Violet Melnotte (2 May 1855 – 17 September 1935), was a British stage performer, actress-manager and theatre owner of the late 19th century and early 20th century. She was the wife of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

performer Frank Wyatt, whom she met when they both appeared in the hit operetta ''

Erminie ''Erminie'' is a comic opera in two acts composed by Edward Jakobowski with a libretto by Claxson Bellamy and Harry Paulton, based loosely on Charles Selby's 1834 English translation of the French melodrama, ''Robert Macaire''. The piece first pla ...

''. Melnotte performed in comic opera and pantomime in London and the British provinces for eight years before venturing into theatre management in 1885. After this, she continued to perform while managing several West End theatres. She and her husband built the Duke of York's Theatre in 1892, and she owned the theatre for four decades. In 1910 she built the

Duke of York's Picture House The Duke of York's Picture House is an art house cinema in Brighton, England, which lays claim to being the oldest cinema in continuous use in Britain. According to cinema historian Allen Eyles, the cinema "deserves to be named Britain's oldest ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, a state-of-the-art facility.

Early life and career

Born in Birmingham in 1855 as Emma Solomon, the daughter of Henry Solomon (born 1831), a general dealer, and later a traveller in jewellery, and his wife Ellen (''née'' Coley), in 1872 she married Thomas Hopkins in Birmingham and had a daughter, Ellen 'Nellie' (born c. 1876). Melnotte made her professional debut in a pantomime at the Theatre Royal in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

in the mid-1870s. She made her London debut in October 1876 as Fezz in '' Bluebeard'' at the Folly Theatre. In early 1877 Melnotte appeared as a Tittlebat-fisher in Richard D'Oyly Carte's operetta ''Happy Hampstead'' at the Royalty Theatre. She performed in comic opera and pantomime in London and the British provinces for eight years before venturing into theatre management with the Avenue Theatre in 1885."Miss Violet Melnotte: Death of London Theatre Owner"
''The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser'', 30 September 1935, p. 11 She was manager of the Comedy Theatre when her Miss Violet Melnotte's Comic Opera Company launched the original British production of Edward Jakobowski's comic opera ''

'' (1885), which went on to become an international sensation. Melnotte played the role of Cerise Marcel in the production. In 1886 she secured the British rights to Ivan Caryll's first theatre piece, ''Lily of Léoville'', which she also presented at the Comedy Theatre and appeared in as Turlurette. In the same year she married the future D'Oyly Carte Opera Company actor Frank Wyatt.Stone, David
''Violet Melnotte (1855–1935)''
, Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, (Boise State University), accessed 25 April 2014

Later years

Melnotte managed Toole's Theatre and produced plays at the Royalty Theatre, while at the same time she and Wyatt were building the Duke of York's Theatre in London. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, with ''Wedding Eve'', and Melnotte retained ownership of this theatre until her death in 1935, with the exception of a five-year gap from 1928 to 1933. The theatre became known as the Trafalgar Theatre in 1894 and the following year became the Duke of York's to honour the future King George V. In 1910 she built the

, at a cost of £3000; it boasted all the latest amenities and comforts. In April 1918 she sold the cinema to Jack Channon, the director of Sussex Picturedromes Ltd. With Wyatt she had a son, Nevill Francis Gunning Wyatt (1890–1933), and a daughter, Rita Dagmar Wyatt (born 1891). In 1934, aged 79, she was briefly engaged to the 31-year-old Archibald Patrick Moore, the general manager at the Duke of York's Theatre. There was such a public outcry over the difference in their ages she considered adopting him instead so that he could inherit the theatre on her death, all her children having predeceased her. Eventually, neither marriage nor adoption went ahead. In her final years, Melnotte lived at the

Piccadilly Hotel The Dilly Hotel is a historic 5-star hotel located at 21 Piccadilly in London, England. History The hotel opened in 1908 as The Piccadilly Hotel. It was bought by Le Méridien in 1986 and renamed Le Méridien Piccadilly. In 2010, Starman Ho ...

in London and the Hotel Metropole in

.Death Notice
'' The London Gazette'', 31 March 1936 Issue: 34269 p. 2108 She died in London in 1935 aged 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melnotte, Violet 1856 births 1935 deaths English stage actresses Actor-managers People from Birmingham, West Midlands Women of the Victorian era 19th-century theatre managers 20th-century theatre managers 19th-century English businesswomen 19th-century English businesspeople