GAIETY

[Gladys Cooper, star of stage and screen.] Gelatin silver print of Foulsham & Banfield photograph of Gladys Cooper in the play ‘My Lady’s Dress’, with a second photograph of her embracing Dennis Eadie in the same production.

Author: 
Gladys Cooper [Dame Gladys Constance Cooper] (1888-1971), English actress, over seven decades a star of stage and screen; Dennis Eadie (1869-1928), actor; Foulsham & Banfield, London photographers
Cooper
Publication details: 
Label on reverse dates the solo photograph to 27 February 1914, with the stamp of Foulsham & Banfield, 49 Old Bond Street, W. [London]. The photograph of Cooper & Eadie without date or place, but from the same production.
£100.00
Cooper

Edward Knobloch’s play ‘My Lady’s Dress’ (‘in which’, as one newspaper wrote at the time, ‘the heroine’s dream takes her to the foreign [and London] scenes surrounding the manufacture of a costly gown’) premiered at the Royalty Theatre in London in 1914 and was revived several times through the 1920s.

[Evelyn Laye, English actress and singer, star of stage and screen.] Autograph Signature added at foot of pencil sketch of her by Kenneth Sephton.

Author: 
Evelyn Laye [née Elsie Evelyn Lay] (1900-1996), English actress and singer, star of stage and screen, associated with Noel Coward [Kenneth Sephton]
Laye
Publication details: 
No date or place. [1950s]
£90.00
Laye

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. After a stint as one of George Edwardes’ Gaiety Girls, she made her name in a number of revues, her performance in the lead role of the 1929 Broadway production of ‘Bitter Sweet’ prompting Coward to praise her grace and charm and assurance, which he said provoked one of the most prolonged outbursts of cheering I have ever heard in the theatre. She was less successful in Hollywood, starring in the Romberg/Hammerstein musical ‘One Heavenly Night’ (1931), a failure for Samuel Goldwyn.

[?A bright, particular star?: Evelyn Laye, English actress and singer.] Typed Letter Signed, with some manuscript text, informing Kenneth [Sephton] that she has planted the lucky shamrock he sent her.

Author: 
Evelyn Laye (1900-1996), English actress and singer, who began her career as one of George Edwardes' 'Gaiety Girls'
Publication details: 
25 November [1969]. From the Palace Theatre, London.
£45.00

In his entry on Laye in the Oxford DNB, Sheridan Morley describes her as a ?bright, particular star?. 1p, 12mo, on grey-blue paper with monogram of her initials printed at top left. The letter concerns the 1969-70 Palace Theatre production of ?Phil the Fluter?, in which she played Mrs Fitzmaurice. Addressed to ?Dear Kenneth? and with good firm signature ?Evelyn Laye?. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. She thanks him for the letter and ?the lovely Shamrock?, which she has planted ?in a little pot, as it was so very thoughtful of you to sentd it to me for Good Luck?.

[?A bright, particular star?: Evelyn Laye, English actress and singer.] Autograph Letter Signed to Kenneth [Sephton], regarding a broadcast she has given.

Author: 
Evelyn Laye (1900-1996), English actress and singer, who began her career as one of George Edwardes' 'Gaiety Girls'
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£45.00

In his entry on Laye in the Oxford DNB, Sheridan Morley describes her as a ?bright, particular star?. 1p, 16mo.Good firm signature. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. On the otherwise-blank reverse is Laye's monogram, with her initials. Reads: 'My dear Kenneth. / Thank you for your very sweet letter[.] I am so delighted you liked the broadcast[.] It brought back many happy memories to me & when I sat & listened to it all alone I must say I longed for the past. / Bless you. / Evelyn Laye.' From the papers of Kenneth Sephton.

[Ruby Miller, actress, one of the ‘Gaiety Girls’.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Popie’ (the theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope), regarding BBC TV, ‘the Gaiety fiasco’ and ‘Gaiety Girls who married out of the peerage & retired into the country’.

