Gertrude Glyn as she appeared as Sonia during the run of The Merry Widow, Daly’s Theatre, London, 1907-1909

Gertrude Glyn (1886-1965), English musical comedy actress, as she appeared as understudy to Lily Elsie in the role of Sonia during the first London run of The Merry Widow, produced at Daly’s Theatre, Leicester Square, on 8 June 1907 and closed on 31 July 1909.
(photo: Bassano, London, probably 1908 or 1909; postcard no. 1792M in the Rotary Photographic Series, published by the Rotary Photographic Co Ltd, London, 1908 or 1909)

Gertrude Glyn began her career in 1901 at the age of 15 with Seymour Hicks when he cast her in one of the minor roles in the ‘musical dream,’ Bluebell in Fairyland (Vaudeville Theatre, London, 18 December 1901), of which he and his wife, Ellaline Terriss were the stars. Miss Glyn was subsequently under contract to George Edwardes, appearing in supporting roles at the Gaiety and Daly’s theatres in London and where she was also one of several understudies to both Gabrielle Ray and Lily Elsie. She also seen from time to time in other United Kingdom cities. Her appearances at Daly’s in The Merry Widow, The Dollar Princess (1909-10), A Waltz Dream (1911), and The Count of Luxembourg (1911-12) were followed during 1912 or 1913 by her taking the role of Lady Babby in Gipsy Love (also played during the run by Avice Kelham and Constance Drever), in succession to Gertie Millar.

On 10 April 1914, Gertrude Glyn and Elsie Spain sailed from London aboard the SS Otway bound for Sydney, Australia. Their first appearances there were at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, on 6 June that year in Gipsy Love in which they took the parts respectively of Lady Babby and Ilona, the latter first played in London by Sari Petrass.

Gipsy Love, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, 6 June 1914
‘A thoroughly artistic performance is that offered by Miss Gertrude Glyn, another newcomer, in the role of Lady Babby. Although her singing voice is not a strong point in her equipment of talent, this actress artistically makes one forget this fact in admiration for the skilful interpretation of her lines and lyrics, and also the gracefulness of her dancing and movements. Another point of excellence about Miss Glyn’s work is that she acts easily and naturally, always keeping well within the pictures and confines of the character she impersonates.’
(The Referee, Sydney, NSW, Wednesday, 17 June 1914, p. 15c)

Gertrude Glyn’s last appearances were as Lady Playne in succession to Madeline Seymour and Mary Ridley in Paul Rubens’s musical play, Betty, which began its long run at Daly’s Theatre, London, on 24 April 1915 and ended on 8 April 1916.

* * * * *

Gertrude Glyn’s real name was Gertrude Mary Rider. She was the youngest daughter of James Gray (or Grey) Rider (1847/49-1900), a civil servant, and his wife, Elizabeth. She was baptised on 24 October 1886 at St. Mark’s, Hanwell, Middlesex. She married in 1918.
‘CAPTAIN BULTEEL and MISS GERTRUDE GLYN (RIDER).
‘The marriage arranged between Captain Walter Beresford Bulteel, Scottish Horse, youngest son of the late John Bulteel, of Pamflete, Devon, and Gertrude Mary Glyn (Rider), youngest daughter of the late James Grey Rider, and of Mrs. Rider, 6, Windsor Court, Bayswater, will take place at St. Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, on Thursday, May 9, at 2.30.’
(The Times, London, 7 May 1918, p. 9c)
Bulteel, one of whose maternal great grandfathers was Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), was born in 1873 and died in 1952; his wife (Gertrude Glyn) died on 16 October 1965.

