PHYLLIS DARE & ZENA DARE, original signed autograph vintage RPPC SIGNED STAGE for Sale

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PHYLLIS DARE & ZENA DARE, original signed autograph vintage RPPC SIGNED STAGE For Sale

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PHYLLIS DARE & ZENA DARE, original signed autograph vintage RPPC SIGNED STAGE:
$175.00

A BEAUTIFUL RPPC POSTCARD SIFGNED BY PHYLLIS DARE AND ZENA DARE AND ON THE BACK WITH LENGTHY LETTER BY ZENA DARE FROM 1904
With her sister Zena (1887-1975) she was one of the most popular picture-postcard beauties of the Edwardian era. Beginning as a child on stage, she achieved stardom in The Belle of Mayfair (1906), and was on the London stage for the next twenty years.
Phyllis Dare (born Phyllis Constance Haddie Dones; 15 August 1890 – 27 April 1975) was an English actress and singer famous for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and other musical theatre in the first half of the 20th century.
Born in Chelsea, London, Dare first performed on stage at the age of nine, in the Christmas pantomime Babes in the Wood (1899), together with her sister, Zena. Later that year, she appeared as Little Christina in Ib and Little Christina. She soon played Mab in the Seymour Hicks musical Bluebell in Fairyland, and at the age of 15, she took over the starring role of Angela in The Catch of the Season.
In 1909, Dare created the role of Eileen Cavanagh in the hit musical The Arcadians, where she met the producer George Edwardes. This started a long association between the two, who collaborated on productions including The Girl in the Train, Peggy and The Quaker Girl. In 1912, she starred in The Sunshine Girl. In 1913 she joined the cast of The Dancing Mistress, as Nancy Joyce, at the Adelphi Theatre and continued to star in successful productions throughout the 1920s, including in the role of Mariana in The Lady of the Rose (1922).
During her later career, she turned to straight plays, some of which included Aren't We All in 1929, Words and Music in 1932 and The Fugitives in 1936. She appeared occasionally in films, starring in The Argentine Tango and Other Dances in 1913, Dr. Wake's Patient in 1916, Crime on the Hill in 1933 and Debt of Honour in 1936. In the 1940s she appeared in a tour of Full House and was later cast in Other People's Houses. In 1949, Dare opened as Marta the mistress in Ivor Novello's musical, King's Rhapsody. The show ran for two years and was Dare's last theatrical endeavour. She retired to Brighton in 1951 and died 27 April 1975 at the age of 84.
Life and careerDare was born in Chelsea, London.[1] Her father, Arthur Albert Dones, was a divorce clerk, and her mother was Harriette Amelia Wheeler.[1] Dare was the youngest of three children. Her sister, Zena, three and a half years her senior, also became a well-known musical comedy actress.[1] They had a brother named Jack.[2]
Early career
Dare as a child actressDare's first performance on stage was in 1899, at the age of nine, in the Christmas pantomime Babes in the Wood at the Coronet Theatre in London.[1] Her sister Zena was also cast in this production, and they both adopted the surname of Dare. The next year, Phyllis was cast as Little Christina in a production of Ib and Little Christina at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, the same year repeating the role at the Coronet Theatre,[3] and she ended the year in the Christmas pantomime Little Red Riding Hood in Manchester. In 1901, she played one of the children in The Wilderness, and Seymour Hicks and Ellaline Terriss cast her as Mab in their musical Bluebell in Fairyland. The following Christmas, she performed in a production of The Forty Thieves.[4]as Eileen in The ArcadiansDare took a few years off to concentrate on her studies. During this period, in March 1903, she received a marriage proposal from Lord Dalmeny. His family did not approve and had the young nobleman rapidly shipped off to Scotland.[5] When her sister Zena received a proposal from Maurice Brett, the second son of Lord Esher, his family approved, and the two married in 1911.[citation needed]
