Press Clippings for the week ending
Saturday, 9 September 2003

A random selection of cuttings
from newspapers and magazines

Joe Lawrence at the Middlesex music hall, London, March 1882

Joe Lawrence (1849?-1909)
'negro' comedian, comic vocalist and dancer,
Vesta Victoria's father and founder of the Terriers' Association.

(photo: Stringfellow, Sheffield, circa 1880)

'Mr. Joe Lawrence is an Ethiopian with a strong Lancashire brogue. His topsy-turvy business is the best of its kind. We have heard this performer at other halls, and have thought that his songs savoured of coarseness. They have been modified, and a good job, too, for Middlesex audiences do not favour grossness.' (The Entr'acte, London, Saturday, 1 April 1882, p.11a) * * * * * * * * Phyllis Broughton assumes the role of Josephine in W.H. Risque's curtain-raiser, Round a Tree, Vaudeville Theatre, London, 16 January 1897

Phyllis Broughton (1862-1926), English dancer and actress,
as Lord Clanside in the musical farce, In Town,
Prince of Wales's Theatre, London, 15 October 1892

(photo: W. & D. Downey, London, 1892)

'Vaudeville Theatre. 'Last night Miss Phyllis Broughton took, for the first time, the part of Josephine in Mr. W.H. Risque's curtain-raiser Round a Tree at the Vaudeville Theatre [first produced there, 11 November 1896]. The impersonation, it will be remembered, involves the assumption of male attire by the lady through the greater part of the piece, for Josephine, in order to restore to a certain Mrs. Grundy [Sibyl Grey] the attentions of a somewhat neglected spouse, has undertaken to play the part of a youthful lover who makes evening assignations with the lady. The very simple theatrical devices of the little play did not afford opportunity for anything beyond bright and straightforwardly good-humoured fun upon anybody's part, but Miss Phyllis Broughton did what there was to be done very smartly and prettily, and threw into the part of the supposed lover of Mrs. Grundy of youthful Don Juanism that was very distinctly amusing. She played throughout with discretion and vivacity, wearing her male attire with the air of one who was conscious of being irresistible in it. Excellent support was afforded by Messrs. Neville Doone and George Grossmith, jun., as Grundy and Sam, and the title, in spit of its slight and somewhat hackneyed motive, went pleasantly enough. The staple piece of the evening, A Night Out, continues to amuse mightily by the ingenuity of its intrigue and the unflagging energy of its performers.' (H.A.K., Sunday Times, London, Sunday, 17 January 1897, p.5f) * * * * * * * * The Girl on the Film, Gaiety Theatre, London, 5 April 1913

Emmy Wehlen as Winifred and George Grossmith as Max Daly in
The Girl on the Film, Gaiety Theatre, London, 5 April 1913

(photo: Foulsham & Banfield, London, 1913)

'The Girl on the Film. By James T. Tanner. Lyrics by Adrian Ross. Music by Walter Kollo, Willy Bredschneider and Albert Sirmay. Gaiety Theatre, April 5, 1913. 'Messrs. G. Barrett, Chas. Maude, Robert Nainby, Grafton Williams, R. Crompton, A. Wellesley, W. Stephens, George Grossmith, Misses Emmy Wehlen, Madeleine Seymour, Gwendoline Brogden and Connie Ediss. 'A cinema actor and producer, Max Daly is much sought after by the ladies, and Winifred, the daughter of General Fitzgibbon in order to be near him, dresses as a boy [Freddy] and obtains a part in a play for a film. But the Signora Maria Gesticulata [Gwendoline Brogden] has come from Italy to play a part in the same play, and Max falls in love with her. He cannot speak Italian, and she cannot speak English, so Winifred acts as interpreter. 'In translating a love-letter from Max to the Signora, Winifred words it so as to offend the lady, who resigns her part at once. Winifred, still supposed to be a boy, then plays the Signora's part, and Max does not discover the fact that she is a girl until after the film has been shown at an Army League soiree! 'There are one or two sub-plots in The Girl on the Film, but they do not matter very much. Though a good deal of the fun in the play is of a decidedly cheap nature Mr. Grossmith managed to be genuinely amusing. Miss Connie Ediss, too, in her own particular style, was irresistibly funny. Miss Emmy Wehlen used a distinctly pleasant voice to advantage, and the other characters seemed to fall into line. 'The music is bright and catchy, and should do a good deal for the production, but no doubt Mr. George Edwardes will make many alterations before he is satisfied with the show. The song that offended a section of the audience on the opening night has been cut out, and if a little more real humour is instilled the piece should go well.' (The Playgoer and Society Illustrated, vol.VIII (New Series), no.44, May 1913, p.50b) * * * * * * * * Gladys Cooper in the film version of Edward Knoblock's successful play, My Lady's Dress, London, 1917

A scene from the original stage version of My Lady's Dress,
Royalty Theatre, London, 23 April 1914, with,
left to right, Janet Ross as Leonie, Gladys Cooper as Anne and Dennis Eadie.
Miss Cooper also played Nina, Annette, Antje, Annie, Anna and Anita;
and Mr Eadie Gioann, Joanny, Jonkheer Ian Van de Bom, Jack, Ivan and Jacquelin.

(photo: Foulsham & Banfield, London, 1914)

'Miss Gladys Cooper was in the gathering at the Shaftesbury Pavilion [in London] last Thursday [16 August 1917] to see the Samuelson film My Lady's Dress, from the play by Edward Knoblock. Done into a film we have fine dramas to illustrate the main theme of dress and the human efforts which go to make it. The producer Mr. A[lexander] Butler, has been three times to Australia since he produced East Lynne and has done a picture more than three times better than East Lynne. Miss Gladys Cooper has had her first real chance to show what she could do in pictures and has taken it to the full.' (The Weekly Dispatch, London, Sunday, 19 August 1917, p.6b) * * * * * * * *

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© John Culme, 2003