Lily Elsie at the time of her appearance in The Dollar Princess, London, 1909/10

Lily Elsie (1886-1962), English actress and singer and star of musical comedy, at the time of her appearance in The Dollar Princess, which opened at Daly’s Theatre, London, on 25 September 1909 for a run of 430 performances, closing on 3 December 1910.
(photo: Foulsham & Banfield, London, circa 1910)

‘Which lady to-day has the cosiest dressing-room in London? Probably Miss Lily Elsie, at Daly’s Theatre. Nothing could be more tasteful or dainty that the boudoir of ”The Dollar Princess.” Wall-paper, curtains, furniture, and all fittings harmonize in a scheme of white and pale mauve, while refined luxury is hinted at everywhere, from the many-cushioned couch by the fire to the thick fur rug, from the baskets of cosy flowers to the silken photograph frames. The most exalted of grand dames could not wish for a more elegant room. At the same house Miss Gabrielle Ray has a pretty apartment where the walls are embellished with water-coloured paintings.’
(from ‘Dressing-Rooms of Actresses,’ The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, Albury, New South Wales, Australia, Friday, 15 April 1910, p. 45c/d)

Dolly Dombey

Dolly Dombey (1887-1967), English musical comedy actress/chorus girl
(photo: Rita Martin, London, circa 1909)

Dolly Dombey, whose real name was Florence Newton, was born in Lambeth, London, in 1887. In 1909 she married Fred J. Blackman (1879-1951), a former actor and theatrical producer who from 1907 to 1921 was in charge of all tours of the productions originating at Daly’s Theatre, London, including The Merry Widow and The Dollar Princess. For the next five or six years he produced various musical shows in London, including The Lady of the Rose with Phyllis Dare in the leading role (Daly’s, 1922) and Katja the Dancer (Gaiety, 1925). In 1927 the couple emigrated with their three children, Joan, Timothy and Barabra, to Australia where Blackman worked in a similar capacity for Williamson & Tait Ltd.

Miss Dombey was one of a number of bit-part actresses who were well-known to London audiences who favoured musicals during the years immediately preceding the First World War. She appeared during the runs of the following productions: The Merry Widow (Daly’s, 8 June 1907); The Dollar Princess (Daly’s, 25 September 1909); The Quaker Girl (Adelphi, 5 November 1910); The Count of Luxembourg (Daly’s, 20 May 1911); The Marriage Market (Daly’s, 17 May 1913); and a revival of A Country Girl (Daly’s, 28 October 1914). Her final appearance was as Lady Mendie in succession to Therese Mills in A Southern Maid (Daly’s, 18 May 1920).

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)

Kitty Melrose, English musical comedy actress and singer, London, circa 1909

Kitty Melrose (1883-1912),
English musical comedy actress and singer;
(photo: Rita Martin, London, circa 1909)

This real photograph of the actress and singer Kitty Melrose was published in London about 1909 by A. & G. Taylor in its ‘Reality’ Series, no. 1353.

Miss Melrose first came to notice in 1905 when she made an appearance as Rectory Belle in a revival of Seymour Hicks’s musical dream play, Bluebell (Aldwych Theatre, London, 23 December 1905). Remaining with Hicks, she was next seen as one of the twelve Bath Buns in The Beauty of Bath, a musical play produced at the Aldwych on 19 March 1906. Again with Hicks, she then took the part of Miss Liverpool in the less successful musical play, My Darling (Hicks, 2 March 1907) before appearing as Trixie Clayton in Brewster’s Millions (Hicks, 1 May 1907), a comedy with Gerald du Maurier in the leading role. Miss Melrose’s next part was Fanny in Cosmo Hamilton’s farce, ProTem (Playhouse, 29 April 1908) before returning to musical comedy in Charles Frohman’s New York production of The Dollar Princess at the Knickerbocker Theatre (6 August 1909). Kitty Melrose’s last appearance was as Cleo in The Quaker Girl (Adelphi, 5 November 1910), starring Joseph Coyne, and Gertie Millar for whom she was sometime understudy.

