Delia Mason

Miss Tittell BruneThe photographic studio of Talma & co. was established in 1892 by Andrew Barrie and his business partner, Henry Weedon. Located in Swanston Street Melbourne, Talma was a leading portrait studio attracting clientele from ‘high society’, celebrities and visiting and local theatrical performers, especially women. As an astute businessman, Barrie saw a market beyond individual photographic portraits—establishing a product sideline of creating and selling black and white postcards of his famous female clients. For their part, actresses were keen to be involved in this new enterprise as it provided excellent exposure and the cards were also a way to attract new clients; for emerging young actresses to be seen on a Talma postcard was a boost to their careers. (see ‘Andrew Barrie and the Talma Studio’, Elisabeth Kumm, Theatre Heritage Australia, 7 December 2019—theatreheritage.org.au)

Not content with black and white images only, Barrie soon expanded his line to include colour cards; cards with portraits in decorative framing; and cards stylised with adornments and glitter. These latter elements, such as ‘gold’ hair clips and pins, jewellery and other decorative accessories along with embossed gowns were innovative and attractive—and can be seen on his postcards.

In the early 1900s the Melbourne-based manufacturing tobacconists Sniders and Abrahams accessed these images from Barrie to produce a set of cigarette cards—‘Actresses (Talma)’.

Cigarette Cards and Sniders and Abrahams

From their original point of sale, cigarettes were sold in flimsy paper packaging which provided little protection to the actual cigarette. In order to protect the cigarettes from damage, a stiff piece of cardboard was inserted into the packet to provide it with some structure. Soon after, cigarette companies saw this piece of cardboard as a useful advertising vehicle and over time more and more images of general interest—such as sporting figures, wartime heroes, and building and places of significance were added to ‘the cigarette cards’ to encourage (the mostly male) consumers to buy a particular cigarette brand.

Sniders and Abrahams was one prominent company who from around 1905 actively used ‘cigarette cards’ as an important marketing platform, and cards were issued with their ‘Standard’, ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Milo’ cigarette brands. Over its history, Sniders and Abrahams issued thirty-three card series—all of which are now highly collectable. One series was ‘Actresses (Talma)’ and on today’s values it is not unusual to pay up to $20 for a card in mint condition.

The company was established by partnership between Gershon Sniders and Lewis Abrahams and was originally located at 23 Lonsdale Street east, then 270 Lonsdale Street and with continued growth was later re-located to 7 Drewery Lane around 1910. In January 1885 the partnership was dissolved, however Abrahams continued the business and retained the name ‘Sniders and Abrahams’. Around 1889, Louis, son of Lewis, joined and managed the firm until his death in 1903.

Actresses (Talma)

‘Actresses (Talma)’ is generally agreed to be one of the finest cigarette card series issued by Sniders and Abrahams and as the title indicates, the cards are reproductions of Talma postcards and in some cases, Talma photographs which were never reproduced as postcards.

The ‘Actresses (Talma)’ cigarette cards were issued in two unnumbered series—one of 30 cards with a gold background (‘the 30 Card Set’) and one of 14 cards with a white border (‘the 14 Card Set’). On the front of each card the name of the actress is printed below the portrait at the base of the card. Interestingly, on some of the cards the names are incorrectly spelt, however for the purposes of this article they have been spelt correctly. 

The cards were included in the ‘Milo’ cigarette brand and were printed by the Melbourne firm, Osboldstone and Atkins (see back showing O&A) which would date the issue prior to 1908 (we know this date, as after 1908 Atkins was no longer involved and the firm became Osboldstone & Co). The cards measure 6.7 cm x 4.0 cm (compared to postcards 13.8 cm x 8.8 cm).

Miss Pressy Preston in summer dress and gold background

Miss Pressy Preston with white border

Of the 30 Card Set, four actresses appear twice—Miss Tittell Brune (with and without her dog), Miss Nellie Butler (head and shoulders and full length), Miss Pansy Montague (as a hussar and in evening gown) and Miss Pressy Preston (in fur coat and in summer dress). All of the 14 Card Set repeat an image from the 30 Card Set [including Brune (with dog), Butler (head and shoulders) and Preston (in summer dress)]—however the set includes a picture of the pianist Renee Lees which is not included in the 30 Card Set (for reasons unknown).