Author: 
Ruby Miller [Ruby Laura Rose Miller] (1889-1976), actress, one of George Edwardes' 'Gaiety Girls' [W. J. MacQueen-Pope [‘Popie’] (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
16 July 1957; on her letterhead.
£50.00

See her entry and his in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Ruby’. Begins: ‘Popie, darling, / What are we coming to? / You - as a pierrot with the “Fol-de-Rols”! / BBC/TV must be mad not to let you do a talk on the St. James’s. / But after the Gaiety fiasco I can believe anything of them.

[‘I am persuaded you have talent for Farce writing’: ‘Henry Compton’ (Charles Mackenzie), actor noted for his Shakespearian comic roles.] Autograph Letter Signed to J. Hollingshead, giving his ‘honest opinion’ of the farce he has sent him.

Author: 
‘Henry Compton’ [stage name of Charles Mackenzie (1805-1877)], English actor noted for his Shakespearian comic roles [John Hollingshead (1827-1904), manager of Alhambra and Gaiety theatres in London]
Publication details: 
‘16 Charing X [i.e. Charing Cross, London.] / April 3rd 1854’.
£100.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. An interesting letter, linking two significant figures in the London theatre. Around the time of writing Hollingshead had given up his career in the clothing business to write full time, early on for Dickens at ‘Household Words’, then later for Thackeray at the ‘Cornhill’. The farce that is the subject of the present letter is possibly ‘Birth Place of Podgers’, the only one known to have been published by Hollingshead, a New York edition of which appeared around 1858. 2pp, 16mo.

[Ruby Miller, actress.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all ?Ruby?) to W. J. Macqueen-Pope (?Popie?), expressing great grief at the death of Ivor Novello, whose spirit form she describes seeing at his memorial performance at Drury Lane.

Author: 
Ruby Miller [Ruby Laura Rose Miller] (1889-1976), English actress, one of the ?Gaiety Girls? [W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian; Ivor Novello, actor, composer and matin?e idol]
Publication details: 
14 March, 6 April and 8 October 1951; all three from 57B York Street, Baker Street, W1 [London].
£120.00

See the entries for writer and recipient in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, lightly aged, with the last carrying minor rusting from paperclip. ONE: 3pp, 8vo. She got his office number from ?Mrs. Popie?, ?but the line has been busy all the time?. She asks for ?a pass for darling Ivor?s [i.e. Ivor Novello?s] memorial service?. The previous week she was ?playing at the Regent Theatre, Hayes, & on the Monday night I was weighed down by a dreadful foreboding of disaster?.

[ John Hollingshead, theatrical impresario who brought Gilbert and Sullivan together. ] Autograph Note Signed to 'Teget', i.e. the naturalist W. B. Tegetmeier, inviting him to examine 'The Italian Hercules'.

Author: 
John Hollingshead (1827-1904), theatrical impresario who brought Gilbert and Sullivan together, manager of the Alhambra and Gaiety theatres [ William Bernhardt Tegetmeier (1816-1912), naturalist ]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [ Circa 1868? ]
£100.00

1p., 12mo. On a piece of grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, folded, and with minor traces of mount on reverse. Reads: 'Dear Teget: | Come on Friday night by all means. The Italian Hercules is bona fide, as far as I can judge, & I shall be glad to have him examined.' After a career in journalism, Hollingshead managed the Alhambra Theatre, and was later the first manager of the Gaiety. He brought Gilbert and Sullivan together in 1871 to produce their first joint work, a musical extravaganza called Thespis. Tegetmeier was natural history editor of 'The Field'.

[ Arthur Davenport, librettist. ] Typed Letter Signed to composer Herman Finck regarding his appeal to the Musicias' Benevolent Fund, his career, and two books sent to E. V. Lucas of Methuen & Co.

