53-529: Gaiety Girls were the chorus girls in Edwardian musical comedies , beginning in the 1890s at the Gaiety Theatre, London , in the shows produced by George Edwardes . The popularity of this genre of musical theatre depended, in part, on the beautiful dancing corps of "Gaiety Girls" appearing onstage in bathing attire and in the latest fashions. The 1890s Gaiety Girls were respectable, elegant young ladies, unlike
106-551: A Member of Parliament . The young ladies appearing in Edwardes's shows became so popular that wealthy gentlemen, termed "Stage Door Johnnies", would wait outside the stage door hoping to escort them to dinner. In some cases, a marriage into society and even the nobility resulted. For example, May Gates, a chorus girl in The Beauty of Bath , married a nobleman, Baron Von Ditton, of Norway. Similarly, Sylvia Storey , another chorister in
159-459: A music hall before it became associated with several successful ballets under the composer-director Leopold Wenzel . In the 1890s, Edwardes hit upon a new strategy for the Gaiety, which was a variation from the kinds of shows that he and Carte had produced and also had elements of the Gaiety burlesques and of music hall entertainments. The earliest of these shows, taking a cue from Dorothy , had
212-741: A falling out with Coffin, Edwardes found success at Daly's with a series of English-language adaptations of European operettas, including Les p'tites Michu (1905), The Merry Widow (1907), The Dollar Princess (1910), The Count of Luxemburg (1911) and The Marriage Market (1913). He produced The Girl in the Train at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1909. Edwardes also used the Apollo Theatre for several musicals, including Three Little Maids (1902) and The Girl from Kays (1902). As Edwardes' success grew, he needed another theatre and added
265-463: A familiar plot line – a chorus girl breaks into high society, a shop girl makes a good marriage. There was always a misunderstanding during act one and an engagement at the end. In the words of a contemporary review, Edwardes’ musicals were "Light, Bright and enjoyable." These musicals were widely imitated by other British producers, and, within a decade, in America. Perhaps to balance the "girl" musicals,
318-478: A job for him at Leicester 's Royal Opera House. Michael Gunn met Richard D'Oyly Carte in 1875 and later became a partner in his production company. He and young Edwardes moved to London to work for Carte at the Opera Comique in the late 1870s, with Edwardes being given the trusted position of treasurer. He eventually became Carte's manager at the Opera Comique and then was Carte's first managing director of
371-499: A lighter, less satiric way than Gilbert and Sullivan had, using topical songs, fashionable costumes and sassy byplay between the characters. The first of these, In Town in 1892 and A Gaiety Girl in 1893 (both of which were produced by Edwardes at the Prince of Wales Theatre), met with strong success and confirmed Edwardes on the path he was taking. Edwardes dubbed his new musical plays "musical comedies" . If Edwardes didn't invent
424-524: A musical style similar to the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. Into this mix, he incorporated some of the elements of the form that Harrigan & Hart had established on Broadway a decade earlier. Like Thomas German Reed and W. S. Gilbert before him, Edwardes wanted to produce musical plays that were more respectable (and would attract a more affluent, polite crowd) than risqué burlesque. But Edwardes sought pieces that integrated spoken dialogue and music in
477-462: A new London theatre that they would share. Daly's Theatre opened in 1893, but Daly did not produce many works. In 1895, Edwardes took over the management of the theatre, where Sidney Jones was hired as the resident composer and music director. Edwardes' shows at Daly's had more coherent plots and more romantic music specifically composed for the plot of the piece, rather than a collection of topical popular songs. They were more like what musical comedy
530-755: A popular attraction and a symbol of ideal womanhood. Edwardes arranged with Romano's Restaurant, on the Strand , for his girls to dine there at half-price. It was good exposure for the girls and made Romano's the centre of London's night-life. Many of the Gaiety Girls, such as Marie Studholme , Ellaline Terriss , Lily Elsie , Florence Collingbourne , Cicely Courtneidge , Gladys Cooper , Phyllis Dare , Zena Dare , Mabel Love , Evelyn Laye , Jennie McNulty , Gaby Deslys , Camille Clifford , Gabrielle Ray , Sylvia Grey and Constance Collier , later enjoyed substantial acting careers. One Gaiety Girl, Mabel Russell , became