She was Charley, one of the Babes in the Babes in the Wood, at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham (1904–05).[6] Later in 1905, just after her fifteenth birthday, Dare took over the starring role of Angela in The Catch of the Season from Terriss.[1] The role had been created by Dare's sister Zena.[1] Dare next appeared in a pantomime of Cinderella in Newcastle. She left the stage abruptly and travelled to a Belgian convent to continue her studies.[1] A rumour, originated by a Frederick Henry Wolfries, circulated that her sudden departure was a result of a pregnancy and that Terriss's husband, Seymour Hicks, was the hypothetical father; Hicks received written and verbal abuse for his alleged conduct.[7] In November 1906, Wolfries appeared at the Liverpool Assizes accused of libelling Hicks, while passing himself off as Dare's brother. He was found guilty and sentenced to 8 months imprisonment.[7][8] Dare returned to London with her father in haste in 1906 to take over the title role, at age 16 and on short notice, of Julia Chaldicott, in The Belle of Mayfair when Edna May left the cast at the Vaudeville Theatre.[1]
Star of musicals
as Peggy, 1911In 1907, Dare published her autobiography From School to Stage. In the same year, she starred as the Sandow Girl in a provincial tour of The Dairymaids and again starred in the Christmas pantomime Cinderella.[1] In 1908, Dare returned to The Dairymaids at the Adelphi Theatre for two months.[9] At the same theatre, she reprised her role as Cinderella.[1]
In 1909, Dare created the role of Eileen Cavanagh in the hit musical The Arcadians at the Original Shaftesbury Theatre.[1] A review from Playgoer and Society Illustrated noted, "Miss Phyllis Dare does everything that is expected of her; she dances nicely, sings sweetly and looks pretty...."[10] This was an extraordinarily long-running musical, playing for 809 performances, and Dare stayed for the entire run. The musical marked the beginning of Dare's association with producer George Edwardes, and she went on to star in several more of his productions in the next three years, including The Girl in the Train at the Vaudeville Theatre (1910, as Gonda van der Loo), Peggy at the Gaiety Theatre (1911, as Peggy), The Quaker Girl in Paris (1911, as Prudence) and The Sunshine Girl at the Gaiety and then on tour (1912–13, as Delia Dale). She left The Sunshine Girl in 1913 to join the cast of The Dancing Mistress, as Nancy Joyce, at the Adelphi Theatre.[4]
Dare began to develop a relationship with the composer Paul Rubens.[1] He had written the music for The Sunshine Girl and The Dairymaids, and they became acquainted.[1] He would write the music for her next series of shows, including The Girl from Utah at the Adelphi (1913, as Dora Manners), Miss Hook of Holland at the Prince of Wales's (1914 revival, as Sally Hook) and Tina at the Adelphi (1915, as Tina).[1] He also dedicated his most famous song, "I Love the Moon" to her.[11] During the run of Tina, Dare became engaged to Rubens. Their engagement ended when Rubens became very ill with consumption. He died in 1917 at the age of 41.[12]
Later years
Grossmith and Dare in The Sunshine GirlDare performed on stage rarely for the next few years, appearing in Hanky-Panky at the Empire Theatre in 1917. She returned to the stage in 1919 as Lucienne Touquet in Kissing Time at the Winter Garden and then played Princess Badr-al-budur in Aladdin in 1920 at the Hippodrome, London. She continued to star in successful productions throughout the 1920s, including as Mariana in The Lady of the Rose at Daly's Theatre (1922), as Yvette in The Street Singer (1924; 360 performances at the Lyric Theatre and on tour), and as Fay Blake in Rodgers and Hart's Lido Lady at the Gaiety Theatre (1926), in which she introduced the song "Atlantic Blues."[11] She then turned to straight plays. Some of these included Aren't We All (1929) Words and Music (1932), and The Fugitives (1936).
Dare also appeared in a few films including The Argentine Tango and Other Dances (1913), Dr. Wake's Patient (1916), The Common Law (1923), Crime on the Hill (1933), Debt of Honour (1936), Marigold (1938) and Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943).[13] A thoroughbred horse was named after Dare in 1920.[14]
In 1940, for the first time in over four decades, Zena and Phyllis Dare shared the stage, in a tour of Full House, in which Dare played Lola Leadenhall. In 1941–42, she was Juliet Maddock in Other People's Houses, and in 1946 she played the Marchioness of Mereston in Lady Frederick at the Savoy Theatre.[12] In 1949, Dare opened as Marta the mistress in Ivor Novello's musical, King's Rhapsody, again with her sister Zena. The show ran for two years and was Dare's last theatrical endeavour.
Dare retired to Brighton, England, at the age of 61, where she died at the age of 84.[1] Her sister had died only six weeks earlier.[1]
Zena Dare (born Florence Hariette Zena Dones; 4 February 1887 – 11 March 1975) was an English actress and singer who was famous for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and other musical theatre and comedic plays in the first half of the 20th century.