As cigarette card collectors would be aware, the ‘Actresses (Talma)’ series are an uncharacteristic issue for Sniders and Abrahams as their cards generally portrayed masculine imagery to appeal to their male based clientele; sporting and military cards were particularly favoured. By the early 1900s however, smoking by women was becoming more fashionable and less frowned upon in society and as such Sniders may have been responding to these changing social norms by producing a set which would also appeal to female smokers. Certainly, the mass production of theatrical postcards—mainly of actresses—in the early 1900s by Talma capitalised on the boom in postcard collecting as a hobby, particularly amongst women.  As such, the Sniders issue coincided with the postcard collecting craze - which was fortuitous. It is quite possible, however that the cards of ‘stage beauties’ were issued to appeal to the male ‘viewer’.

Of the many hundreds of actresses who appear on Talma postcards, what was so special about those who featured in the Sniders and Abrahams cigarette card sets? And, who made the selection? Was it Louis Abrahams, his wife Golda or his brother, Lawrence, all patrons of the arts and avid theatre goers or was the selection made by the photographer Barrie? And what were the commercial arrangement between Sniders and Abrahams and Barrie’s photographic studio? 

The Sniders sets feature both Australian and overseas performers and include the well-known English actress Ada Reeve who frequently performed in Australia; Maesmore Morris who was a much photographed beauty; the popular American Tittell Brune; Grace Palotta a regular visitor to Australia, together with the favourite local artists like the ageless Nellie Stewart, the audience favourite Florence Young, Pressy Preston and Pansy Montague to a handful of rising stars such as Carrie Moore and Daisy Holly.

It is interesting to suppose that while most of the subjects of the Cigarette Cards were included for their theatrical talent alone, it could be argued that some actresses were included for their ‘looks’ given the many contemporary media references to their ‘beauty’. Such subjects could include the likes of Eloise (Elise) Cook, Daisy Holly, Norah (Nora) Kerin, Renee Lees, Lillah McCarthy and Cerita.

The majority of the cards show head and shoulder portraits of the actresses, other than Pansy Montague, Billie Barlow, Elaine Ravensberg and one card of Nellie Butler who are shown in full length poses and in character costume. What also makes these four cards unique is that unlike the rest of the cards, there is no Talma Melbourne & Sydney logo in the bottom left or right-hand corner nor copyright on the opposite side. This is possibly because these four cards were either publicity photographs for a show or photographs for the press, and were not reproduced as postcards. Another oddity is the card of Miss Florence Young which is tagged ‘Talma Melbourne only’—as the Talma Studio in Sydney did not open until March 1899, Young’s portrait photograph would have been taken prior to this date.

A Brief Biographical Note on Selected Cards

One of the truly great overseas actresses included in the set is Ada Reeve, a British pantomime and vaudeville performer, and a star of numerous musical comedies and plays. Barrie would have taken the theatrical portrait of Reeve in costume in 1897 when Reeve appeared as Suzette in the Australian production of the French Maid at the Melbourne, Princess Theatre (Punch, 9 December 1897, p.10).

Miss Ada Reeve

Mrs Maesmore Morris

Another English actress is Mrs Maesmore Morris. She performed in Australia in numerous productions between 1897-1899, returned to the English stage until 1904, and back to Australia the same year. The card image was taken in late 1904 from her performance as George Anne Bellamy in Pretty Peggy, produced by Nellie Stewart’s comic opera company.

A youthful Australian actress is Carrie Moore who was Reeve’s understudy for Suzette. Later, Moore had the leading role in San Toy which opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre Melbourne on 21 December 1901. The card image is of Moore as San Toy. After four years with the Royal Comic Opera Co., Moore travelled to London in 1903 where she soon became a favourite, with successful roles in San Toy (this time playing Dudley, the maid), The Blue Moon, Dairy Maids and Tom Jones. She also appeared in several pantomimes and was voted the most popular ‘principal boy’ in 1904. After an absence of five years she returned to Australia in 1908 for the lead role in The Merry Widow.

Another Australian to feature is Daisy Holly, a talented dancer. She was a member of Williamson’s Juvenile Comic Opera Co. and in 1891 appeared in the opera La Mascotte as Frascello.  She was much in demand as a dancer and was the ‘premiere danseuse’ of the Macmahon Pantomime Company before travelling overseas. She received accolades as one of the Debutantes in the Orchid at the London Gaiety Theatre in 1903. The photograph of Holly which appears on the Sniders card was most likely taken in the late 1890s as it appears as a study piece in ‘Studies by Talma & Co.’, Melbourne and Sydney, published by Atlas Press, Melbourne in 1900.  Frequently described in the media as one of the ‘prettiest women’ on the Australian stage and the ‘little ballet beauty’.

