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Principal Boy
In pantomime, a principal boy role is the young male protagonist of the play, traditionally played by a young actress in boy's clothes. The earliest example is Miss Ellington who in 1852 appeared in ''The Good Woman in the Wood'' by James Planché to the consternation of a reviewer. She was followed by other music hall and burlesque entertainers, such as Harriet Vernon described as "a magnificent creature, who was willing to show her ample figure as generously as the conventional tights and trunks of the day allowed" and thus setting the standard of good legs on display and nominally male costume which emphasized her figure. The tradition grew out of laws restricting the use of child actors in London theatre, and the responsibility carried by such lead roles. A Breeches role was also a rare opportunity for an early 20th-century actress to wear a costume revealing the legs covered only in tights, potentially increasing the size of the audience. The practice of having a female pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lil Hawthorne
Lil Hawthorne (4 July 1877 – 22 March 1926) was an American-born British stage beauty, music hall performer and pantomime Principal Boy. In 1910, Hawthorne was involved in bringing Dr. Crippen to justice for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen, whom she had regarded as a good friend prior to her death. Early years Born in Nashville, Illinois, as Lillian Hawthorne, she was one of four daughters of New Orleans estate agent Tazwell Wolfe (known as Hawthorne) and his wife Adrianna or Ada ''née'' Rogers, a farmer's daughter from Pontotoc, Mississippi. In 1889 aged 12 Lilian Hawthorne was cast in the role of a small boy in the comic opera ''Paola'' after which she and her younger sister Adelaide joined the theatrical company The Bostonians for whom they appeared in ''The Knickerbockers'', ''Robin Hood'', and ''The Ogallalas''. In 1892 they played Leila and Fleta in ''Iolanthe'' with Henry Dixey's company at Palmer's Theatre. She started her variety career in America a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cross-gender Acting
Cross-gender acting refers to actors or actresses portraying a character of the opposite sex. It is distinct from both transgender and cross-dressing character roles. Traditions of male-only performance cultures Many societies prohibited women from performing on stage, so boys and men took the female roles. In the ancient Greek theatre men played females, as they did in English Renaissance theatre and continue to do in Japanese kabuki theatre (see ''onnagata''). In Chinese opera specialized male actors who play female roles ('' dàn'') are referred to as ''nándàn'' (男旦); the practice arose during the Qing dynasty due to imperial prohibitions against women performing on stage, considered detrimental to public morality. Japanese kabuki theatre began in the 17th century with all-female troupes performing both male and female roles. In 1629 the disrepute of kabuki performances (or of their audiences) led to the banning of women from the stage, but kabuki's great popularit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy Ward
Dorothy Ward (26 April 1890 – 30 March 1987) was an English actress who specialised in pantomimes, playing the principal boy roles, while her husband Shaun Glenville would play the dame roles. She had a successful 52 year career and played in over 40 pantomimes between 1905 and 1957. Early career Ward was born in Aston (now part of Birmingham), Warwickshire, on 26 April 1890, to Eliza (née Millichamp, 1867–1946) and Edwin Ward (1866–), a wholesale bottler. When she was 14 she was taken to see ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' with Ada Reeve as the principal boy, and from that moment she decided on a career in pantomime. She made her stage début at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham in 1905, aged 15, playing Zenobia in the pantomime ''Bluebeard''. Following her success in this Robert Courtneidge offered her the role of Betty in the Edwardian musical comedy ''The Dairymaids'' at the Apollo Theatre in London (1906) opposite Phyllis Dare and Walter Passmore. The Christmas seas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vesta Tilley
Matilda Alice Powles, Lady de Frece (13May 186416September 1952) was an English music hall performer. She adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley and became one of the best-known male impersonators of her era. Her career lasted from 1869 until 1920. Starting in provincial theatres with her father as manager, she performed her first season in London in 1874. She typically performed as a dandy or fop, also playing other roles. She found additional success as a principal boy in pantomime. By the 1890s, Tilley was England's highest earning woman. She was also a star in the vaudeville circuit in the United States, touring a total of six times. She married Walter de Frece, a theatre impresario who became her new manager and songwriter. At a Royal Command Performance in 1912, she scandalised Queen Mary because she was wearing trousers. During the First World War she was known as "England’s greatest recruiting sergeant" since she sang patriotic songs dressed in khaki fatigues like a so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nellie Stewart
Nellie Stewart, born Eleanor Stewart Towzey (20 November 1858 – 21 June 1931) was an Australian actress and singer, known as "Our Nell" and "Sweet Nell". Born into a theatrical family, Stewart began acting as a child. As a young woman, she built a career playing in operetta and Gilbert and Sullivan operas. In the mid-1880s, she began a long relationship with the theatrical manager George Musgrove. In the 1890s, Stewart had fewer successful roles. Overwork had taken a toll on her voice, and she took several years off from performing, giving birth to a daughter with Musgrove. In 1902, Stewart had one of her greatest successes in the title role in ''Sweet Nell of Old Drury'', and found another success at the end of the decade in ''Sweet Kitty Bellairs''. After this, she continued to perform in both comedy and drama, and worked in theatre management, through the 1920s. Life and career Stewart was born in Woolloomooloo, Sydney on 20 November 1858. Her father, Richard Stewart, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nellie Navette
