Jeanette Rutherston (1902–1988), later Jeanette Powell, was a British dancer and television critic. She was a writer and assistant editor on the ''

Dancing Times ''Dancing Times'' is a dancing magazine based in the UK, the oldest dance magazine to be still published. The magazine helped found the Royal Academy of Dance, the Camargo Society, and the British Dance Council The British Dance Council was f ...

'' magazine in the 1930s.

Early life

Jeanette Bertha Rothenstein was born on 10 March 1902 in

Bradford, Yorkshire Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a p ...

, the daughter of textile manufacturer, art collector and philanthropist Charles Lambert Rothenstein, who changed his German surname in 1916 to make clear his allegiance to the British during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The Rothensteins were Jewish. Her uncles were artist

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

and stage designer Albert Rutherston. Artist Michael Rothenstein and art historian

John Rothenstein Sir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein (11 July 1901 – 27 February 1992) was a British arts administrator and art historian. Biography John Rothenstein was born in London in 1901, the son of Sir William Rothenstein. The family was connec ...

were her first cousins. Jeanette Rothenstein studied ballet as a girl, and after completing studies at

Bedford Physical Training College Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst th ...

, she pursued further dance training in Vienna, with

Gertrud Bodenwieser Gertrud Bodenwieser (3 February 1890 – 10 November 1959), also known as "Gertrude", was a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and pioneer of expressive dance. Early life The daughter of Theodore and Maria Bondi, a wealthy Jewish couple, ...

Career

Rutherston toured with the Margaret Morris Dancers as a young woman, and danced on the London stage with fellow Bodenwieser student

Trudl Dubsky Trudl Dubsky Zipper (31 January 1913 – 3 July 1976), born Gertruda Dubsky, was an Austrian-American innovative dancer, choreographer and teacher. Early life and education Gertruda Rosa Josefine Dubsky was born in Vienna, the daughter of Wilhe ...

. Dubsky and Rutherston opened a dance school together in London's Great Ormond Street in 1932; Bodenwieser taught at the school as a guest instructor in 1934. The school closed when Dubsky had health issues, married, and moved away from England. Rutherston was writer and assistant to editor Philip J. S. Richardson, at the ''Dancing Times'' magazine, by 1934. She was a very early television critic, assigned to review ballet broadcasts for the magazine's "Television Notes" column in the 1930s. Because she did not initially have a television set at home, she went to use a set at the

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

, and was later allowed to watch at

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...

. She suggested that ballets be made especially for the television format, so different from a theatre setting; but she also noted when well-planned camera work, costumes, and set design improved the viewer's experience of the performance.

Personal life

Jeanette Rutherston married Christopher Cecil Powell. She died on 1 August 1988.

References

External links

A chalk portrait of Jeanette Rutherston
as a young woman, by Eric Kennington; at

ArtNet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

. *The

Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three c ...

own
a portrait bust of Jeanette Powell
as a young woman, made by sculptor

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutherston, Jeanette 1902 births Year of death missing Writers from Bradford English dancers English female dancers English women writers British television critics British women critics Women television critics Entertainers from Yorkshire