Press Clippings for the week ending
Saturday, 3 August 2002

A random selection of cuttings
from newspapers and magazines

* * * * * * * * An actors’ hospital hut for soldiers, Cape Town, 1900 ‘Theatrical people are proverbially generous to anybody in distress, and they have done much to relieve the suffering caused by the [Boer] war. Among other things our actors and actress [in London] have equipped a hospital hut at Green Point, Cape Town, containing twenty-six beds, nurses’ room, pantry, scullery, and a verandah for convalescents. The complete equipment was sent from London, and it is the gift of some members of the profession. That delightful comédienne, Miss Gertrude Kingston, with whom the idea originated, acted as secretary, and Mr. Frederick Harrison, of the Haymarket Theatre, as treasurer, both working hard to get the ward erected with the utmost despatch.’ (The Sphere, London, Saturday, 15 September 1900, p.311a/b, with photograph of the hospital building) * * * * * * * * The Three Travillas California pearl fishers turned music hall artists, London, 1913 ‘The variety portion of the programme at the Alhambra [Leicester Square, London], has undergone revision and the chief new comers are the Travilla Brothers, who, with their famous performing sea-lion, "Winks," are presenting their swimming and diving entertainment for the first time in England. ‘The Three Travillas were originally deep sea divers, and were engaged for some years diving for pearls off Catalina Island, California.’ (The Pelican, London, Wednesday, 11 June 1913, p.5a) * * * * * * * * South London Palace music hall bill, week beginning Monday, 16 May 1881

(The Entr’acte, Saturday, 14 May 1881, p.3b)

* * * * * * * * Nelly Farrell ‘The Irish Brilliant’ or ‘The Irish Gem’

Nelly Farrell (d.1889)
Irish serio-comic vocalist
(lithograph portrait after a photograph, unknown, circa 1885)

The South London music hall ‘Miss Nelly Farrell is very much applauded for her songs, and more especially for her latest, in which she tells us that "One black sheep shall never spoil the flock."’ ( The Entr’acte, Saturday, 19 January 1884, p.11b) The Middlesex music hall, Drury Lane, London ‘… and then there is Miss Nelly Farrell, who sings Hibernian songs in that genuine fashion which the Middlesex habitués so well like, and which never fail to provoke universal applause. Without saying that the Emerald Isle is more liberally represented at the Middlesex than at any other hall, we have observed that Irish songs are in great favour here always.’ ( The Entr’acte, Saturday, 27 December 1884, p.6a) * * * * * * * * An odd costume, London, 1901

English actress Jessica Black (1884-1967)
as the doll Sarah Ann in Katawampus,
a musical play for children of all ages, Prince of Wales’s, London, 23 December 1901
(photo: Bassano, London, 1901/02)

‘An odd costume was that worn by Jessica Black, who played Sarah Ann, the Dutch doll in Katawampus at the Prince of Wales’s Theatre. The costume, if I may be allowed to call it one (look at the photograph), represented a child’s very ordinary, wooden, jointed doll, which wore no clothes at all, and was made throughout with papier-maché. The feet were built up from slippers of red leather; each limb was a distinct piece of work, and put on separately, and a woollen covering was made to fit over all. Not only the face but the hair (of the doll) was painted, Miss Black’s head being protected by a round papier-maché helmet. A little bright red paint dabbed on each cheek, and Sarah Ann was ready for the stage.’ (The Playgoer, London, Saturday, 15 February 1902, p.315)

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