583-579: A popular attraction and a symbol of ideal womanhood. They were much sought after by the "stage door johnnies" of the 1890s—some of them becoming popular actresses or marrying into society and even the nobility. For example, in 1907, Denise Orme married Lord Churston and she later married the Duke of Leinster . Alan Hyman wrote in The Gaiety Years , Edwardes joined with American producer Augustin Daly to build
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#1732851872730636-622: A record setting 1,074 performances in London and 376 in New York. The story concerns couples who honeymoon in China and inadvertently break the kissing laws (shades of The Mikado ). Later enormously popular hits included Chu Chin Chow (1916), which ran for 2,238 performances (more than twice as many as any previous musical), Theodore & Co (1916), The Boy (1917), Yes, Uncle! (1917) and The Maid of
689-409: A resident company of artists, and the greatest stars of the era included actresses Marie Tempest , Gertie Millar , Lily Elsie , Ellaline Terriss and Phyllis Dare , leading men such as Hayden Coffin and Harry Grattan , and comics such as Rutland Barrington , George Grossmith, Jr., Huntley Wright and Edmund Payne . One critic wrote of Joseph Coyne that, like other stars of musical comedy, "It
742-506: A series of shows featuring fashionable characters and costumes, tuneful music, romantic and topical lyrics and pretty dancing. He embedded these elements in an often tenuous but nonetheless continuous original narrative. Like burlesque, Edwardes' "girl" musicals featured chorus lines and other devices for the display of women's bodies, but within the context of the simple narrative, elaborate displays of contemporary fashion and scenery, and light parody of social convention and topical issues. For
795-535: A son, D'Arcy. In 1885, Edwardes was hired to succeed John Hollingshead as manager at the Gaiety Theatre, producing the burlesques in which the Gaiety specialised. Together, they produced Little Jack Sheppard a burlesque in a full-length format with an original score by Meyer Lutz , which opened at Christmas 1885. After this, in 1886, Hollingshead retired, and from then on the Guv'nor (as Edwardes came to be known)
848-428: A stockbroker. The Guv’nor finding this was playing ducks and drakes with his theatrical plans had a 'nuptial clause' inserted in every contract.... Debutantes were competing with the other girls to get into the Gaiety chorus while upper-class youths were joining the ranks of the chorus boys. Edwardian musical comedies Edwardian musical comedy is a genre of British musical theatre that thrived from 1892 into
901-473: Is no good their pretending to be any one else. We go to see themselves, and all we ask is that the authors and others shall give them every chance of being themselves in the most pronounced and personal fashion". The Arcadians is generally regarded as the masterpiece of the genre. The composers were Monckton and Talbot, both at the height of their powers. The story, about the havoc wreaked when truth-telling Arcadians arrive in corrupt London, neatly parallels
954-561: The Adelphi Theatre to his chain of musical houses. There he produced a series of musicals by Lionel Monckton , Percy Greenbank and Adrian Ross , including The Earl and the Girl (1903), The Quaker Girl (1910), The Dancing Mistress (1912), and The Girl from Utah (1913). At the Lyric Theatre, in 1903, he produced Caryll's comic opera The Duchess of Dantzic . He also managed
1007-641: The Empire Theatre of Varieties , among other theatres. Edwardes was a founder member of the Society of West End Theatre Managers, along with Frank Curzon , Helen Carte , Arthur Bourchier and sixteen others. Edwardes raced horses, and one of this thoroughbreds, Santoi, won many prizes including the Ascot Gold Cup in 1901. He also bred horses in County Tipperary . When World War I broke out, Edwardes
1060-552: The Savoy Theatre in 1881, helping to produce several of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas until 1885. During this time, he added the "e" to his surname. While working at the Opera Comique, Edwardes met his future wife, singer Julia Gwynne , whom he brought to the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company , where she became a principal player. The couple married in 1885 and produced three daughters, including one named Dorothy, and
1113-497: The "girl" musicals, the Gaiety also presented a series of what could be described as "boy" musicals, such as The Messenger Boy (1900), The Toreador (1901), The New Aladdin (1906) and Theodore and Co. (1916) . Edwardes expanded his empire to other theatres and presented slightly more complex comedy hits beginning with An Artist's Model (1895). The Geisha (1896) and San Toy (1899) each ran for more than two years and found great international success, capitalizing on
