Blanche Astley and James T. Powers in The Circus Girl

Blanche Astley and James T. Powers as they appeared in the Fancy Dress Ball scene in The Circus Girl, which opened at Daly’s Theatre, New York, on 23 April 1897
(photo: unknown, New York, 1897)

The Circus Girl, a musical comedy with music by Ivan Caryll, first opened at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 5 December 1896. The original cast included Edmund Payne as Biggs and Katie Seymour as Lucille (a slack wire walker); these parts were played respectively by James T. Powers and Blanche Astley when the American production opened at Daly’s, New York, on 23 April 1897.

Daly’s Theatre, New York
‘Rehearsals are held daily of ”The Circus Girl,” which is to be produced April 26 [sic]. Virginia Earle will appear as the Circus girl, and Blanche Astley, who was specially brought over from England by Mr. Daly, will act the role of the bareback rider and dancer. Miss Astley is said to be one of the most graceful dancers on the English stage. James T. Powers, the comedian, has been engaged as a member of Mr. Daly’s stock company, and will act wht role of the American bartender in the new piece.’
(Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, Saturday,17 April 1897, [p. 19a])

Blanche Astley and James T. Powers in The Circus Girl

Blanche Astley and James T. Powers in The Circus Girl, which opened at Daly’s Theatre, New York, on 23 April 1897
(photo: unknown, New York, 1897)

The Circus Girl, a musical comedy with music by Ivan Caryll, first opened at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 5 December 1896. The original cast included Edmund Payne as Biggs and Katie Seymour as Lucille (a slack wire walker); these parts were played respectively by James T. Powers and Blanche Astley when the American production opened at Daly’s, New York, on 23 April 1897.

Daly’s Theatre, New York
‘Rehearsals are held daily of ”The Circus Girl,” which is to be produced April 26 [sic]. Virginia Earle will appear as the Circus girl, and Blanche Astley, who was specially brought over from England by Mr. Daly, will act the role of the bareback rider and dancer. Miss Astley is said to be one of the most graceful dancers on the English stage. James T. Powers, the comedian, has been engaged as a member of Mr. Daly’s stock company, and will act wht role of the American bartender in the new piece.’
(Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, Saturday,17 April 1897, [p. 19a])

Myra Hammon

Myra Hammon (1886?-1953), Australian singer, actress and pantomime principal boy
(photo: unknown, probably UK, circa 1914)

Myra Hammon appears to have begun her career with J.C. Williamson’s Musical Comedy Company, touring Australia in 1902 and 1903 in Florodora and The Circus Girl. She afterwards in 1906 began a partnership with Alice Wyatt and together they were billed as a serio-comic duo or ‘the Sandow Girls.’

Tivoli Theatre, Adelaide, Saturday evening, 16 February 1907
‘The Tivoli Theatre was crowded in every part on Saturday evening, when a change of programme was given, and several new artists made their first appearance. The performance was bright and lively all through, and called for vigorous demonstrations of appreciation. The Sandow girls, Misses Myra Hammon and Alice Wyatt created a favourable impression, first by their physique, and next by their vocal talent. In the second part they gave an amusing travesty of heavy weight-lifting and Sandow exercises, and the ease with which they manipulated huge dumbbells afforded genuine mirth, not unmixed with astonishment on the part of many in the audience.’
(The Advertiser, Adelaide, South Australia, Monday, 18 February 1907, p. 8 f; the Sandow Girls routine would appear to have been inspired by the song sung by Carrie Moore, herself an Australian, and chorus in the London production of The Dairymaids, a musical comedy which opened at the Apollo Theatre, London, on 14 April 1906)

Hammon and Wyatt were included in Allan Hamilton’s Mammoth Vaudeville Company, when it played at the Theatre Royal, Hobart, Tasmania, on Saturday, 15 June 1907.

‘Myra Hammon and Alice Wyatt, the Australian Sandow Girls, are doing splendidly in Great Britain, and having a good time.’
(The Newsletter: an Australian Paper for Australian People, Sydney, New South Wales, Saturday, 14 August 1909, p. 2c)

‘Myra Hammon and Alice Wyatt, the Australian Sandow Girls, are touring the Continent, opening at Vienna in August.’
(The Newsletter: an Australian Paper for Australian People, Sydney, New South Wales, Saturday, 21 August 1909, p. 2a)

At Christmas, 1910, Myra Hammon and Alice White were appearing in the pantomime of Babes in the Wood at Brixton, South London. Shortly afterwards they seem to have gone their separate ways and in the Spring of 1914 Miss Hammon was married:
‘News has leaked out in Birmingham (Eng.) of the marriage, which took place quietly in a registrar’s office, of one of the local ”principal boys” – Miss Myra Hammon. The happy man is Mr. Charles Butler, a well-known business man in that city. Miss Hammon is leaving England for a world’s tour, including Australia, South Africa, and India. In the [music] halls she appears with her sister, Edie [sic] Wyatt, as ”Hammon and Wyatt, the Australian Sandow girls and singers.’
(The West Australian, Perth, Western Australia, Saturday, 4 April 1914, p. 9g)

Miss Hammon did not retire from the theatre until about 1920, however. She was the Prince Perfect in the pantomime Cinderella at Christmas 1914 at the Grand Theatre, Middlesborough, before appearing in Look Out, a revue, produced on 4 October at the Empire, Newport, prior to an extended tour, including the Hippodrome, Leeds, the Empire, Finsbury Park, and the Hippodrome, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Cast included Ennis Parkes (Mrs Jack Hylton). Myra Hammon was then seen as Principal Boy in the pantomime Babes in the Wood at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, at Christmas 1916, and again at the Bordesley Palace, at Christmas 1919.

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)