In a career spanning more than six decades, Dare made her first appearance on stage in 1899, in the Christmas pantomime Babes in the Wood in London, where she performed under her real name Florence Dones. She starred alongside her sister Phyllis in the production, and they both adopted the stage name of Dare soon afterwards. In the first decade of the 1900s, she starred in pantomimes and various Edwardian musical comedy productions including An English Daisy, Sergeant Brue and The Catch of the Season, as well as the title roles in Lady Madcap and The Girl on Stage. She retired in 1911 and nursed soldiers in France during World War I.
Dare returned to the stage in 1926 where she played the title role in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. This was followed with a role in The Second Man alongside Noël Coward. In 1928, she formed her own production company and, a year later, took over the management of the Haymarket Theatre. On stage, she starred in The First Mrs. Fraser, Other Men's Wives and Cynara, and she appeared in pantomime at the London Palladium. Late in her career, she had a big success as Mrs. Higgins in the long-running original London production of My Fair Lady.
In addition to her stage roles, Dare occasionally appeared in film and made her debut in the silent film No. 5 John Street in 1921. She made a successful transition to "talkies" appearing in The Return of Carol Deane in 1938 and Over the Moon a year later. She died in London in 1975 at the age of 88.
Life and careerDare was born in Chelsea, London, the oldest of three children[1] of Arthur Albert Dones, a divorce clerk, and his wife Harriette Amelia (née Wheeler).[1] Her sister, Phyllis, three and a half years her junior, also became a well-known musical comedy actress.[1] They had a brother named Jack.[2] Dare was educated at Maida Vale High School.[1]
Early career
Dare, c. 1908Dare had her first performance on stage in 1899, at the age of 12, in the Christmas pantomime Babes in the Wood at the Coronet Theatre in London.[1] Her sister Phyllis was also cast in this production, and they both adopted the stage name Dare.[1] From 1900, she played in various pantomimes produced by F. Wyndham in Edinburgh and Glasgow.[1]
In 1902, at the age of 15, Dare was hired by Seymour Hicks to tour as Daisy Maitland in An English Daisy, and to play the title role in Cinderella in 1903–04 at the Shakespeare Theatre in Liverpool.[1] She spent much of 1904 touring but returned to London to play Aurora Brue in Sergeant Brue for Frank Curzon's theatre company.[1] She left the company to create the role of Angela on in September 1904 in The Catch of the Season at the Vaudeville Theatre opposite Hicks.[1] The role would have gone to Ellaline Terriss, Hicks' wife, but she was pregnant. Dare left Catch of the Season in 1905 to play Beauty in Sleeping Beauty in Bristol.[1] Terriss later assumed the role of Angela, and Dare's sister Phyllis took over the role from Terriss.[3]in Peter PanIn 1905 to 1906, Dare was hired by producer George Edwardes to play three roles at The Prince of Wales Theatre in London: the title role in Lady Madcap, Lady Elizabeth Congress in The Little Cherub and the title role in The Girl on Stage.[1] Dare left Edwardes' company in 1906 to play Betty Silverthorne in Hicks' The Beauty of Bath at the Aldwych Theatre.[1] Later that year, she reprised her role in the touring production of The Catch of the Season and ended the year starring as Peter Pan, in J.M. Barrie's play of the same name, in Manchester.[4]
In 1907, she returned to the Aldwych as Victoria Siddons in The Gay Gordons and spent the rest of the year in a tour of one act plays with Hicks' company. She spent 1908 and the beginning of 1909 touring both in The Gay Gordons, this time in the lead role of Peggy Quainton, and in Sweet and Twenty, among other pieces.[3] In March 1909, she starred in Papa's Wife at the London Coliseum and then played Princess Amaranth in Mitislaw or The Love Match at the Hippodrome.[1] She spent the better part of 1910 touring as Duc de Richelieu in The Dashing Little Duke, before returning to the Hippodrome to perform in The Model and the Man.[2]
