Who were the Gaiety Girls?



The Gaiety Theatre introduced a new style of musical comedy to London in the 1890s.  The group of female dancers employed by the theatre were called Gaiety Girls but as time went on this term was used to describe the stars of the shows too.  The formula was created by George Edwardes, moving away from burlesque to light comedies, with songs containing witty lyrics and repartee.  The heroines wore high fashion and sang catchy songs.

The Gaiety Theatre on the corner of Aldwych and the Strand

Many productions had “girl” in the title from The Gaiety Girl to The Shop Girl, The Circus Girl and A Runaway Girl. The actresses and dancers were well spoken ladies of respectable background and they attracted many fans, from the stage-door Johnnies to the young women who collected picture postcards of their favourite leading lady.  Many noble and wealthy men took the stars to dine at Romano’s restaurant in the Strand which added to their fame and made the restaurant a popular night spot.

Many well known Edwardian actresses owed their success to their performances as a Gaiety Girl.
Gertie Millar
                                                                                                            
 Gertie Millar made her name as a singer and dancer in Yorkshire music halls but in 1901 she was chosen by George Edwardes as leading lady in The Toreador at The Gaiety Theatre.  In Our Miss Gibbs she became the most famous musical comedy actress in Britain.  She later married the writer of this play, Lionel Monkton, but their marriage was unhappy and he left her in 1905.  He refused to divorce Gertie and so it was only when he died in 1924 that she was finally able to marry her lover William Humble Ward, the second Earl of Dudley.

   

Constance Collier, first appeared on stage at the age of 3 and became a Gaiety Girl when she was 15.  She grew much taller than the other dancers and had an exuberant personality.  She went on to become an acclaimed actress and with the advent of talking movies she turned to a career as a voice coach in Hollywood.


Olive May was one of the Gaiety girls who married into the aristocracy.  In 1913 she married Lord Victor Paget but they divorced in 1921.  A year later she married the Earl of Drogheda. She retired from the stage in 1912.  Some found marriages between actresses and peers amusing or romantic, but many disapproved.

For a fascinating contemporary comment on this go to Stage Beauty



Marie Studholme’s stage career lasted from 1891 until 1915.  Chosen by George Edwardes for a small part in The Gaiety Girl, she went on to tour in many of his productions around Britain and abroad.  She was a favourite for post card collectors. 

25 comments:

  1. It was clearly a 'respectable' outlet for talented young women to perform ...as opposed to the Music Hall which had a sleazy reputation....

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    1. But "society" still weren't sure. "The ladies of this particular calling are, of all classes, as a rule, the most unsuitable to be the wives of men of high position and great responsibilities which are to be automatically transmitted to their heirs....."

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  2. I didn't know any of this information - it's so interesting! I wonder if my grandfather who was born in the 1890s would have spoken of the G. Girls as we speak of film stars today?

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  3. I am sure he did. My grandmother, who was born in 1884 collected many postcards of the Gaiety Girls and swapped them with her friends.

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  4. Great article. I was told my great grandmother was a gaeity girl. Unfortunately she became estranged from my grandfather so never got to hear many stories. But she must have had an interesting time!

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    1. How exciting. Perhaps you could research her name to find out which productions she participated in.

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  5. That's the plan. Don't have much to go on, just her name, Mabel Sylvester. Not sure if that's her real name or stage name. It is the name on my grandfathers birth certificate so hoping is her real name. Have found her living in Bloomsbury in 1911, looks like she was a kept women or one of those gaeity girls that got paid off perhaps. Like the idea of researching any productions she was in. Any idea how I would do that? Google not shedding much light.

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    1. Hi Liz, I believe my great grandmother, Edith Maud Barneveld, was also a Gaiety Girl. Were you able to where to get more information about them? I am hoping there is an archive I can contact.

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    2. There are several family trees on Ancestry.com including Edith Maude Barneveld and her second husband Horace Chambers. I can't find her on Stage Beauty or any other website on Edwardian actresses but i will keep my eyes open.

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    3. Could you please keep your eye out for a Jessie Taylor Collette. She was my great grandmother.

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    4. Very interested in Linda's comment. Edith Maud ('Tid') Barneveld was my great grandmother too :-) According to our family history her sister Enid ('Nid') Barneveld was also on the stage. I'll post here if I discover more.

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    5. I hope Linda will see your comment. I love their nicknames Nid & Tid!

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  6. Has anyone come across a Louisa Eleanor Braine or possibly surname Pitt she married Richard Cecil Leigh in 1885 - he was an aristocrat who dumped her 10 years later

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    1. So many married aristocrats but usually they dumped him!

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    2. Have you seen this account of Richard Cecil Leigh's elopement with Lady Meredith in 1893? http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-lost-1892-hotel-savoy-5th-avenue.html

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  7. Any information about Lillian Stanley?

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  8. Hello Ms Lloyd, how do you do? I do hope you don't mind, but I linked my own blog to this piece of yours, today. I hope this is OK. You can read the piece here >>> https://paul-flatt-2018.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/sir-errol-flynn-aunt-gertie-and-me.html

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  9. I'd never heard of gaity girls before. How interesting!

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  10. Many years ago, my husband worked with Alastair Mathieson of the Isle of Lewis. Alastair was married to one of the original Gaiety Girls and they lived off Sloane Square. If antone out there can identify Alastairs wife, it would help to complete the jigsaw.

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  11. She was the actress Ethel Sidney. Her real name was Ethel Beatrice Lloyd. She married Sydney Donald Hall but divorced him then married Samuel Robinson Oliver. He divorced her for adultery in Biarritz with John Upton Gaskell who she married 3rd. After divorcing Gaskell in 1923 she married Alistair Matthieson in 1924!

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    1. More about Ethel Sidney http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/th-wterriss.html

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  12. Hi Lizanne, we are working on my wife's family tree and connect with Harry Monkhouse aka John Adolph Eicholtz McKie. It is written that he had a son out of wedlock with a Gaiety Girl. The son was registered as Sidney Jo Monkhouse CARTWRIGHT, aka Sydney C Monkhouse, in March 1896. If this is true, then Sidney must have been conceived while the group were in Australia on their world tour. Most of the girls have been identified and ruled out for one reason or another, but 3 remain. Maud Hobson, Ethel Selwyn and Sophie Elliott. Do you have any idea of Ethel or Sophie's real names? Maud was called Manson but it would be interesting to track down the other two. Also do you know of any girls with the real surname of Cartwright? Thanks

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  13. There is a very interesting blog about Jane Elizabeth Manson (Maud Hobson) https://forgottenaustralianactresses.com/2019/05/04/maud-hobson-the-gaiety-girl-who-dreamed-of-colorado/

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