, Miss Florence Bilton; Little John, Miss Clara Bernhardt; Will Scarlet, Miss Madge Mildren; Allan-a-Dale, Miss Florence Dene; Mat the Miller, Mr. Villiers; Maid Marion, Lady Dunlo; Hubert and Lionel, the miller’s sons, Miss Lily Edmonds and Miss Denny Fitzherbert; the miller’s men, the Avolos; Peter Pinder (the innkeeper), Mr. A. Bolton; Margery and Patience, villagers, Miss Mabel Love and Miss Daisy Ashton; Friar Tuck, Mr. Walter Wright; Sergeant O’Neill, Mr. Alfred Sakee; Corporal O’Branigan, Mr. Walter Lonnen; Captain Peveril, Miss Ada Blanche; the Archdruid (the demon), Mr. John Henry Dew; the Fairy Queen, Miss Ruth d’Aunton. The first performances will take place on the 21st December.’
(The Manchester Weekly Times, Manchester, England, Saturday, 14 December 1889, p. 2h)

a cabinet photograph of Madge Mildren (fl. late 1880s/early 1890s), English actress, as Will Scarlett in Babes in the Wood, Prince’s Theatre, Manchester, 21 December 1889. Miss Mildren was subsequently connected with the Gaiety Theatre, London, where she appeared in Carmen-Up-To-Data (photo: The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Co Ltd, London, 1889)

‘THE BABES IN THE WOOD AT THE PRINCE’S
‘The Babes in the Wood is a very luxurious pantomime; yet this exceeding richness is a sort of chastened luxury which will commend itself to the most refined tastes. The pictures within the frame of the proscenium are one after another magnificent, displaying resources, inventiveness, and above all, taste, on the part of Mr. T.W. Charles. Mr. George Dance’s book is more or less responsible for this; but the main credit due to him is that of telling a straightforward story in such a manner as to give opportunity to clever performers, rhyming with more than ordinary neatness and being careful always to measure his lines with one common foot rule. The first scene is a large picture – probably of Stonehenge – called the ”Hemlock Stone,” where long-bearded druids hold converse. In this weird region we behold burlesque on the incantation scene in Macbeth. Mr. John H. Dew’s singing of the Druid King is a hit, and so is the ludicrous Highland fling of the venerable Druids. Then, with tinklings from the orchestra and a blaze of silvery light from the flies, Titania and the fairies come rustling on. The net dramatic result of scene 1. is that the Druids vow vengeance against Robin Hood, whom Titania and the fairies protect. Green moonlight vanishes, hoary boulders collapse, and in an instant the village of Bumblebee, radiant as an August sun can make it, bursts upon the sight. The theatre rings with applause, and on the first night, Mr. M’Lennan, the scenic artist, was called and bowed again and again. Shepherds and shepherdesses and village beauties come trooping in by the score, until the whole stage is a swaying garden of infinite colour. These revels are held in honour of the wedding of the Bad Baron (Mr. Arnold Bell). The new Baroness (Miss Lydia Lillian) is a professional beauty, with a temper which enables her to hold her own anywhere. The Baron has a footman of the name of Bantam, which appropriately describes the most remarkable performer in the pantomime. Little Tich – for that is his name – is a young gentleman who cannot be much more than three feet high. The audience quickly recognises in him a consummate comedian. At his every gesture the audience roar with delight. Then two more funny people come on – Mr. Witty Watty Walton and Mr. Louis Kellagher, the ruffians of the play – and when Robin Hood (Miss Florence Bilton) and his merry-men, who have all the time been amusing themselves with the village beauties, have been proclaimed outlaws by a regiment of comic soldiers, the scene closes with a lively chorus. Here it may be mentioned that the village beauties, presonated by Miss Mabel Love, Miss Mary Marden, Miss Edith Milton, and Miss Daisy Ashton, are all very well worthy of the name. We are next introduced to Bumblebee Board School, where Miss Tabitha Bluestocking (Mr. Tom Bass) and Dorcas (Miss Nannie Harding) are teaching the young ideal how to shoot under great difficulties. Among the obstreperous pupils are the Baron’s nephew and niece, Willie and Tillie – not the tiny babes of the picture books, but two charming adults, Miss Jennie M’Nulty and Miss Phoebe Carlo. Gag’em and Scrag’em, the ruffians, disguised as schoolboys, arrive here and lure the Babes away. ”The Road to the Forest” – a beautifully painted scene showing a receding tunnel of russet foliage – is lowered, and when it rises ”Robin Hood’s Glen” is disclosed. This scene is admirable for its distance, a sunlit gorge with brown cliffs rising from the depths high above the trees. When the evolutions of green-dressed foresters are finished, Maid Marion strolls in in the person of Lady Dunlo. It is at once seen that her ladyship’s photographs only do her bare justice. Lack of spirit characterises both her acting and her singing, but her dancing and her costume are charming. A couple of soldier spies (Mr. Alfred Saker and Mr. Walter Lonnen) are dragged in, and Robin Hood, finding he is in peril, departs with his merry men to find the enemy. Then we come to ”The Depths of the Wood” and the famous fight between the ruffians. The next scene is ”The Fairies’ Home in Dreamland.” It serves as a suitable background for an exquisite ballet, called ”The Wedding of the Months and flowers.” In ”Friar Lawrence’s Cell” we are treated to some very comical lovemaking between the Friar (Mr. Walter Wright) and the schoolmistress, and to some wonderful dulcimer playing by the Avolos. Scene 9, ”The Windmill” – a glimpse far up over sparkling cascades to the head of a wooded glen – is perhaps the finest of all Mr. M’Lennan’s efforts. A spirited clog dance by a white-dressed ballet opens the action. Then comes the irresistible Little Tich in a pair of boots nearly as big as himself, and he indulges in antics which throw the audience into prolonged convulsions. Other scenes are given before dramatic matters are put straight. The vanquished villain returns, the Baron repents, and the Babes are restored to their rights, and the customary patriotic song closes the scene. Altogether Mr. Charles is to be congratulated on a pantomime which is not likely to be surpassed for constant exuberant fun, and which it would be difficult to equal for the beauty and splendour of its scenes.’
(The Manchester Weekly Times, Manchester, England, Saturday, 28 December 1889, p. 2d)