Miss Carrie Moore

Miss Daisy Holly

May Beatty was the principal star with the George Stephenson’s Musical Comedy Co. The card image is of her as Rose of the Riviera in the production of the same name.  Performances were held at several venues, including Melbourne’s Princess Theatre in July 1904.

Norah (also known as Nora) Kerin made her name as a Shakespearean actress and toured Australia in 1903/04 as a member of George Musgrove’s English Shakespearean Company with leading roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It and Twelfth Night. She returned to England in early 1904 so her portrait photo, not in costume, most likely dates from 1903. Her inclusion in the Sniders set is odd, given her limited exposure to Australian audiences—but perhaps (as noted earlier) it was due to her beauty with Kerin described as ‘the youngest and most beautiful Shakespearean actress on stage’.

Miss May Beatty

Miss Eloise Cook

Miss Norah Kerin

Another stage ‘beauty’ was Eloise (also known as Elise) Cook, a young English soprano on stage in Australia in 1900/01 under engagement to George Musgrove to play the principal girl role in the Cinderella pantomime at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre and the Theatre Royal in Sydney. The cigarette card image is Cook as Cinderella in her Fair Scene dress. She was variously described in press reviews as a ‘charming young actress’, ‘as pretty as a picture to look at…’, a winsome, pretty little lady’ and ‘of course there is always pretty little Cinderella herself; she is a very nice little girl’.

Delia Mason was a British musical comedy actress and vocalist who toured Australia in 1904 with the New London Gaiety Company and performed in Three Little Maids, Kitty Grey and The Girl from Kay’s. The card image shows her as Edna in The Three Little Maids.

Miss Delia Mason

Miss Renee Lees

A lesser known performer who appeared only in the 14 Card Set is Renee Lees, a gifted young Australian pianist. Lees performed at the Opera House in Wellington, New Zealand before she left Australia for Europe in late 1899 to continue her musical studies and while still a teenager made a successful London debut in May, 1900. After a short stint as a dancer with the John F. Sheridan’s musical comedy company, Lees returned to perform as a pianist and organist around mid-1903—at which time her Talma portrait may have been taken.

One the actresses in a full-length pose is Billie Barlow, a popular burlesque artiste, shown on the card as the Prince—the principal boy—in Rickard’s production of the pantomime Puss in Boots held at the Sydney Tivoli Theatre (see Punch, 27 December 1900, p.25). Her costume shown on the card was the subject of a famous theatrical libel action in April 1901, when Barlow sued the Bulletin for £5000 for alleged libel contained in a review of her appearance which suggested that she was ‘wandering about … clothed in her naked soul’, the insinuation being that she appeared in a costume that was indecent. The defence offered no evidence to refute this and after an hour’s deliberation the Jury found for the Bulletin.

Nellie Butler is also shown in a full-length pose. Butler was an American actress who performed in the Royal Comic Opera Co. production of A White Milk Flag at the Melbourne Princess Theatre in October 1896 where she played the role of the Captain (of the Corps). The Talma photo of Butler in costume for this role was published in the Melbourne Punch (15 October 1896, p.3), which is the image that appears on the cigarette card. Also, in a full-length pose is Elaine Ravensberg who arrived from England in December 1904 under engagement to William Anderson to play the principal boy, Sinbad in the pantomime Sinbad the Sailor and her card shows her in costume for this role (see Talma photo of same image in the Sunday Times (Sydney), 26 February 1905, p.3). Ravensberg had previously played the principal boy in several British pantomimes.

Miss Billie Barlow

Miss Nellie Butler

Miss Elaine Ravensberg

Less biographical success was met in sourcing the two cards of Pansy Montague—with no reference found for the image of her in an evening gown or for the card of her dressed as a Hungarian soldier (although there is a photo of her in the same costume in Table Talk of 13 August 1903, where the caption refers to the Princess Theatre but not the play or the role she played). In an earlier Table Talk (9 July 1903) there is a photo of Madame Slapoffski, dressed as a hussar in a like fashion for her leading role in The Fortune Teller. The article does mention that Montague appeared in this production as a servant to the Lord Mayor, but there is no explanation as to why she was dressed as a black hussar in the August edition photograph—perhaps she was the understudy to the lead role?

