Yvonne Arnaud by Bassano (1912)

Yvonne Arnaud (1890 – 1958) was a French pianist, singer and actress.

After beginning a career as a concert pianist as a child, Arnaud acted in musical comedies.

until 1911, she performed with leading orchestras throughout Europe and the US. In 1911 she decided to try the stage instead of the concert hall and obtained an engagement at London’s Adelphi Theatre as understudy to Elsie Spain in the role of Princess Mathilde in The Quaker Girl, first going on stage in that role on 7 August 1911. She next played the leading role of Suzanne in the musical The Girl in the Taxi (1912), earning popularity with her vivacity and charming French accent.

Around 1920 she switched to non-musical comedy and drama and was one of the players in the second of the Aldwych farces, A Cuckoo in the Nest, a hit in 1925.

She also had dramatic roles and made films in the 1930s and 40s, and continued to act into the 1950s.

She occasionally performed as a pianist later in her career.

Yvonne Arnaud by Bassano, whole-plate glass negative, November 1912

via

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Yvonne Arnaud by Bassano, whole-plate glass negative, November 1912

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Yvonne Arnaud by Bassano, whole-plate glass negative, November 1912

via

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 

Gladys Cooper by Bassano (1912)

Gladys Cooper by Bassano, 1912 via

British Actress Julia James by Bassano (1910s)

British actress Julia James by Bassano Ltd, 1912 via

British actress Julia James by Bassano Ltd, 1914 via

Wonderful Edwardian Hand-coloured Postcards of Gabrielle Ray

Gabrielle Ray (1883 – 1973), was an English stage actress, dancer and singer, best known for her roles in Edwardian musical comedies.

Gabrielle Ray by Bassano Ltd, published by Aristophot Co Ltd
hand-coloured postcard print, 1900s.

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Gabrielle Ray by Bassano Ltd, published by Aristophot Co Ltd
hand-coloured postcard print, 1900s

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Gabrielle Ray by The Biograph Studio, published by Davidson Brothers
hand-coloured bromide postcard print, circa 1903

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Gabrielle Ray by W. & D. Downey, published by The Philco Publishing Co
hand-coloured bromide postcard print with glitter and sequins, circa 1905

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Gabrielle Ray by W. & D. Downey, published by The Philco Publishing Co
hand-coloured bromide postcard print, 1905

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Gabrielle Ray published by Davidson Brothers
hand-coloured postcard print, circa 1905

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Mamie Whittaker by Bassano (1910)

 

Actress Mamie Whittaker by Bassano, whole-plate glass negative, 15 September 1910 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Actress Mamie Whittaker by Bassano, vintage print, 1910 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Edwardian Actress Gabrielle Ray by Bassano (1900s)

Gabrielle Ray by Bassano Ltd, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
bromide postcard print, 1900s. © National Portrait Gallery, London via

Gabrielle Ray by Bassano Ltd, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
bromide postcard print, 1900s. © National Portrait Gallery, London via

May de Sousa by Bassano (1905)

May De Sousa (1884 – 1948) was an American singer and a Broadway actress.

She came to fame in 1898 as the singer of “Dear Midnight of Love”, a ballad by Bathhouse John Coughlin. She retired in 1918 following a theatrical production in Australia. She married a local doctor and eventually moved to Shanghai.

In 1943, following two periods as a prisoner of war in internment camps in China, she returned to the United States on the Gripsholm and took a job in Chicago as a scrubwoman in the public-school system. She died in Chicago charity ward, of malnutrition, at age 66.

May De Sousa by Bassano, c. 1905 via

May De Sousa by Bassano, c. 1905 via

A Collection of Photos Featuring Stage Beauty Mabel Love

Mabel Love (1874 – 1953), was a British dancer and stage actress. Love made her stage debut at the age of twelve, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, playing The Rose, in the first stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. She was considered to be one of the great stage beauties of her age, and her career spanned the late Victorian era and Edwardian period.

In March 1889, under the headline “Disappearance of a Burlesque Actress”, The Star newspaper reported that, by then 14-year old, Love had disappeared. It was later reported that she had gone to the Thames Embankment, considering suicide. This publicity served merely to increase the public’s interest in her. When photographer Frank Foulsham had the idea of selling the images of actresses on postcards, Love proved to be a popular subject leading one writer to christen her “the pretty girl of the postcard”. In 1894, Winston Churchill wrote to her asking for a signed photograph.

Over the following 30 years, she starred in a series of burlesques, pantomimes and musical comedies. Among her successes were, as Francoise in La Cigale and as Pepita in Ivan Caryll’s Little Christopher Columbus. Later, she appeared at the Folies Bergère in Paris and in Man and Superman on Broadway. Love retired from the stage in 1918 and, in 1926, she opened a school of dancing in London.

 

Mabel Love in ‘A Modern Don Quixote’ by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen cabinet card, 1893

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Mabel Love by Bassano Ltd, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
postcard print, 1900s

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

by Bassano Ltd, published by Davidson Brothers, postcard print, 1900s

Mabel Love by Bassano Ltd, published by Davidson Brothers
postcard print, 1900s

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Mabel Love by Bassano Ltd, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
postcard print, 1900s via

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Mabel Love by Bassano Ltd, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
postcard print, 1900s

© National Portrait Gallery, London via

Princess Elizabeth of Hesse by Alexander Bassano (1878)

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse by Alexander Bassano, 1878 via

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse by Alexander Bassano, 1878 via

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse by Alexander Bassano, 1878 via