Norah Blaney (16 July 18937 December 1983), born Norah Mignon Cordwell was a pianist, composer, comedienne and

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

performer. She recorded hundreds of songs between 1921 and 1935, many with her performing partner

Gwen Farrar Gwendoline "Gwen" Farrar (14 July 1897 – 25 December 1944) was an English duettist, cellist, singer, actress and comedian. Early life Gwendoline Farrar was born on 14 July 1897, at 108 Park Street, London. She was the third daughter of Sir Geor ...

Biography

Blaney was born Norah Mignon Cordwell in

Shepherd's Bush, London Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

on 16 July 1893. Her father, Walter Henry Cordwell was a musician and her mother was Mary Jane (Molly), née Thatcher. In 1906 she was awarded the ''Erard pianoforte scholarship'' to the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

followed by a scholarship at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

. She began using her stage name in 1910, after her maternal grandmother. On 10 October 1914, she married pianist, Albert Charles Lyne, however, 4 years later he died while serving with the London Scottish regiment in France. In 1922, she married for a second time, to Philip Barron Bruce Durham; they divorced in June 1931. She married for a final time to Basil Hughes on 20 February 1932. Blaney died on 7 December 1983 at the Actors’ Retirement Home in Northwood, London.

Act with Farrar

Blaney and Farrar were both members of

Lena Ashwell Lena Margaret Ashwell, Lady Simson ( Pocock; 28 September 1872 – 13 March 1957) was a British actress and theatre manager and producer, known as the first to organise large-scale entertainment for troops at the front, which she did during Wo ...

's group of entertainers for

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 ...

soldiers in France, initially as classical artists. However, the pair started a

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

duet, which gained popularity. They brought the act back to the UK and performed it in

London Hippodrome The Hippodrome is a building on the corner of Cranbourn Street and Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, London. The name was used for many different theatres and music halls, of which the London Hippodrome is one of only a few survi ...

regularly during 1921. The pair lived together in Chelsea in 1917, remaining there until 1922. They performed in

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...

productions around London. In 1925, they toured USA, including appearing on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

. However, in 1926, Farrar broke off their partnership, and Blaney returned to England. Blaney and Farrar began working together again in 1930, but after she injured her foot while performing in 1931, Blaney married her surgeon, Basil Hughes. She spent time in a nursing home recuperating from infection before retiring from performing generally, though she did the odd piece of work with Farrar.

Legacy

Blaney and Farrar are considered "

LGBT+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is an ...

icons". In 2014 Alison Child and Rosie Wakley created a play called "All The Nice Girls" based on the relationship between Blaney and Farrar.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaney, Norah 1893 births 1983 deaths Music hall performers British LGBT singers 20th-century LGBT people