Music hall and variety Page 20

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 7th September 2024, 8:10 PM

Learn about some of the composers, theatre managers, music hall performers, actors (including a matinee idol), vocalists, playwrights and a critic buried in Brompton Cemetery (Fulham Rd, London, SW10 9UG) - with an added touch of gossip!

Your volunteer guide, Derek Lamden, entered show biz at the age of 12 in the original London stage production of The Sound of Music and has worked in the world of entertainment ever since. Currently, he is a guide at the Royal Albert Hall. He is accompanied on the tour by Sarah, his conjurer's assistant, providing recorded music and photographs.

Leaving from North Lodge at 2.00pm.

Tickets are £10 per person plus £1.50 booking fee if booked on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/musical-and-theatrical-tour-of-brompton-cemetery-tickets-980512508307?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

View original

Is that Rupert Everett bottom right? I didn't know he'd died.

Quote: Chappers @ 11th September 2024, 6:46 AM

Is that Rupert Everett bottom right? I didn't know he'd died.

View original

No idea. I know not of whom you speak. Kenny, yes.

Joyce Grenfell - Old Girls' School Union (aka Lumpy Latimer):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tmRw_z3Crs

and

Old Tyme Dancing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=clOdyzP9fcw

Born Joyce Irene Phipps in London on 10 February 1910, the only daughter -and one of two children - of Paul Phipps (an architect) and Nora Phipps (the sister of Nancy Astor), she attended school in Claremont, Esher and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She married Reginald Pascoe Grenfell (a chartered accountant) on 12 December 1929; she had no children. She was awarded an OBE in 1946.

As well as appearing in films such as The Happiest Days of your Life, Laughter in Paradise and the St Trinians films, Joyce Grenfell was primarily a celebrated monologist, gently caricaturing the middle classes, showing far wider emotional range than the films ever explored. She appeared in many revues, as well as her own inimitable one-woman shows, which she wrote and with which she toured extensively.

She died on 30 November 1979, age 69, shortly before her golden wedding anniversary, and just a month before she was to be made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 New Year Honours List for her services to entertainment. She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 4 December 1979 and her ashes scattered there. On 7 February 1980 a memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey.

My local charity shop currently has an album of 80 postcards of Edwardian stage stars for sale for £159, which seems a tad excessive. The album is in a cabinet and open at 4 photos of Gabrielle Ray so I've done a little research on this lady and found her life was quite tragic.

Gabrielle Ray was born Gabrielle Elizabeth Clifford Cook on 28 April 1883 in Cheadle, Stockport. She was the fourth child of William Austin Cook, a prosperous iron merchant and a Justice of the Peace for Cheshire, and his wife Anne Maria Elizabeth (née Holden). She was an English stage actress, dancer and singer, best known for her roles in Edwardian musical comedies, first appearing in London's West End at the age of ten in the role of Eveleen in John Hollingshead's production of Miami at the Princess's Theatre.

She was considered one of the most beautiful actresses on the London stage and became one of the most photographed women in the world, her photograph being much sought after by the various trade publications and leading photographers of the day. Known across Europe for her looks, she was admired by men such as Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and King Manuel of Portugal:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=htt326T5paE

In early 1912 Ray announced her retirement to marry the wealthy Eric Raymond Loder and accordingly left the production of Peggy at the Gaiety Theatre but then did not turn up at the well-attended scheduled wedding ceremony at St Edwards Roman Catholic Church in Windsor because of Loder's failure to sign the pre-nuptial contract that would guarantee her financial security. However, he claimed it was an oversight and the marriage finally took place three days later. In 1913. Loder soon committed adultery though and deserted Ray, ignoring her letters pleading with him to return to her. She filed for restitution of conjugal rights but Loder did not respond to the legal order, and the couple divorced in 1914.

In 1915 she returned to the stage to play the role of Estelle in the musical Betty at the Gaiety Theatre and, in the following year, appeared in the revue Flying Colours at the London Hippodrome. After subsequent provincial roles, including Maid Marian in Babes in the Wood at the Prince's Theatre, Bradford, at Christmas 1919 and Mother Goose at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, at Christmas 1920, she finally left the stage in 1924.

After this, she struggled with depression and alcohol abuse. In 1936 she suffered a mental breakdown and, for 37 years, was institutionalised at the Holloway Sanatorium in Egham, Surrey. At least part of her long stay at the sanatorium was happy and she continued to care for her personal appearance, having a liking for smart clothes and hats. Other Gaiety Girls visited her, including Gertie Millar and Lily Elsie, but she was never visited by family members. Hospital staff later recalled her infectious smile and the fact that she enjoyed walks into the nearby village for shopping and car rides. She died at the Holloway Sanatorium on 21 May 1973 at the age of 90 and was buried in Englefield Green cemetery. After her death one of her nurses said, "she was a very quiet lady, small and neat, who did not give any indication of the high life she must have enjoyed".

In her will she left £17,441.] A blue plaque has been erected on the site of her birth.