Miss Pansy Montague dressed as a hussar

Miss Pansy Montague in evening dress

Lastly, described in the media as ‘the most beautiful woman on the English stage’, Lillah McCarthy visited Australia in 1901 as the leading lady of Wilson’s Barrett’s London Company. During the season she appeared in Man and His Makers, The Sign of the Cross, Virginius and The Manxman.  The card shows her as Kate Cregreen in The Manxman performed at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne in August 1901.

In researching this article, every attempt was made to match the card image to a particular theatrical performance and role played by the actress, or with a photograph taken by the Talma studio. This also allowed for a more precise issue date for the Sniders cigarette cards, rather than the 1904-08 range of years quoted in various references. The one card which appears to assist in clarifying the issue date is that of Cerita (Ada Cerito) a lesser known English actress who arrived in Australia in late 1905 and first appeared at Rickard’s Opera House in mid-December as a comedian, serio comique and character actress. It is unlikely that her portrait was taken at this time (see the Herald, advertisement, 19 December 1905, p.2) due to her hectic schedule. Her photograph by Talma, which became the postcard and cigarette card image, appeared in the Gadfly, 14 February 1906, p.10, which would date the Sniders issue at 1906 at the earliest.

Miss Lillah McCarthy

Cerita

The actresses shown on the Sniders and Abrahams cigarette cards were outstanding theatrical entertainers, performing at a time when live theatre was at the height of its popularity. A handful of the actresses have been singled out for comment, but they and the others in the set deserve much more than the few lines given to them in this article.

My thanks to Elisabeth Kumm, Theatre Heritage Australia for information on many of the actresses and for making time available for several conversations.

All cards are from the author's collection with the exception of Carrie Moore and Elaine Ravensberg.

W D & H O Wills—Stage and Music Hall Celebrities—Clara Clifton No. 46 in set of 50A recent purchase of a Wills cigarette card featuring Clara Clifton prompted my interest in this relatively forgotten actress and comedienne of the Australian stage. Through a distance family connection—one of my wife’s cousins is married to a granddaughter of Clara Clifton—I was aware that she had been a prominent theatrical performer during the 1900s. To my surprise, however, when I started to look into Ms Clifton’s professional life, I discovered that much of the readily available history focuses not so much on her significant skills as a performer, but on her physical appearance. At the peak of her career Clara was variously described as: ‘a fat and buxom lady of uncertain age’;¹ a ‘large pleasant comedienne’;² and a ‘plump and pleasing person’.³

A deeper delve into Ms Clifton’s career reveals a woman with an impressive theatrical pedigree who enjoyed considerable success both in Australia and overseas, and her physique and humorous persona was a reminder that there was room for the character actress among the more glamorous figures.

In 1906, having been on the Australian stage for several years, she was described by one newspaper columnist as ‘one of the most ornamental figures on the Australian stage’.⁴

Early life

Clara Clifton was born Clara Louise Ruth Larkin on 8 August 1872 at Whitechapel, London, the daughter of Harriet Larkin and John James Larkin. Her father, also known as John James Clifton, died when Clara was 8 years old. John James is listed as a comedian in the 1871 English census, as is Harriet.

By 1891 the family was living at 6 Albion Terrace, Hackney, and the census of that year records Clara as Clara Larkin, 18 years old, with ‘occupation at home’. The occupation for her mother (now Harriet Yates) is listed as Comedienne Act and her stepfather George Yates is also listed as Comedian Act. While the 1891 census records her surname as Larkin, press reports of Clara’s theatrical work, later the same year, name her as Clifton. Precisely when Clara adopted Clifton as her surname is unknown, but it was certainly post 1880. Clifton was probably chosen because it was her father’s stage name and it was also her paternal grandmother’s maiden name (Mary Clifton).

In the 1901 census, Clara is listed as Clara Clifton, 28 years old, with her occupation now shown as Actress. She was living in a boarding house in Battersea with several other lodgers in a household of theatrical personnel.

Growing up in a family of stage performers, it was not surprising that Clara was attracted to the theatre, and blessed with a good singing voice and a determination to succeed, she was able to carve out a successful career as a pantomime and musical comedy performer.