Later yearsWhile appearing in The Catch of the Season, she met and subsequently became engaged to Maurice Vyner Baliol Brett (1882–1934), the second son of the 2nd Viscount Esher. They married in January 1911, and, at age 23, at the height of her career, Dare retired from the theatre.[1] The couple moved to rural Chilston, near Ascot, Berkshire, and raised a son and two daughters.[5] Eager to help the war effort during World War I, Dare nursed injured soldiers for three years at Mrs. Vanderbilt's American Hospital in France.[5]In 1926, after fifteen years away from the stage, Dare played the title role of Mrs. Cheyney in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney at Golders Green, London and then on tour.[1] In 1928, she played Kendall Frayne in The Second Man with Noël Coward at the Playhouse. Dare began her own theatre company in 1928 and toured South Africa in The High Road, The Trial of Mary Dugan, The Squeaker and Other Men's Wives. She returned from her tour at the end of 1929 and took over the management of the Haymarket Theatre, where she played Mrs. Fraser in The First Mrs. Fraser. The next year, she toured in The First Mrs. Fraser, and as Femme de Chambre in Other Men's Wives and Clemency Warlock in Cynara. During the Christmas seasons of 1931 and 1932, she played Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan at the London Palladium. During 1932, she toured as Leslie in Counsel's Opinion.[2]
In 1933, Dare began her long association with Ivor Novello, playing his mother in Proscenium at the Globe Theatre. In 1934, she played Mrs. Sherry in Novello's Murder in Mayfair at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.[1] Her husband died that year.[1] In 1936, she played Phyllida Frame in Novello's long-running musical Careless Rapture. In 1938, she went on to play Tiny Fox-Coller in Farrell and Perry's Irish comedy, Spring Meeting, at the Ambassadors Theatre, which was directed by John Gielgud.[1] She then toured in this role in 1939.[6]
In 1940, for the first time in over four decades, Zena and Phyllis Dare shared the stage in a tour of Full House, in which Dare played Frynne Rodney. In 1941 at the Globe Theatre, Dare played Lady Caroline in a revival of Dear Brutus. At Christmas of the same year, she again played the part of Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan. In 1943 she played Fanny Farrelly in a tour of The Watch on the Rhine, followed by the Red Queen in Gielgud's revival of Alice Through the Looking Glass at the Scala Theatre in London.[3] In 1944, she played Elsie in Another Love Story at the Phoenix Theatre. She rejoined Novello at the Hippodrome in 1945, taking over the part of Charlotte Fayre in Perchance to Dream. In 1949, she appeared as the royal mother in Novello's musical King's Rhapsody at the Palace Theatre, again with her sister Phyllis. The show ran for two years, surviving Novello's death.[2]In My Fair Lady (centre) with Julie Andrews and Alec ClunesIn 1954, again at the Palace, Dare played Julia Ward Mckinlock in Sabrina Fair. At the Savoy Theatre she played Edith Billingsley in Double Image, and later that year at the Globe Theatre, she took over the part of the bogus painter's widow, Isobel Sorodin, in Nude with Violin by Noël Coward. Dare's last theatrical role was as Mrs. Higgins, Henry Higgins' mother, in the original London production of My Fair Lady beginning in 1958 and running for five and a half years.[1] Dare was the only one of the principal performers to stay for the complete run, followed by a season on tour. At its conclusion, she retired from the stage.[5]
In addition to her stage career, Dare made several appearances on television and in films.[7] Her films included the silent films No. 5 John Street(1921)[7] and A Knight in London (1929)[7] Her "talkies" included The Return of Carol Deane (1938)[7] and Over the Moon (1939).[7] She also appeared in several television movies in England including: Spring Meeting (1938), Barbie (1955), The Burning Glass (1956) and An Ideal Husband (1969).[6] In 1963, she was the subject of an episode of This Is Your Life on the BBC.[8]
She died in London in 1975 at the age of 88. Her sister Phyllis died six weeks later.[3]
REAL NAME: Florence Hariette Zena DonesBORN: 4 February 1887, London, EnglandMARRIED: Hon. Maurice Brett, 1910?-1934 (widowed)DIED: 11 March 1975, London, England Zena Dare was an actress born in London on the 4th of February 1887; she was the elder sister of Phyllis Dare (real name: Phyllis Haddie Dones, b. 15 August 1890, London) who was also an actress. They made they first stage appearances as children. Zena's father was a divorce court clerk; she was a pupil at the Maida Vale High School and was also briefly educated in Brussels.
