Examining Edwardian Theatre Through the Medium of Postcards

Florence Hersee as Bo Peep in Jack and Jill, Theatre Royal Nottingham, 1909 (image courtesy of ourtheatreroyal.org)

Since the 2018 launch of Our Theatre Royal the digital archive for the Theatre Royal Nottingham, there have been some significant loans and donations from members of the public that have really enriched the collection.

These include posters, photographs and newspaper cuttings detailing Boys' Brigade shows from the 1960s onwards and detailed scrapbooks belonging to Nottingham Operatic Society performer Kathleen Davis, who collected everything relating to her Theatre Royal performances in the 1950s, including closing night cards and presents.

One significant donation came during summer 2020 and its digitisation and subsequent research became one of my main pre-occupations as the UK headed back into lockdowns during the autumn and winter.

Bernard Hill was the Stage Door Keeper at the Theatre Royal from approximately 1906 to the beginning of World War One.  During this time he collected the popular photo postcards of the actors appearing on the Theatre Royal stage and in many cases managed to get them signed by the stars themselves.  These 200+ postcards were then neatly placed into a large album and were subsequently passed down within the family. 

On discovering our digital archive and the work we are doing to preserve the Theatre Royal’s heritage, Diane Meadwell, Bernard’s great grand-daughter, made the decision to donate the collection to us, ensuring that this valuable resource could now be enjoyed by the wider public.  We are so grateful to Diane and her family for making this donation.

The postcard collection is a who’s who of the Edwardian stage, with such notable names as Pauline Chase, Anna Pavlowa, Madge Kendal, Ellen Terry and Forbes Robertson.  It represents a time when now forgotten musicals such as The Quaker Girl, Havana, A Waltz Dream and The Count of Luxembourg were the huge crowd-pleasers of the day.

The glorious eccentricities of Pantomime are revealed with star turns from Johnnie Schofield, Mary Mae, Tom Foy, The Kebbles, and specialist cat impersonator Johnny Fuller, appearing in Pantos such as Jack & Jill, The Queen of Hearts and Jack Horner.  Titles that have now disappeared due to the Disneyfication of modern Pantomime.

Johnny Fuller, 1906 (image courtesy of ourtheatreroyal.org)

With images of Dorothy Dix and Dan Rolyat we see the continued acceptance of blackface and yellowface.  A prevalent discriminatory practice that was to continue on stage for several decades.

Dan Rolyat, 1912 (image courtesy of ourtheatreroyal.org)

Having now spent so much time on this scrapbook, and researching many of the actors, there are some performers who stand out more than others and it is through an archive like this that we can begin to ensure their stories are not forgotten.

May de Sousa was a popular actor and singer, whose decline began at the outbreak of the World War One.  By the 1940s she was penniless and in ill-health, resulting in her death in 1948 and being laid to rest in a pauper’s grave.  A story that is hard to imagine from the young, fresh-faced image staring at us with wide eyes in her postcard.

May de Sousa, 1911 (image courtesy of ourtheatreroyal.org)

Whilst extreme in this case, the swift decline of many actors from 1914 onwards was common.  However, performers such as Mabel Russell created new paths for themselves. Having retired from the stage, Russell became the MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1923, becoming just the third woman to enter Parliament.

However, one cannot deny the overall misogyny of the theatre life at that time that emanates from these postcards. 

The majority of the postcards are women.  Their image being marketed for better postcard sales from the local stationers and thus increasing audiences in the theatres they are touring to. The Edwardian counterpart to social media likes.

Even celebrated performers, such as Dorothea Baird are often defined through their actor/manager husband, in this case H.B. Irving.

Reviewing King Rene’s Daughter in 1908, the Nottingham Evening Post wrote …

“ … the fantastic but picturesque one-act play, ‘King Rene’s Daughter’, in which Miss Dorothea Baird, (Mrs. H.B. Irving) charmed the audience by her delightful pathos and appealing sweetness as Iolanthe, the blind princess.” [1]

Dorothea Baird, 1908 (image courtesy of ourtheatreroyal.org)

Even today this is perpetuated with websites such as www.stagebeauty.net Not only is that site name problematic, but continually describes these actors as “theatrical beauties”.

These rich images from the past deserve better.  They enable us to explore both individual lives and examine theatrical life and society at that time, both good and bad.

It was really encouraging to see that in March 2021, analytics revealed a 39% increase in users to the Theatre Royal digital archive.  The long winter Covid lockdown offered an opportunity for people to engage in different ways with the theatre they were unable to visit.

So, over 100 years later, Bernard Hill, collecting postcards of the stars at Stage Door, has made an invaluable contribution to understanding our heritage, as well as keeping many of us sane during these trying times.

[1] “The Bells at the Theatre Royal”, Nottingham Evening Post, 5 May 1908.  Available from British Newspaper Archive