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#17328518727301166-624: The 1920s, extending beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions. It began to dominate the English musical stage, and even the American musical theatre, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of American musicals by Jerome Kern , Rodgers and Hart , George Gershwin and Cole Porter following the First World War . Between In Town in 1892 and The Maid of
1219-1006: The British craze for all things oriental. Other Edwardes hits included The Girl from Kays (1902), The Earl and the Girl (1903) and The Quaker Girl (1910). The chief glories of Edwardian musical comedies lie in their musical scores. At their best, these combined the delicacy and sophistication of operetta with the robust tunefulness of the music hall . The major composers of the genre were Sidney Jones ( The Geisha ), Ivan Caryll ( Our Miss Gibbs ), Lionel Monckton ( The Quaker Girl ), Howard Talbot ( A Chinese Honeymoon ), Leslie Stuart ( Florodora ) and Paul Rubens ( Miss Hook of Holland ). Scores were constantly refreshed with "additional" or "specialty" numbers and re-arranged, often by several different composers and lyricists, to keep audiences coming back. Important writers included Adrian Ross , Harry Greenbank , Percy Greenbank , Owen Hall , Charles H. Taylor and Oscar Asche . Generally,
1272-652: The First World War. The Gaiety Theatre 's well-loved but racy burlesques were coming to the end of their popularity, and so was the phenomenally successful series of family-friendly Gilbert and Sullivan operas. These two genres had dominated the musical stage in English-speaking countries since the 1870s. A few lighter, more romantic comic operas , beginning with Dorothy (1886) found success and showed that audiences wanted something lighter than operetta, but more coherent in construction than burlesque, that featured
1325-534: The Gaiety also presented a series of what could be described as "boy" musicals, such as The Messenger Boy (1900), The Toreador (1901), The New Aladdin (1906), and Theodore and Co. (1916) A major attraction of Edwardes' shows was his glamorous, dancing corps of " Gaiety Girls ". These were fashionable, elegant young ladies, unlike the corseted actresses from the earlier burlesques. In Edwardes' shows, these ladies were, as The Sketch noted in its review of The Geisha in 1896, "clothed in accordance with
1378-490: The Gaiety burlesques until 1891. These new burlesques were very successful and toured widely in Britain and abroad. However, Dorothy' s runaway success (it became the longest-running piece in musical theatre history up to that time) showed Edwardes and other producers that topical, light comedies could be enormously successful. At the same time, the death of Fred Leslie and retirement of Nellie Farren by 1892 helped bring to an end
1431-531: The Girl (1903), The Arcadians (1909), Our Miss Gibbs (1909), The Quaker Girl (1910), Betty (1914), Chu Chin Chow (1916) and The Maid of the Mountains (1917). Edwardian musical comedy began in the last decade of the Victorian era and captured the optimism, energy and good humour of the new century and the Edwardian era , as well as providing comfort to audiences seeking light entertainment during
1484-434: The Mountains (1917, the second longest-running Edwardian musical, with 1,352 performances). Audiences wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and these shows delivered it. George M. Cohan 's sentimental Little Nellie Kelly (1922) was considered a late example of Edwardian musical comedy. Bibliography George Edwardes George Joseph Edwardes (né Edwards ; 8 October 1855 – 4 October 1915)
1537-460: The Mountains , premiering in 1917, this new style of musical theatre proliferated across the musical stages of Britain and the rest of the English-speaking world. The popularity of In Town and A Gaiety Girl (1893), led to an astonishing number of hits over the next three decades, into the 1920s, the most successful of which included The Shop Girl (1894), The Geisha (1896), Florodora (1899), A Chinese Honeymoon (1901), The Earl and
1590-513: The Old Gaiety, married the 7th Earl of Orkney and then in 1901, the 4th Marquess of Headfort married Rosie Boote , who had charmed London the previous year when she sang Maisie in The Messenger Boy . After Connie Gilchrist and Rosie Boote had started the fashion a score of the Guv'nor's budding stars left him to marry peers or men of title while other Gaiety Girls settled for a banker or
1643-467: The actresses from London's earlier musical burlesques . Later, even the stars of these musical comedies were referred to as Gaiety Girls. An American newspaper reviewing A Gaiety Girl in 1894 explained the importance of the Gaiety Girls: "The piece is a mixture of pretty girls, English humor, singing, dancing and bathing machines and dresses of the English fashion. The dancing is a special feature of