Her first stage appearance was in Babes in the Wood in 1899 at the Coronet Theatre where she understudied the part of the Boy Babe (whilst nine-year-old Phyllis played the part of the Girl Babe). She was later in Scotland appearing in pantomime before she went on tour with Seymour Hicks playing the parts of Daisy Maitland in An English Daisy in 1902, and Cinderella at the Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool in 1903. After she had finished touring in 1904 she returned to London to play at the Strand and then the Prince of Wales's Theatres for Frank Curzon. Curzon however let her go in the September of 1904 in order to play in Seymour Hick's The Catch of the Season (a retelling of the Cinderella fable) the part of Angela Crystal (Cinderella) at the Vaudeville Theatre. This was her first adult role, Hicks had originally created the part for his wife Ellaline Terriss but she became pregnant, so the part was given to Zena. Hicks said of her: "She was remarkably intelligent, worked hard and had a beautiful face, and on my recommendation she was given the task of playing this exceptionally big part opposite me in our new production... She had stuck to her work at rehearsals like a Briton, and her performance was a charming one, which not only helped us out of our extremely difficult position but spelt her name in golden letters of success which she has made brighter each year by the whole-heartedness and sincerity of all she undertakes."
During the run of The Catch of the Season in 1905, Zena was replaced by her sister Phyllis, as she was committed to play at Bristol in The Sleeping Beauty. The Catch of the Season ran for a total of 621 performances.
In the following year she joined George Edwardes at the Prince of Wales's Theatre to play the part of Lady Madcap in the musical comedy Lady Madcap, the part of Lady Elizabeth Congress in The Little Cherub, and then the Girl in The Girl on Stage.
Next, in 1906 she joined up again with Seymour Hicks to play at the Aldwych Theatre in The Beauty of Bath, the part of Betty Silverthorne. She then in the autumn of the same year toured playing her original part of Angela Crystal in The Catch of the Season, and then at Christmas in Manchester she played Peter Pan in Peter Pan.
In 1907 again at the Aldwych she played the part of Victoria Siddons in The Gay Gordons, going on from here to do a matinee tour of one-act plays with Seymour Hicks.
In the first part of 1909 she toured with The Gay Gordons and also Sweet and Twenty. Then in the March of the same year she was at the Coliseum with Seymour Hicks in Papa's Wife, going on then in November to the Hippodrome to play the part of Princess Amaranth in Mitislaw or The Love Match.
In 1910 she was on tour playing the part of the Duc de Richelieu in The Dashing Little Duke. Then in August of that year at the Hippodrome opened in The Model and the Man.
She was by now an enormous success, and a huge celebrity who was at the height of her career. This however did not get in the way of her marriage to the Hon. Maurice Brett, the second son of the second Viscount Esher. She subsequently retired from the theatre to raise a family.
It wasn't until 1926 that Zena Dare returned to the stage touring as Mrs Cheyney in The Last of Mrs Cheyney. After this in January 1928 at the Playhouse she played in S. N. Behrman's The Second Man with Noel Coward. She also in this year toured South Africa with her own company in The Trial of Mary Dugan, Other Men's Wives, The High Road and The Squeaker.
Having now returned from her South African tour she took over the Haymarket Theatre in the December of 1929 playing in The First Mrs Fraser, the part of Mrs Fraser. She then took this on tour as well as Other Men's Wives and Cynara in which she played the part of Clemency Warlock.
For two consecutive Christmases in 1931 and 1932 she was in Peter Pan at the Palladium, where she played the part of Mrs Darling, as well as during the interim period playing the part of Leslie in Counsel's Opinion on tour.
She then worked with Ivor Novello playing at the Globe Theatre in June 1933 the part of his mother in Proscenium. In 1934 she played Mrs Sherry the murderers mother in Murder in Mayfair. This was also the year in which her husband died.
From the 11th of September 1936 she was at Drury Lane playing the part of Phyllida Frame the beauty parlour manageress in Novello's musical Careless Rapture, it ran of 295 performances. The Times stated that the parts she played with Novello "were exactly suited to her years and to her bent for mild caricature which allowed her to mix frivolity with the romantic sentiment of Novello's work and so made the latter more palatable to his increasingly large public."
In the May of 1938 having parted company with Novello she went to the Ambassadors' to play the part of Tiny Fox-Coller in the Irish comedy Spring Meeting, later touring with the part in 1939.
It was in 1940 after a period of over four decades that Zena and her sister Phyllis once again shared the stage, it was whilst touring in a revival of Novello's Full House. Zena played the part of Frynne Rodney.
