Lily Elsie – Pamela (J. Beagles 139 V)

Lily Elsie as “Pamela” – The Palace Theatre – 1917

“Pamela” at the Palace

“Pamela” opens at the Palace to-morrow night. Besides Miss Lily Elsie and Mr. G. P. Huntley, Mr. Owen Nares is now also in the cast. Bring your cigars. You may still smoke, although the Palace has become a theatre.

Sunday Pictorial, 9^th December, 1917

 

Lily Elsie Returns

The Palace Theatre in London began as an English opera-house; then it was a musical-hall; last night it became a musical comedy theatre. “Pamela” brings back Miss Lily Elsie to the lyric stage and the critics agree that she at once made good by her personality quality. She wears some most elaborate clothes.

The Yorkshire Evening Post, Tuesday 11^th December 1917
Pamela.

A comedy with music in three acts, opened 10th December 1917.  Palace Theatre, managed by Alfred Butt.  Elsie takes the title rôle of Pamela Durham.  Also starring Owen Nares.  172 performances, closing on 4th May 1918.  Music by Arthur Wimperis, music by Frederick Norton.  Produced by Gerald Du Maurier, musical direction by Herman Finck.  Choreography by Willie Warde, scenic design by J.A. Fraser, Conrad Tritschler, Joseph and Philip Harker.  Costumes by Lucile, Elspeth Phelps, Reginald de Veuille, and Idare.  5 gramophone recordings were made of songs from this show.

http://www.lily-elsie.com/shows.htm#pam

 

GOSSIP FROM THE STAGE
Things of Interest that Are Happening in Playland.

The theatres have had a great week. They have had a great number of great weeks, and there is no reason why the Christmas weeks should not be better than ever. The men home on leave are splendid patrons of the playhouses. They take out, and go out with, their friends to the theatres, and no man ever found a jollier audience. I hear of huge receipts everywhere, of record receipts, in fact, and the musical plays and revues are simply turning money sway, turning it away, too, because there is no standing room or any other room.

I cannot remember having ever seen so many people connected with the stage present at the first night of a new play as were at the Palace Theatre the other evening for the first performance of “Pamela.” Authors, managers, actors, and actresses were everywhere. Actresses, it is true, out-numbered the actors by three to one, and the familiar voices could be heard very often when, owing to the crowd, their fair owners were not to be seen. This, of course, only occurred when we were leaving the theatre. From 8 to 11.30 was a long time to remain silent, and there was some ground to make up.

There was much to talk about. The night had been an eventful one, and its great features were many. Lily Elsie sang never so gloriously. “Cupid, Cupid” is the best song Fred Norton has written. Her silver and blue Turkish costume for that wonderful waltz, too, will be the envy of every woman. The waltz was a tour de force. An astute friend of mine says that third-act scene should have been the interior of the salle de jeu. The crowded gambolling-room would have been a more effective background for the waltz, and the quarrel and reconciliation that followed, than the exterior of a little casino.

I have never seen G.P. Huntley happier. He was at his best. Arthur Wimperis had written him a good part, and he certainly was very, very funny. Owen Nares was very much in earnest, very sincere, of course, but I am not certain that his part in a musical play required such serious treatment as he gave it. Mary O’Farrell, Spencer Trevor, Arthur Cheaney, George Tawde, and particularly Clifford Cobbe, were excellent, but the others I did not care about, Lily Elsie looked like a princess, and when it’s like that – well, there you are!

Weekly Dispatch, December 16^th 1917.

http://www.lily-elsie.com/pamela.htm

 “Pamela”

Quite a royal ovation awaited Miss Lily Elsie on her return to the stage in “Pamela” at the Palace. Pamela is a very pleasant if not an original young person. Miss Elsie has never been more delightful.

Sunday Pictorial, 16^th December, 1917

Lily Elsie in “Pamela” – Programme – 1917

Lily Elsie in “Pamela” – Programme – 1917

Lily Elsie in “Pamela” – 1917

Lily Elsie (J. Beagles 139 W)

Lily Elsie – Pamela – The Sketch – 1918

 

The Pretty Heroine of a Pretty Play: Pamela.

The authors’ own description of their production at the Palace a Comedy with Music,” is distinctly apt, and Messrs. Arthur Wimperis and Frederic Norton may be congratulated upon the success of a particularly pleasing play wholesome and altogether charming, with an ideal actress in the title-role. Miss Lily Elsie was warmly welcomed on the first night, and has been received ever since with growing enthusiasm. Pamela Durham is an ideal English girl– very pretty, a sweet singer, a graceful dancer, and piquant in fresh and buoyant fashion that is half the secret of her popularity. “Pamela” is a play and a personality to be seen, and heard, with unqualified pleasure.

The Sketch, 20^th March 1918

Lily Elsie – The Tatler – 1918

Lily Elsie (J. Beagles 139 Y)

 

Lily Elsie