‘Golf Ball Hurts Actress.
‘Miss Melrose May Be Disfigured – Her Nose Fractured.
‘Kiss Kitty Melrose, an English actress, playing in The Dollar Princess at the Knickerbocker Theatre, received so severe a fracture of the nose on Friday afternoon from a blow of a golf ball that the doctors who have her in charge fear that she may be permanently disfigured.
‘She was hurried to this city in an automobile from the Links of the Danwoodie Country Club under an anaesthetic for treatment here. She had gone to the course with F. Pope Stamper of the same company. They had gone over the course once when Mr. Stamper prepared to make a long drive. Miss Melrose stood watching, about forty feet to the right. He swung with great force, but sliced the ball. It shot out, rotating at an angle, and, making a curve, struck Miss Melrose squarely on the side of the nose.’
(New York Times, New York, Sunday, 17 October 1909, p.18f)

‘Pathetic Death of Deserted Woman.
‘Actress Dead With Her Head Inside a Gas Oven.
‘London, June 7 [1912]. – the love affairs of the actress, Kitty Melrose, aged 29, who has lately been an understudy for Gertie Millar in The Quaker Girl, at the Adelphi theater and who was found dead in her flat with her head inside a gas oven, occupied the attention of the coroner at Westminster today.
‘Letters read at the inquest, showed that she had been living with Lawson Johnston, a young man about town, who had promised to marry her. Later he wrote her that he found it impossible to carry out his promise owing to the opposition of his people, upon whom he was dependent.
‘He acknowledged it was wrong for him to allow her to think that marriage was possible, but he added, the family had found out that they had been living together and said the marriage was impossible.
‘Kitty’s letters in reply were very pathetic. The last one said among other things:
‘“Eddie. By leaving me alone, you thought you were doing right, but it was all wrong. God forgive you, as I hope he will forgive me.”’
(The Evening Observer, Dunkirk, New York, 7 June 1912, p.7d)

The full story surrounding Kitty Melrose’s suicide, which took place on 3 June 1912, is recounted by James Jupp, The Gaiety stage door; thirty years’ reminiscences of the theatre, Jonathan Cape, London, 1923. She is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.

Daisy Le Hay in the United States touring production of The Dollar Princess, 1910

Daisy Le Hay (b. 1883), English actress and singer,
as she appeared during 1910/11 in the United States’ touring production of
The Dollar Princess as Alice Cowder, a part originated on the
English-speaking stage by Adrienne Augarde at the Knickerbocker, New York, 6 August 1909,
and by Lily Elsie at Daly’s, London, 25 September 1909.
(photo: Moffett, Chicago, 1910)

‘Daisy Le Hay is the Alice. She plays the part with fire, and has a voice that will keep her in the front rank of musical comedy artists. She sang the songs allotted to her with a resonance and quality of tone that were delightful.’
(The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Tuesday, 21 March 1911, p.5b)

Lillian Russell and Daisy Le Hay, who are appearing in Chicago, model their dresses at a dressmakers’ convention, 1910
‘Actresses set the fashion in dress for America. So insisted Mrs. Idah McGlone Gibson in the address she delivered at the dressmakers’ convention. And the reason therefor is that actresses ”dress the part.” their dresses always are en rapport with the character they seek to portray.
”’For that same reason the fashionably dressed woman must choose a gown indicative of her own temperament,” said Mrs. Gibson. ”The best dressed actresses of the stage choose gowns that exactly fit their own personalities.”
‘Just at that moment a velvet curtain cutting off a portion of the stage was drawn aside and in the glare of the lights appears Miss Lillian Russell, her daughter, Mrs. Dunsmore, and Miss Daisy Le Hay, actresses appearing now in the Chicago theatres.
”’No woman in America has spent more money in the American dress shops than Miss Russell,” said Mrs. Gibson, after she had introduced the actresses and each had performed a bewitching smile for the benefit of the audience of dressmakers.
‘Then she pointed out that the dress worn by Miss Russell was just the sort that should be affected by the sort of woman Miss Russell is. Miss Daisy Le Hay was attired in a frock of another character in perfect consonance with her individual type of figure.
‘Then Mrs. Gibson proceeded to hammer home the philosophy of perfect gown wearing.’
(New Castle News, New Castle, Pennsylvania, Friday, 30 September 1910, p.9b)