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1696-449: The book, lyrics and music were each written by different people, which was a first for the musical stage, although now this is the usual way of doing things. Adrian Ross wrote the lyrics for well over 50 Edwardian musicals. Besides Edwardes, American producer Charles Frohman and actor-managers like Seymour Hicks , Robert Evett and George Grossmith, Jr. were responsible for many of these shows. The musicals were frequently built around
1749-514: The era of Gaiety burlesque. Edwardes produced shows at other theatres as well. For instance, in 1892, he took over the Prince of Wales Theatre . In addition, after Gilbert and Sullivan stopped working together exclusively in the 1890s, Edwardes produced Gilbert's His Excellency at the Lyric Theatre in 1894. He also became manager of the struggling Empire Theatre , London, and transformed it into
1802-431: The genre, he popularised it in Britain and was the first producer to elevate them to international popularity. He used the best writers and composers to create entertainments appealing to his Victorian and Edwardian audiences. Although he never acted in his productions, Edwardes controlled every other aspect of them. At the Gaiety Theatre, Edwardes hired Ivan Caryll as the resident composer and music director, and created
1855-506: The modern fashions and culture of the day. The father of the Edwardian musical was George "The Guv'nor" Edwardes . He took over London's Gaiety Theatre in the 1880s and, at first, improved the quality of the Gaiety Theatre's earlier burlesques. Perceiving that their time had passed, he experimented with a modern-dress, family-friendly musical theatre style, with breezy, popular songs, snappy, romantic banter, and stylish spectacle. These drew on
1908-409: The musical and visual fun. These shows were immediately widely copied at other London theatres and then in America. The first Edwardian musical comedy was In Town in 1892. Its success, together with the even greater sensation of A Gaiety Girl in 1893, confirmed Edwardes on the path he was taking. These "musical comedies", as he called them, revolutionized the London stage and set the tone for
1961-433: The next three decades, Edwardes ruled a theatrical empire including the Gaiety, Daly's Theatre , the Adelphi Theatre and others, and sent touring companies around Britain and abroad. In the early 1890s, Edwardes recognised the changing tastes of musical theatre audiences and led the movement away from burlesque and comic opera to Edwardian musical comedy . Edwardes was born at Great Grimsby , Lincolnshire, England. He
2014-411: The next three decades. According to musical theatre writer Andrew Lamb , "The British Empire and America began to fall for the appeal of the [Edwardian] musical comedy from the time when A Gaiety Girl was taken on a world tour in 1894." Edwardes' early Gaiety hits included a series of light, romantic "poor maiden loves aristocrat and wins him against all odds" shows, usually with the word "Girl" in
2067-509: The next two decades, the "girl" musicals, with popular songs by Lionel Monckton and lively books by Owen Hall , filled the Gaiety Theatre, including The Shop Girl (1894), The Circus Girl (1896), A Runaway Girl (1898), The Orchid (1903), The Spring Chicken (1905), The Girls of Gottenberg (1907), Our Miss Gibbs (1909), The Sunshine Girl (1912), and After the Girl (1914). The heroines were independent young women who often earned their own livings. The stories followed
2120-521: The performance, English burlesques giving much more attention to that feature of their attractiveness than the American entertainments of the same grade do." Many of the best-known London couturiers designed costumes for stage productions by the 1890s. The illustrated periodicals were eager to publish photographs of the actresses in the latest stage hits, and so the theatre became an excellent way for clothiers to publicise their latest fashions. Gaiety girls were polite, well-behaved young women. They became
2173-581: The position of Edwardian musical comedies in theatrical history, with operetta -singing Arcadians, representing the past, meeting with music hall -singing Londoners, representing the future. This is an example of a common feature of shows of this period: sophistication with a common touch. Florodora (1899) by Leslie Stuart and Paul Rubens made a splash on both sides of the Atlantic, as did A Chinese Honeymoon (1901), by British lyricist George Dance and American-born composer Howard Talbot , which ran for
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2226-472: The same show, married William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett . Maudi Darrell and Lily Elsie both married the same wealthy Scotsman, Ian Bullough. Gertie Millar became the Countess of Dudley, and Olive May married into the peerage twice. First, she became Lady Victor Paget (marrying in 1913 and divorcing in 1921) and then the Countess of Drogheda (marrying the 10th Earl in 1922). The potential for such relationships