Author: 
Arthur Davenport, librettist with H. G. Pellissier (1874-1913) and Charles Wibrow, playwright on BBC 'Children's Hour' [ Herman Finck [ Hermann Van Der Vinck ] (1872-1939), composer; E. V. Lucas ]
Publication details: 
11 Primrose Hill Road, N.W.3. [ London ] 9 April 1931.
£65.00

1p., 4to. On aged and worn paper. Thirty-eight lines of text. Written with the forced Wodehousian bonhommie of a desperate man. He has had an operation at a nursing home, so the beginning of the letter needs to be taken metaphorically: 'My dear Finck, | This is a nice kettle of Fish and no mistake! | Came out of jail day before yesterday, but only on ticket-of-leave. Strict police supervision for two years - finger-prints - strawberry-marks - nothing kept secret! | However, they say they can make a job of it and my tail, such as it is, remains vertical.

[ George Grossmith junior. ] Unpublished autograph family reminiscences by his younger daughter, with two Autograph Letters Signed by her ('Rosa George' and 'Rosa George. | (Grossmith)') to W. Macqueen Pope, praising her father in the fondest terms.

Author: 
George Grossmith junior (1874-1935), actor-manager and comedian, his daughter Rosa Mary George (1907-1988) [ W. Macqueen-Pope [ Walter James Macqueen-Pope ] (1888-1960), theatre manager and historian]
Publication details: 
The reminiscences without place or date. The letters from 26 Lawnbodle Road, Hampstead, NW3 [ London ]. 30 October and 4 December 1950.
£220.00

ONE: Autograph family reminiscences by Rosa Mary George (née Grossmith). 19 pp., 12mo. Rough pencil notes, on ruled pages torn from a notebook. Seventeen pages on George Grossmith junior, with a page apiece on 'His Father' and 'His Uncle'. TWO: The two letters, totalling 9pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper.

[ The Gaiety Theatre, Aldwych, London. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed from H. Hugh Harvey to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, reminiscing about 'theatrical matters' andn in particular the Gaiety Theatre.

Author: 
H. Hugh Harvey, English musicologist and broadcaster [ The Gaiety Theatre, Aldwych, London; Walter James Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre manager and historian ]
Publication details: 
Both on his letterhead, 24 Wessex Gardens, Golder Green, NW11 [ London ]. 12 and 16 January 1950.
£100.00

Both in good condition, on aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 4to. He reminds Macqueen-Pope that two years previously he was 'kind enough to receive me at your Office and, after a long and most interesting chat on things theatrical (over an hour, as I recall!) you wrote into my copies of your "Drury Lane" and "Carriages at Eleven" two very greatly appreciated inscriptions, by way of friendship'. He now has his 'delightful "Gaiety" and splendid 'Haymarket", and asks for 'another pow-wow' at 359 Strand.

[ Herman Finck, composer and conductor. ] Copy of Typed Letter to Henry Chance Newton ('My dear Harry'), theatre critic of the Referee newspaper, containing 'biographical facts' to prove that he is 'not a Jew', and his 'Hebrew musical collaborators'.

Author: 
Herman Finck [ Herman [ born Hermann Van Der Vinck ] (1872-1939), British composer and conductor of Dutch extraction [ Henry Chance Newton (1854-1931), theatre critic of the Referee newspaper ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne. 8 October 1925.
£150.00

2pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly-aged. Unsigned copy of typed letter., with one autograph emendation. Addressed to 'My dear Harry'. He begins by explaining that he is in Eastbourne recuperating from the flu. 'As I did not rise until Monday last I missed the Sunday papers including alas, the Referee. [ amended in autograph from 'the Rat' ] | A cutting, however (from the Ref) reached me here today containing an article of yours, wherein you place me among your Hebrew musical collaborators.

[ Herman Finck, composer and conductor. ] Collection of unpublished Autograph Papers, comprising joke collection 'Green Roomers by the Rags Wags', and plan of book to be titled '"In the Chair." More memories'. With covering letter from Finck's wife.