In January 1941 at the Globe she played the part of Lady Caroline in a revival of Dear Brutus, and also at the Christmas of the same year she was once again playing the part of Mrs Darling in Peter Pan. She played Fanny Farrelly in The Watch on the Rhine on tour in 1943. She was then, in December 1943 the Red Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass at the Scala. Then in December 1944 at the Phoenix played the part of Elsie in Another Love Story. She then joined up with Novello again, taking over from Margaret Rutherford in November 1945, to play the part of Charlotte Fayre in Perchance to Dream for which she received great acclaim. This stage musical had opened at the London Hippodrome on the 21st of April 1945.
In September 1949 at the Palace Theatre both Zena and Phyllis played in Novello's musical Kings Rhapsody, Zena played Novello's mother. This incidentally continued to run for many months after the death of Novello in 1951.
In August 1954 still at the Palace Theatre she played the part of Julia Ward Mckinlock in Sabrina Fair. Then in the November of 1956 at the Savoy she played Edith Billingsley in Double Image, and in November at the Globe took over the part of Isobel Sorodin from Joyce Carey in Nude with Violin by Noel Coward.
Her last ever stage appearance was at Drury Lane's Theatre Royal playing the part of Mrs Higgins, Rex Harrison's mother in My Fair Lady. It opened in the April of 1958 and ran for five and a half years. She retired in 1965.
Zena Dare died on the 11th of March 1975 at the age of 88. Her sister Phyllis died just six weeks later (on 27 April 1975 in Brighton, East Sussex).
Zena was born Florence Hariette Zena Dones on February 4th, 1887, daughter of Arthur Dones, a clerk in the divorce court. Zena and her younger sister Phyllis first appeared together under the stage name Dare in "Babes In The Wood" in 1899 (Phyllis playing the girl babe, Zena as understudy to the boy babe). However, Zena's mother insisted that she should continue her education for several more years in the intervals between further pantomime appearances.
In 1902, still aged only 15, Zena had a spell touring as 'Daisy Maitland' in Seymour Hicks's musical comedy "An English Daisy". Two years later she was engaged by Frank Curzon's management for a West End role as the juvenile lead of 'Aurora Brue' in "Sergeant Brue". However, she was released from this engagement when Hicks needed someone to take the part of 'Angela' in "The Catch of The Season", the part he originally designed for his wife Ellaline Terriss who had fallen pregnant. This part Zena successfully played until Mrs Hicks was able to return after having given birth. Zena's sister Phyllis later took over the role to complete the run of 621 performances.
There then followed a spell of work with George Edwardes, with Zena playing the title role in "Lady Madcap" in 1905 and appearing for him again playing 'Lady Elizabeth Congress' in "The Little Cherub".
In January 1906, having been released by her manager, Zena returned to Hicks to play 'Betty Siverthorne' in "The Beauty of Bath" at the Aldwych, again in succession to Ellaline Terriss. Then at Christmas she played 'Peter Pan' in Manchester.
In the following year, 1907, Zena played 'Victoria Siddons', the second lead, in "The Gay Gordons" at the Aldwych. This time she played alongside Ellaline Terriss and then, when the production went on tour, took over the lead role of 'Peggy Quainton'. She then appeared with Hicks in various one act shows and also toured, in 1910, as the 'Duc de Richelieu' in "The Dashing Little Duke", another former Terriss role.
In January 1911, she married The Hon. Maurice Brett, second son of the second Viscount Esher. Zena is quoted as saying that she had not thought much at the time about getting engaged as she felt she was much too young. However she had fallen in love with him and was soon married. Retirement followed; she had been on the stage since she was 12 and never wanted to go back to it again. There then followed a period of 15 years away from the stage in which time Zena had two daughters and a son.
During the First World War, Zena accompanied her husband to Paris on important work for the government. She then worked for three years at Mrs Vanderbilt's American Hospital in Neuilly, nursing wounded soldiers. This harrowing experience left a lasting impression on Zena.
However, in January 1926, at the age of 39 she made her comeback on the London Stage at Golders Green. This was as 'Mrs Cheyney' in Lonsdale's "The Last of Mrs Cheyney" without any big names supporting her and then toured with the production. This was some achievement as this was an exacting role for a late beginner to high comedy.
She also toured South Africa between 1928 and 1929 with her own company playing in "The High Road", "The Trail of Mary Dugan", "The Squeaker" and "Other Men's Wives". On her return she stood in for Marie Tempest in the title part of St. John Ervine's "The First Mrs Fraser" at the Haymarket and then toured with the play.
In 1930 she toured as the 'Femme de Chambre' in "Other Men's Wives" and as 'Clemency Warlock' in "Cynara". In December 1931 and 1932 she again appeared in "Peter Pan", this time as 'Mrs Darling'.