Nellie Navette (1865–3 August 1936) was a well-known British music hall serio-comic performer of the late Victorian era. Famous as a pantomime Principal boy, comedienne, dancer and singer, she made frequent appearances at such venues as the East End Pavilion Theatre and the Tivoli Theatre of Varieties on The Strand where she appeared alongside such entertainers as Lottie Collins, George Robey, Tom Costello and Marie Lloyd, among others. In 1889 she appeared in the pantomime ''Little Jack and the Big Beanstalk'' at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Liverpool. In 1893 she introduced her new ‘Floral Electric Dance’ which she first performed at the Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square in London with "kaleidoscopic effects" by Mr. A.L. Fyfe and specially written music by Georges Jacobi, In April 1893 she appeared at the opening night performance of the West London Theatre of Varieties in London, while in 1895 she introduced the song and accompanying dance ''The Coon's Seren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ouida MacDermott
Ouida MacDermott (24 May 1889 – 29 October 1980) was a British singer and actress whose career was mainly in music hall and as a principal boy in pantomime during the Edwardian era. She appeared on one of the first television broadcasts in 1930. She was born on the Strand in London as Annie Louise Mary MacDermott, the youngest child of G. H. MacDermott, an English lion comique and Annie Milburn. Her father was already married to Mary Ann Stradwick, with whom he had a son, but all four of his illegitimate children with Milburn took their father's name. Following her father on to the stage, MacDermott played Princess Arawanha in the pantomime ''Robinson Crusoe and His Man Friday'' at the Lyceum Theatre in London (1907–08) and the title role in the pantomime ''Aladdin'' at the Prince's Theatre in Bristol (1908–09). In July 1910, she could be seen at the Argyle Theatre of Varieties in Birkenhead, whilst the following year, she was at the Palace Theatre of Varieties in H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Loftus
Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Trois-Rivières, New France * ''Marie'', Biblical reference to Holy Mary, mother of Jesus * Marie Curie, scientist Surname * Jean Gabriel Marie (other) * Peter Marié (1826–1903), American socialite from New York City, philanthropist, and collector of rare books and miniatures * Rose Marie (1923–2017), American actress and singer * Teena Marie (1956–2010), American singer, songwriter, and producer Places * Marie, Alpes-Maritimes, commune of the Alpes-Maritimes department, France * Lake Marie, Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, Winchester Bay, Oregon, U.S. * Marie, Arkansas, U.S. * Marie, West Virginia, U.S. Art, entertainment, and media Music * "Marie" (Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys song), 1969 * "Marie" (Johnny Hallyd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madge Lessing
Madge Lessing (27 November 1873 – 14 August 1966) was a British stage actress and singer, panto principal boy and postcard beauty of Edwardian musical comedy who had a successful career in the West End in London, Europe and on Broadway from 1890 to 1921 and who made a number of early film appearances in Germany for director Max Mack. Early career Lessing was born as Margaret O'Donnell in London in 1873 to Irish parents Catherine (''née'' Buckley) and James Patrick O'Donnell, an assurance agent.Caroline A. Morton Miss Madge Lessing-The New "Belle" - ''The Idler: an illustrated monthly magazine''London (Dec 1901): 413-414 In interviews she claimed that she had run away from home to go on the stage travelling from London to the United States in about 1890 where she was a chorus girl at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York. After only three weeks she was promoted to the title role in the burlesque ''Belle Helene''. Her next role was with the Solomon Opera Company follo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queenie Leighton
Queenie Leighton (18 July 1874 – 19 November 1943) was a British music hall star of the Edwardian era. Leighton was born in Islington in London as Lilian Caroline Augusta Rickard, the youngest of three children of William Henry Rickard, a parliamentary agent, and Fanny Harriett Rickard. In 1881 her mother and sister were recorded as actresses living in London's theatre district off The Strand, and Leighton started to become known as a child star. Her tall stately appearance, hourglass figure and auburn hair gained her starring roles. In 1898 Leighton married a surgeon, William Hotten George; he was ten years older than her and was dead by 1908. By this time Leighton had a successful stage career in London. She was a much loved principal boy in a number of Drury Lane theatre pantomimes. Women dressed in drag were becoming fashionable in the Edwardian theatre and Leighton was a popular artist in this genre. She appeared as Prince Charming, Dick Whittington, Sinbad, Aladdi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hy Hazell
Hyacinth Hazel O'Higgins (4 October 1919 – 10 May 1970), stage name Hy Hazell, was a British actress of theatre, musicals and revue as well as a contralto singer and film actress. AllMusic described her as "an exuberant comic actor and lively singer and dancer". A pretty brunette, with long legs, she was billed as Britain's answer to Betty Grable. Career Hazell was born in Streatham in South London on 4 October 1919. As a teenager, she started life as a performer in the chorus of the West End production of Rodgers and Hart's ''On Your Toes'' (1937). She later had a long and successful run of leading roles in musicals, including ''Expresso Bongo'' at the Saville Theatre in 1958, as heartless Dixie Collins; as Mrs Squeezum in the Mermaid Theatre's '' Lock Up Your Daughters'' in 1959 (playing for almost 2,000 performances); as ex- Cochran girl Kay Connor in ''Charlie Girl'' at the Adelphi Theatre from 1965 ; and as Mrs Peachum in a notable ''Beggar's Opera'' by the Prospect Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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