Author: 
Herman Finck [ Herman [ born Hermann Van Der Vinck ] (1872-1939), British composer and conductor of Dutch extraction [ W. Macqueen-Pope ]
Publication details: 
1920s [one part dated 1921]. Mabel Fnck's covering letter dated from 10 Grove End Gardens, St John's Wood, NW8 [ London ]. 15 February 1956.
£750.00

In good condition, on loose leaves, with light signs of age and wear. ONE: 'Green Roomers by the Rags Wags.' A large collection of original jokes. Around 140pp., mostly 8vo. On different papers, including letterheads of 212 Finchley Road, London, the Burlington in Folkestone, and the Hermitage Hotel, Le Touquet. Hundreds of unconnected gags, each of them framed as a rhetorical question, mostly relating to the London entertainment world. The humour is now mostly impenetrable. Individuals referred to include: C. B. Cochran, H. G.

Album of correspondence and newspaper cuttings., including material relating to ecclesiastical matters, Liberal politics and Bedfordshire.

Author: 
Reverend Paul Williams Wyatt (c.1855-1935), Vicar of St Leonard's, Bedford, and Chaplain of the Chapel Royal, Savoy, antiquary and author [William Ewart Gladstone; Liberal politics; Bedfordshire]
Publication details: 
1888-1908.
£300.00

See obituary, Times, 31 December 1935. Son of geologist James Wyatt. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Books include 'Hardrada, and Other Poems' (1878). Most items in the album laid down on around forty leaves of an 8vo ledger, but much matter loosely inserted. Ledger internally sound and clean, in worn, sturdy boards, with spine lacking. Contents in good condition, clear and complete. Cuttings browning slightly.

Scrapbook containing a hundred tickets from twenty-seven London theatres of the 1920s, with illustrations of actors.

Author: 
R. J. Olive [London theatres of the 1920s; theatrical ephemera]
Publication details: 
London: for performances dating from between 1922 and 1927.
£95.00

On fifty-seven pages, in a notebook of forty leaves (eighty pages). Dimensions: 20 x 16 cm. In red card covers with 'THEATRES' in manuscript on front. Pages aged and ruckled, with a little damp staining at rear (not affecting any of the ephemera) and a small amount of loss to a corner of the rear cover, but in fair condition overall. The first page, signed 'R. J. Olive', with title 'London Theatres'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C J Mathews') to Hollingshead.

Author: 
C. J. Mathews [Charles James Mathews] (1803-1878), son of Charles Mathews, English actor and playwright [John Hollingshead (1827-1904), English journalist and theatre manager]
Publication details: 
23 November 1865; 25 Pelham Crescent, London.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount adhering to the corners of the blank reverse. Of course Hollingshead should 'wait till the last night of "used up" ' before writing to Mathews, who has 'hunted up Buckstone - hunted up Turpin - but in vain. Not a box to be had'. He has sent 'the best I could get': '3 Dress Circle to Mrs Smiles with "Mr Hollingshead's best compliments." '. In a postscript states that if Hollingshead wants 'a box for the "Overland Route" before the last night' he will be 'too happy'. 'There is always a run on last nights.'

Typed Note Signed ('Geo R Sims') to F. Leslie Moreton.

Author: 
George R. Sims [George Robert Sims] (1847-1922), English journalist and writer.
Publication details: 
24 March 1900; on letterhead of 12, Clarence Terrace, Regents Park. N.W. [London].
£45.00

4to: 1 p. Text complete and clear, on aged, spotted and lightly-creased paper. He has exchanged letters with 'Mr Morell' 'with reference to "Faust up to Date" ', but does not believe any contract has yet been arranged. He does not have a copy of 'the Score and Band Parts': 'I should say Mr Geo. Edwardes or Mr Meyer Lutz has these.' Sims co-wrote 'Faust up to Date' with Henry Pettitt. The music was by Lutz. It was produced by Edwardes, and first performed at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 30 October 1888.

Autograph note signed to the editor of "Strand Magazine",

Author: 
Edmund Payne
Publication details: 
30 May 1904, Gaiety Theatre.
£20.00

English actor (died 1914). "Dear Sir / My height is five feet three & a half inches in my half hose". Negligible traces of previous mounting to the blank reverse.

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