a cabinet photograph of Mabel Love (1874-1953), English actress and dancer
(photo: The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Co Ltd, London, late 1880s)

‘A second edition of the pantomime, The Babes in the Wood, was performed for the first time at the Prince’s, Manchester, on Monday evening. New music, new songs, and other novel features were freely introduced. Little Tich proved a host in himself, his eccentricities of movement being the most distinctly humorous feature of the pantomime. Lady Dunlo and Miss Florence Bilton introduced a pretty new dance, which they executed admirably.’
(Manchester Times, Manchester, England, Saturday, 22 February 1890, p. 6c)

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Edward Compton

a postcard photograph of Edward Compton (1854-1918), English actor manager,
published in London by J. Beagles & Co Ltd about 1918
(photo: unknown, early 20th Century)

Mr. Edward Compton as David Garrick at the Prince’s Theatre, Manchester, Friday, 5 May 1905
‘The idealisation of Garrick happily accomplished in the play David Garrick is not a little amusing. Certainly those of us who have learned to know our Davy as he appears in Boswell would never recognise that famous little figure in this superfine stage rhetorician. The Garrick who was the Doctor’s pet was small and vivacious, with a face worn from the ”wear and tear” of acting. He was in now small degree miserly. We remember how when Peg Woffington used to make tea for him he would grumble that it was extravagantly strong – ”Why is it as red as blood.” The Garrick of the play is nothing if not polite, and yet Dr. Johnson pronounced of the real David that ”he can’t represent all modes of life but that of the easy, fine-bred gentleman” – the actor’s humble origin clinging always to him. Nevertheless the Garrick of the footlights is a pleasing enough personage in his finery, both bodily and mental. Under any other name the play would act as well. The piece is thin enough, and it contains one or two pure improbabilities. Of such is the whole of alderman Gresham’s plan, and the fact that Tom Tallyhaut is allowed by Gresham to reveal this precious plot before his niece after Garrick’s drunkenness – these things we half forget in the easy flow of the tale. Mr. Compton has now played as Davy 1,200 times, yet he successfully evades the temptation of mechanical fluency. He is at home in the task of championing the actor’s art through the mouth of the mythical Garrick. His is a genial interpretation. The performance last night was satisfying as a whole, although we thought the guests in the second act rather needlessly grotesque. The occasion was Mr. Compton’s ”benefit.” He has been playing in legitimate comedy for more than twenty years. In a little speech across the footlights he spoke of himself as a champion of comedy of the older and more wholesome school. ”There are many of those,” he said ”who are evidently glad to get away for a brief spell from the eternal feminine, in the shape of the woman with a past and the musical maid with a future – from the inane farcical comedy and the highly seasoned drama.”’
(The Manchester Guardian, Manchester, Saturday, 6 May 1905, p. 9f)