H.H. Morell and Frederick Mouillot

Pantomime

During the 1890s and early 1900s Clara Clifton was a regular performer on the English provincial theatre circuit, both in pantomimes and musical comedies, where she learnt her trade and honed her skills as a comedienne. She was also fortunate to be picked up by H.H. Morell and Frederick Mouillot, who had set up in partnership in 1885, By the late 1890s they operated eighteen provincial theatres, touring their numerous stock companies around their growing network of theatres and halls.

Pantomime played an important role in establishing Clara’s name and popularity and one of her earliest recorded performance was her role as Veribad in The Forty Thieves pantomime at the Crystal Palace on 26 December 1891 when she was 19 years of age.⁵ The following Christmas, December 1892, she played Kenelm in the Dick Whittington pantomime at the New Olympic Theatre.⁶

Clara was a regular performer in Dick Whittington pantomimes, playing the role of Bertie in Morell and Mouillot’s 1895 Christmas annual at the Theatre Royal in Exeter⁷ and in the New Year, in the same show, she played the role of principal boy, Dick, and took her benefit at the theatre. She also appeared as a dashing Lord Lollipop in Dick Whittington at the Grand Opera House, Belfast over the Christmas/New Year period of 1897/98, and at the opening of Dick Whittington at the New Queen’s Theatre, Leeds in December 1898 she again appeared as the vivacious and pleasing principal boy.

Advertisement for Clara Clifton’s benefit at Theatre Royal, Exeter

Western Times (Exeter), 21 January 1896, p.1

Poster for Dick Whittington, New Queen’s Theatre, Leeds, 1898

From South Leeds Life, 4 September 2021, https://southleedslife.com/holbecks-queens-theatre/

Other pantomime work followed. At Christmas 1900-01, she played the principal boy in Morell and Mouillot’s production of the comic pantomime Robinson Crusoe at the Queen’s Theatre, Leeds and Robin Hood in April/May the next year. The Stage magazine wrote:

Miss Clara Clifton was a dashing Robin Hood. Possessed of a handsome stage presence and well moderated voice … Her songs ‘Nancy’ and ‘John Bull’ were rapturously greeted.⁸

Reviewing the same pantomime, Ireland’s Saturday Night commented that Clara ‘makes a stalwart, dashing Robin Hood and can sing the coon song “Ma Curly Headed Babby”, to perfection’.⁹

She also appeared in Mouillot and Warden’s 1901 Easter Pantomime, The Babes in the Wood at the Theatre Royal Belfast.¹⁰

Musical comedy

However, Clara’s acting vitae was broader than pantomime and her early work was complemented with appearances in a number of other productions. She was a member of the cast in William Hogarth’s Comic Opera Co.’s Gaiety Theatre production of the opera-comique, Les cloches de Corneville¹¹and she performed in the burlesque show, Bonnie Boy Blue at the Theatre Metropole in late 1894. Of this last-named show, The Era noted:

Miss Clara Clifton is a promising young artiste, and her embodiment of Archie Lovell is spirited and graceful.¹²

Clara also performed as Sweeney Sal, a coster girl, in Morell and Mouillot’s production of The Little Duchessin 1898 and as Lady Constance Wynne in The Geisha in mid-1899. Clara was also one of a number of theatrical persons to entertain at a special Morell and Mouillot matinee at the London Opera House in mid-November 1899 in aid of the widows and orphans of soldiers killed in the Transvaal War.

Weekly Freeman’s Journal, 5 February 1898, p.9

Ireland’s Saturday Night, 13 April 1901, p.2

Despite continued success in pantomime, it was her performances in three Morell and Mouillot musical comedies—The Shop Girl, The Circus Girl and The Runaway Girl—that marked her as an impressive, stand out theatrical artist.

The Shop Girlwas an early success in which Clara played Ada Smith, one of the foundlings employed as a shop assistant at the Royal Stores. The Shop Girl had first opened in London in late 1894 under the direction of George Edwardes’ London Gaiety Company and subsequently by Morell and Mouillot who had acquired the provincial rights from Edwardes, touring the production around their network of theatres, opening at the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne in August 1895.