2279-674: The success of Little Jack Sheppard , Edwardes turned the Gaiety back to producing burlesques, but these were "new burlesques": full-length pieces with original music by Meyer Lutz , instead of scores compiled from popular tunes. These included Monte Cristo, Junior (1887), Miss Esmeralda (1887), Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim (1887), Faust up to Date (1888), Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1889), Carmen up to Data (1890), Cinder Ellen up too Late (1891), and Don Juan (1892, with music by Meyer Lutz , book by Fred Leslie and lyrics by Adrian Ross ). John D'Auban choreographed
2332-426: The title. After A Gaiety Girl came The Shop Girl (1894), The Circus Girl (1896) and A Runaway Girl (1898) and eleven other "girl" musicals followed. The heroines were independent young women who often earned their own livings. The stories followed a familiar plot line – a chorus girl breaks into high society or a shop girl makes a good marriage to a wealthy aristocrat (who is often in disguise). There
2385-514: The traditions of Savoy opera and also used elements of burlesque and of Americans Harrigan and Hart . Their plots were simple, and they included elaborate displays of contemporary fashion and settings, and lighthearted parody of modern social convention and topical issues. He replaced the bawdy women of burlesque with his "respectable" corps of dancing, singing Gaiety Girls who wore the latest fashions, and also showed off their bodies in chorus lines and bathing attire, as well as singing, to complete
2438-399: The very latest and most extreme modes of the moment." Many of the best-known London couturiers designed costumes for Edwardes' productions. The illustrated periodicals were eager to publish photographs of actresses in the latest stage hits, and so the theatre became an excellent way for clothiers to publicise their latest fashions. Gaiety girls were polite, well-behaved young women and became
2491-465: Was always a misunderstanding during act one and an engagement at the end. In the words of a contemporary review, Edwardes’ musicals were "Light, bright and enjoyable." Later Gaiety Theatre "girl" musicals included The Orchid (1903), The Spring Chicken (1905), The Girls of Gottenberg (1907), Our Miss Gibbs (1909), The Sunshine Girl (1912) and The Girl on the Film (1913). Perhaps to balance
2544-408: Was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond. Edwardes started out in theatre management, soon working at a number of West End theatres. By the age of 20, he was managing theatres for Richard D'Oyly Carte . In 1885, Edwardes became a manager at the Gaiety Theatre with John Hollingshead , who soon retired. For
2597-404: Was an underlying theme of many of the stories of P. G. Wodehouse , particularly those set at Blandings Castle . Alan Hyman , an expert on burlesque theatre who penned the 1972 book The Gaiety Years , wrote: At the old Gaiety in the Strand the chorus was becoming a matrimonial agency for girls with ambitions to marry into the peerage and began in the nineties when Connie Gilchrist , a star of
2650-401: Was in charge, with the assistance of the theatre's star player, Nellie Farren . The next show that Edwardes produced at the Gaiety was Dorothy (1886), a comic opera similar to the Gilbert and Sullivan operas that he had produced for Carte, but the Gaiety's audiences were used to burlesques, and so Edwardes sold the rights to Dorothy , which became a hit at another theatre. Following on
2703-546: Was making his annual visit to a German spa. He was imprisoned in Germany for several months, which exacerbated his health problems. Edwardes died at his home in Regent's Park, London, just before his 60th birthday. He was buried at St Mary's Cemetery, Kensal Green, and was survived by his wife, Julia Gwynne . Although Edwardes left valuable properties, he also left considerable debts. His theatrical enterprises continued to operate under
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#17328518727302756-521: Was the eldest of four sons and three daughters of James Edwards, comptroller of customs, and his wife, Eleanor Widdup. Edwardes' parents were Roman Catholics from Wexford , Ireland. He attended St James's College, in Clee , after which he was sent to London to take the examination for the Royal Military Academy . However, his cousins were Irish theatre managers John and Michael Gunn, and they obtained
2809-430: Was to become at maturity than their Gaiety Theatre siblings, the more review-like "Girl" musicals. These shows included hits like An Artist's Model (1895), The Geisha (1896), A Greek Slave (1898), and San Toy (1899). The stars at Daly's included strong, romantic singers: baritone Hayden Coffin and soprano Marie Tempest . They were joined by soubrette dancer Letty Lind and comic Huntley Wright . After
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