Jenny Dawson (Mrs Clara Sharlach, d. 1936),
English actress and vocalist
(photo: London Stereoscopic Co, London, mid 1890s)

‘Dawson, Jenny. – Miss Jenny Dawson made her début at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, in a minor part, and shortly afterwards gained her first success as Pousette in the pantomime of Cinderella at the Prince’s Theatre, Manchester. In 1886 she came to London, and appeared as Jeames in Oliver Grumble at the Novelty Theatre [25 March 1886], under the management of Mr. Willie Edouin. An Autumn tour with Mr. G.P. Hawtrey, to play in The Pickpocket, was followed by her charming impersonation of Allan-a-Dale in the successful pantomime of The Babes in the Wood at the Prince of Wales’ Theatre, Liverpool. She remained in the provinces for a year, undertaking juvenile and leading parts, and principal burlesque. In September, 1887, she accepted an offer to join the Drury Lane Company, where she played Mrs. Egerton in Pleasure, and made an adorable Cupid in the pantomime of Puss in Boots. Mr. George Edwardes next engaged Miss Dawson for his provincial tour of Miss Esmeralda, and she then crossed the Atlantic solely to understudy Miss Nelly Farren in America, which brought her but barren honours. Returning to England in June, 1888, she appeared in Faust up to Date at the Gaiety during Mr. Van Bienne’s short autumnal season, to the success of which she very materially conduced. A pantomime engagement took her to Edinburgh for the winter, and in the spring of 1890 she was cast for Millie in The Bungalow at Toole’s [7 October 1889]. When Carmen up to Data was produced [Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool, 22 September 1890, transferred to the Gaiety, London, 4 October 1890], Miss Dawson created the rôle of Escamillo, but not liking the part, resigned it after the first week. Liverpool again claimed her for the winter pantomime, and in the spring of 1891 she was engaged by Mr. Thomas Thorne for Lady Franklin in the revival of Money, alternating the part with Miss Kate Phillips, after which she joined Mr. Charles Hawtrey’s Company at the Comedy, and besides creating the part of Rosabel in Houp La with unqualified success, filled the leading part in Husband and Wife with equal verve during Miss Lottie Venne’s absence.’
(Erskine Reid and Herbert Compton, The Dramatic Peerage, Raithby, Lawrence & Co Ltd, London, 1892, pp.67 and 68)

Jenny Dawson, whose husband was Robert E. Sharlach, was the mother of the actress, singer and mimic, Marie Dainton (1880-1938).

Zena Dare as Peter Pan, her favourite role, Manchester, 1906

Zena Dare (1887-1975), English actress, in the title role of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, Prince’s Theatre, Manchester, Christmas, 1906

(photo: Bassano, London, 1906)

This real photograph postcard, no.2323 in Davidson Brothers’ Real Photographic Series, was published in London in late 1906. It shows Zena Dare in her favourite part, the title role of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan as produced by Charles Frohman at the Prince’s Theatre, Manchester, at Christmas 1906. At the end of the run the piece went on a tour of the United Kingdom until May 1907. Running concurrently at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, during the Christmas season of 1906 was another Frohman production of Peter Pan, with Pauline Chase heading the cast. Immediately afterwards Miss Dare toured in The Catch of the Season before returning to London to appear in The Gay Gordons (Aldwych, 12 September 1907). Miss Chase’s next engagement was in the title role of Loie Fuller’s The Little Japanese Girl (Duke of York’s, London, 26 August 1907).