The Shop Girlbecame a perennial favourite with audiences and was staged throughout England and Scotland well into the late 1890s and early 1900s with Clara winning plaudits for her role as Ada Smith. At the opening of the Morell and Mouillot’s Grand Theatre, Margate in August 1898 Clara’s ‘foundling’ song was vociferously encored.¹³ and The Stage magazine—in an early reference to her physique which would remain constant throughout her stage career—said she was excellent as the massive Ada Smith.¹⁴ Almost a decade later Clifton again played Ada Smith when the musical farce was performed in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. According to the Leader, the part of Ada Smith suited Clara’s style of humour:

… her unconscious malapropisms, if smacking somewhat of prearrangement, raised a tribute of a laugh.¹⁵

Touring poster for A Runaway Girl, 1898, https://www.pbfa.org/books/a-runaway-girl-poster-from-a-production-at-the-theatre-royal-nottingham

In the latter part of 1899, Clara played the low comedy part of Mrs. Drivelli, the wife of the circus owner in The Circus Girl and as reported by The Era:

she proved the centre of attraction for her meritorious rendering of the part which she invested with much charm and piquancy. Two songs associated with the part, ‘When I used to ride a gee-gee in the circus’ and ‘That’s not a proper way to treat a lady’ were heartily encored.¹⁶

Clara was also praised for her role as Carmenita, a Corsican street musician, in A Runaway Girl when the musical toured the provincial theatre circuit. Playing in Oldham, one reviewer wrote:

Clara Clifton’s cockney dialect in her assumption of the part of Blackfriars Road Italian singing girl, Carmenita is irreproachable.¹⁷

The production continued to tour into early 1901 with reviews of Clara just as complimentary. One, following her performance in Exeter made special mention of her mezzo-soprano voice and its excellent effect in her song ‘I Love Society’ for which she was encored three times.¹⁸

George Edwardes

National Portrait Gallery, London

Touring poster for The Circus Girl, 1897. Printed by David Allen & Sons, London.

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

With essentially a new cast, Morell and Mouillot staged the three most popular musical comedies of the day—The Circus Girl, The Shop Girl and The Gaiety Girl—at the Palace Theatre, Yeovil in early 1900. The roles of Mrs. Drivelli and Ada Smith, which Clara had ‘made her own’, were now played by Ada Clare with Clara in the role of a dignified Lady Diana Wemyss in The Circus Girl, and the handsome, stately and effective aristocratic Lady Appleby in The Shop Girl.¹⁹ In The Gaiety Girl she played Lady Grey. Why the change? Perhaps the producers thought it was time for her to take on more mature, character roles, and leave the ingenue roles to even younger actresses. Regardless of the change of cast on this occasion, Clara again assumed the role of Ada Smith and Mrs. Drivelli in performances through to 1902. Likewise, she continued to play Carmenita into the same year, receiving praise as the Cockney-Italian singer when A Runaway Girl played at the Norwich Theatre.²⁰

South Africa

During 1902 and early 1903 Clara toured South Africa with Frederick Mouillot’s South African Repertoire Company, performing mainly at the Opera House in Capetown and the Standard Theatre in Johannesburg. It was the repertory company’s first visit to the Opera House where they performed the pantomime Sleeping Beauty. In part, a review said that Clara, who played Prince Peerless, possessed a commanding presence and much sprightliness.²¹ After a run of four weeks the pantomime was replaced by The Belle of New York with Clara as a lively and amusing Cora Angelique.²²

From Capetown, the company had a short run at Kimberley in early June where they performed Sleeping Beauty in which Clara’s ‘songs, “I can’t tell why I love you”, “Oh Flo” and “Dolly Gray” were given with the finish of a true artist’.²³ The following week, The Gaiety Girl was staged, where Clara, as Lady Virginia Forest, ‘acted and sang charmingly and the Bathing Machine scene with Mr. Brierley evoked much amusement with her droll acting’.²⁴

After this short but successful tour the repertory company re-opened at the Opera House in August with Gentleman Joe, with Clara in the role of Mrs. Ralli-Carr.

In early October at the Standard Theatre the company presented The French Maid with Clara as Madame Camembert²⁵ followed the next month with The Belle of New York and Bluebell in Fairyland with Clara as the Reigning Queen.

At the Standard Theatre on Boxing night 1902 Messrs Sass and Nelson presented Sleeping Beauty with Clara again playing the dashing Prince Peerless. The following January, Mouillot’s company performed The Thirty Thieves at the Standard with Clara as Mariana, and later staged The Topsy-Turvy Hotel with Clara as Mdlle Flora. This concluded her successful tour with Mouillot’s South African Repertoire Co.

