New edition including the biography ‘Anything But Merry! and the screenplay ‘The Last Edwardian Star’
“A fascinating read…it was so sad to discover what happened to her.” (Alan Titchmarsh 2015)
“Important contribution to our understanding of Edwardes and the Gaiety Girls, one of the most glittering periods
of London theatre history.” (Richard Anthony Baker – The Stage)
“David Slattery-Christy has researched his work diligently. He tells Lily’s story clearly and dispassionately. He has added mini-biographies about the most significant people in her life, notes about the theatres she played and a list of the shows she appeared in.
His book is an important contribution to our understanding of Edwardes and the Gaiety Girls, one of the most glittering periods of London’s theatre history.”
Richard Anthony Baker – The Stage Newspaper
Published by AuthorHouse and available in Hardback or Paperback editions from £9.99
Special edition includes the book Anything But Merry! and the screenplay The Last Edwardian Star. Available via amazon: Edwardian Beauty – Lily Elsie & The Merry Widow
Lily Elsie
Discover the extraordinary life of one of Edwardian England’s most celebrated and revered musical comedy stars, Lily Elsie. From her childhood days in the music halls of Salford and her rise to fame as the child singing star “Little Elsie” (hailed by press and public as “the infant Patti”, after the world famous opera star Adelina Patti) to her arrival in London as a young woman.
Her association with the most powerful theatre impresario of the time, George Edwardes, the father of the musical comedy genre, with his innovative and lavish productions at The Gaiety and Daly’s Theatre. Her friends included Gertie Millar, the most powerful and luminous of the “Gaiety Girls”.
Elsie’s rise to fame as Sonia in Lehar’s The Merry Widow in 1907, produced by Edwardes at Daly’s Theatre, was achieved in spite of her lack of confidence and overwhelming stage fright that would leave her sick with nervous exhaustion and cause the press to accuse her of being “a part time actress” when she missed performances. Her image would endorse everything from toothpaste to face creams; the costumes and hats she wore for The Merry Widow were emulated everywhere. Retiring from the stage in 1911 to marry a handsome and wealthy husband, she enjoyed a brief period of domestic harmony as Mrs Bullough. But it wasn’t to last.
The early signs of the paranoid neurosis and mental health problems which would overwhelm her in later years were already in evidence. She mastered the art of being reclusive long before Garbo took up the mantle. Her final years were spent in isolation, her personality eroded by her mental health problems. Elsie died alone in 1962, a tragic end to a life which had promised so much. In fact her life had been Anything But Merry from the very beginning.
Lily Elsie has now been commemorated with a Blue Plaque at her former London home at Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, London W2 by the Friends of Lily Elsie determined to honour her life and legacy. More news coming soon as it is available.
I was lucky to have help from Mrs. Sonia Berry for this biography. Her mother was a great friend of Lily Elsie’s and Sonia was a child when Elsie came into her life. Sonia kindly allowed me to have access to information to clarify parts of Elsie’s life, career and of course her terrible decline that was so tragic for all who knew her. Sonia was also a life-long friend of Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II – they met as children as Sonia’s father was a health professional connected to the Royal Household. After Sonia’s death in 2012, I was able to send a copy of the book to H.M Queen in memory of Sonia.
David with Mrs. Sonia Berry in Bath, 2009
“David Slattery-Christy is a writer very much in tune with British society during the first half of the last century…it has served him brilliantly with his two well-researched biographies [on Lily Elsie & Ivor Novello]. David has an amazing gift for bringing back to life the bustle and allure of London’s West End in the days of Daly’s and beyond.” (Raymond Langford Jones – Sardines Theatre Magazine 2014)