From early August to late October 1903, Clara placed this advertisement in The Era

Australia

On her return to England there appears to have been a paucity of work for Clara, and from early August 1903 to late October she resorted to placing advertisements in The Eramagazine promoting her availability for shows: ‘At Liberty for Good Autumn Tour, and Principal Boy, Christmas’. Quite possibly during this hiatus Clara took up an engagement with George Edwardes’ London Gaiety Company to join his American touring party in Australia.

Around this time the Gaiety Company had just completed a very successful American season (from early September 1903 to the following April), with performances of Three Little Maidsat Daly’s and later the Garden Theatre in New York, and also including shows in Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto.²⁶

Maud Hobson, one of the principals in the Gaiety company, c.1904. Photo by Talma & Co., Melbourne and Sydney.

Elisabeth Kumm collection

Madge Crichton, Delia Mason and Elsa Ryan as the Three Little Maids, 1904. Photo by Talma.

National Library of Australia, Canberra

The company, which included many experienced West End performers such as comedian George Huntley, Madge Crichton, Maud Hobson, Delia Mason, Elsa Ryan and Maurice Farkoa arrived in Sydney from San Francisco on board the RMS Ventura on 7 May 1904. From Sydney the company travelled by train to Melbourne to open with Three Little Maids on 14 May at the Princess Theatre. The Girl from Kay’s and Kitty Grey followed as part of an 18 week season, half of which was spent in Melbourne.²⁷

Several days after the Gaiety touring party arrived in Melbourne, Clara joined them, arriving on 18 May as a passenger on board the RMS Orotava from London. She had missed the staging of the first production and due to casting and rehearsal schedules it was not until later in the season that she was introduced to Australian audiences in the musical comedy Kitty Grey, an adaptation of the French comedy Les fétardswith lyrics by Adrian Ross and music by Augustus Barratt, Howard Talbot and Paul Rubens.

G.P. Huntley and Edna May in the original London production of Kitty Grey, 1901

Elisabeth Kumm collection

Evie Greene, who created the role of Kitty Grey, 1901

Elisabeth Kumm collection

Kitty Grey had been outstanding success in London, playing at the Apollo Theatre in 1901 for over a year and equally, it was the hit of the George Edwardes season in Melbourne which opened at the Princess Theatre on 25 June 1904. Madge Crichton played the title role and was supported by G.P. Huntley as the Earl of Plantagenet, Maurice Farkoa as Baron de Tregue, J. Edward Fraser as King Ernest of Illyria, Delia Mason as Baroness de Tregue, Eva Kelly as Saidie, sister of the Baroness, and Clara Clifton as Mrs. Bright, known as Brightie. Three of the cast, Kelly, Farkoa and Huntley had been members of the Apollo production, the others were newcomers to the musical.

Program for Kitty Grey, Princess Theatre, Melbourne, 1904. State Library of Victoria, Melbourne.
View full program, http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4224761Like previous Gaiety Company musical comedies, Kitty Grey was short on storyline but long on amusement and full of laughable nonsense. The comedy concerns three men, Baron de Tregue, King Ernest of Illyria, and the Earl of Plantagenet and their infatuation with Kitty Grey an actress with London’s Frivolity Theatre. More particularly, the play centres on the marriage of Baron and Baroness de Tregue, where the pious Baroness Edith offers much marital advice but little love to her pleasure seeking husband who pursues a flirtation with Kitty. Anxious to win back her wayward husband, Edith turns to Kitty, an experienced temptress, for advice. More spice is added to the play as Kitty Grey’s dresser, Brightie was a former famous circus rider—Zo-Zo and a favourite of King Ernest.

While new to Australian audiences, Clara was a seasoned performer, reportedly with a style not unlike that of the buxom, good humoured Gaiety actress, Connie Ediss, who had successfully performed as Ada Smith, Mrs. Drivelli and Caroline Vokins, character rolls which also suited Clara. Kitty Grey gave Clara the opportunity to show her talent, which she successfully did in the role of Brightie. The audience warmed to her comely figure and unpretentious nature and the Melbourne press was generally impressed with her first appearance with the company, and typically The Argus wrote:

The newcomer, Miss Clifton was unrecognised on her first entry, but immediately after her song, “Zo-Zo”, her popularity was assured.  Endowed with humour, a genial presence, and a singing voice that has the power of making every word heard distinctly throughout the theatre, Miss Clifton is a valuable addition to the company.²⁸

The Melbourne Punch was just as complimentary on Clifton’s performance:

Miss Clara Clifton’s rendering of the dresser who was once a queen of the arena is so good that it is a matter of regret that the actress had not been found a part in one of the previous productions. Her song ‘Little Zo-Zo’ is repeatedly encored, and is probably the best-remembered number in the piece.²⁹

However, the Bulletin had reservations (and again referencing her physique):

Miss Clara Clifton, a new arrival, contributes a quite sonorous warble in a plain ordinary way. She is a large, genial-mannered lady, and a bit of a success as a humorous actress. But her personality looms larger than her success.³⁰

After a short season in Melbourne the musical was performed at the Theatre Royal (Adelaide) and Her Majesty’s Theatre (Sydney) during July and August 1904, Clara again received favourable reviews, including:

Clara Clifton was a huge success as Brightie. She was so buxom and absolutely natural that all sections of the house fell in love with her. Her song Zo Zo was encored again and again.³¹

And:

the strongest voice among the ladies is possessed by Miss Clifton, who has decided low comedy ability. Her impersonation of Kitty’s aunt and ‘dresser’, Brightie, a one-time star of the circus was extremely comical and full of ‘go’.³²

After seeing Clifton’s performance in Kitty Grey, J.C. Williamson was attracted to her comedic ability and engaged her for the 1904 season of the Royal Comic Opera Company. His belief in Clara was vindicated as she would go on to appear in numerous productions for the company and be a popular comedienne with audiences and critics. She was the only member of the Edwardes Gaiety company who was enticed to join Williamsons’ company when the Gaiety company left Australia at the end of their season.

Connie Ediss as Caroline Vokins in the original London production of The Orchid, 1903

https://tuckdbpostcards.org

Miss Clara Clifton, a member of the just departed Gaiety Company, who has joined J.C. Williamson’s Opera Co. Photo by Talma.

Punch (Melbourne), 22 September 1904, p.31

Clara’s first appearance with the Royal Comic Opera Company was in The Orchid which had enjoyed enormous success at London’s Gaiety Theatre. Described as a spectacular attraction with brilliant scenery and costumes with gay and attractive music from the pens of Caryll, Monckton and Rubens, it played for the first time in Australia at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne in late October, 1904. Clara as the buoyant, amorous Caroline Vokins was an unqualified success.

To be continued

Endnotes

1. The Evening News, 1 August 1904, p.6

2. Critic (Adelaide), 11 January 1905, p.17

3. Punch (Melbourne), 17 May 1906, p.33

4. Critic (Adelaide), 21 November 1906, p.25

5. The Era (London), 26 December 1891, p.11

6. See J.P. Wearing, The London Stage 1890–1899: A calendar of productions, performers and personnel, second editions, Rowman & Littlefield, 2014

7. The Era(London), 28 December, 1895, p.22

8. The Stage (London), 1 April 1901, p.16

9. Saturday Night, 15 April 1901, p.2

10. Irish News and Belfast Morning News, 9 April 1901, p.1

11. Freeman’s Journal(Dublin), 6 May 1892, p.4

12. The Era (London), 8 December 1894, p.8

13. The Era(London), 6 August 1898, p.9

14. The Stage (London), 4 August 1898, p.3

15. Leader (Melbourne), 3 November 1906, p.22

16. The Era(London), 7 October 1899, p. 10

17. The Era (London), 10 February 1900, p.8

18. Western Times Exeter, 12 February 1901, p.5

19. The Era (London), 9 June 1900, pp.18–20

20. Eastern Daily Press, 7 January 1902, p.2

21. The Stage(London), 22 May 1902, p.18

22. The Era (London), 14 June 1902, p.23

23. The Era (London), 5 July 1902 p.19

24. The Era(London), 12 July 1902 p. 17

25. The Stage (London), 6 November 1902, p.17

26. The New York Times, 2 September 1903, p.3 and The New York Dramatic Mirror, 12 September 1903, p.14

27. Sydney Morning Herald, 9 May 1904, p.3

28. Argus (Melbourne), 27 June 1904, p.6

29. Punch (Melbourne) 7 July1904 p.30

30. Bulletin (Sydney), 30 June 1904, p.10

31. Evening Journal (Adelaide), 18 July 1904, p.2

32. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 3 August 1904, p.303