In 1933, Ivor Novello tried to tempt Zena out of semi-retirement. Apparently Zena was quoted at the time as saying she was happy at home with her husband and children and thought it ridiculous to go back to the theatre at her age. However, Novello's persistence paid off when, one or two days before rehearsals he telephoned her at her wonderful home of Chilston, near Ascot, and asked her to play the part of 'Lady Raynor' in "Proscenium". Unfortunately her beloved husband was to die the following year, in 1934.
The roles of Novello's mother in "Proscenium", the murderer's mother 'Mrs Sherry' in "Murder in Mayfair" (Drury Lane) and of the manageress of a beauty parlour, 'Phyllida Frame', in "Careless Rapture" were exactly suited to an actress of her age and with her talent for mild caricature. She was ideally suited to the Novello mix of frivolity and romantic sentiment. There then followed a part in Farrell and Perry's Irish comedy "Spring Meeting" in 1938.
Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, Zena and her sister Phyllis reunited professionally for the first time since their childhood on a tour of one of Novello's lesser plays, "Full House" (Zena played 'Frynne Rodney' and Phyllis 'Lola Leadenhall').
During the war Zena had a part in Sir John Gielgud's revival of "Alice Through The Looking Glass" as the 'Red Queen'. Later, in 1945, she rejoined Novello in his "Perchance to Dream" succeeding Margaret Rutherford in the part of 'Lady Charlotte Fayre'. "King's Rhapsody", it's successor, was the last musical in which Novello appeared himself before his death. Zena took the role of the royal mother, with sister Phyllis playing his faithful mistress.
Following this Zena spent some time in Coward's "Nude with Violin", having succeeded Joyce Carey as the bogus painter's widow.
Her longest run of all was in her last role of 'Mrs Higgins' in the musical "My Fair Lady". Zena was to play this role for more than five years at Drury Lane following it up with a season on tour. This play brought the curtain finally down upon her long career.
In effect Zena had two careers, both successful, separated by 15 years. She was a big name at the time of her marriage in 1911, but when she returned in 1926, her name would have meant little. However, up until her retirement she regained her success with numerous light plays and musicals which suited the style, wit and sophistication of her acting. Even in old age, it was evident that Zena still displayed the charm, grace and vivacity so evident in the roles of her younger days.
She died in London on March 11th 1975 at the age of 88.
A few days ago Birkenhead's fine Williamson Art Gallery posted on Twitter an Edwardian postcard, advertising salt, featuring two young women. I am pretty sure that I am the only person in the country who saw it and immediately exclaimed "By Jove, that's Phyllis and Zena Dare!".100 postcards of the Sisters Dare, currently headed for the Wirral
If you google the sisters you'll find that Zena was born in 1887 and Phyllis in 1890, they were Music Hall actresses and they sold a lot of postcards. Zena appeared in Cinderella at the Shakespeare Theatre Liverpool in 1903.
Wikipedia has this to say about Pyyllis, then aged 15, in 1906:
She left the stage abruptly and travelled to a Belgian convent to continue her studies. A rumour circulated that her sudden departure was a result of a pregnancy. In any event, she returned to London with her father in haste in 1906 to take over the title role, on short notice, of Julia Chaldicott, in The Belle of Mayfair.
Using the terms "left abruptly" and "returned in haste" suggest that the Wikipedia author believes that the pregnancy rumour has grounds, or is at least prepared to perpetuate it. Well, Wiki, I am going to defend Phyllis' honour (and get another Liverpool Miscellany story out of it).Phyllis Dare in Cinderella
In late 1905 Phyllis Dare was appearing as Cinderella in Newcastle, she left and went abroad to a convent school in Brussels to complete her education. Subsequently ‘dastardly accusations [were] circulated by male and female blackguards’ (as Phyllis herself put it) that she was ‘in trouble in Paris; in fact, expecting to become a mother’, a rumour that according to Phyllis ‘probably never before so wronged an actress in the whole history of the stage’Seymour Hicks with Zena Dare
The father was said to be ‘no less a person than Mr Seymour Hicks, a man with a nice wife and child’, who had drugged ‘the poor girl … by something put in some sweets or fruit, and [then] politely told her he does not intend to help her’. Hicks was born in 1871 and his nice wife was the actress Ellaline Terriss. Hicks commissioned the Aldwych Theatre in the West End and in 1923 gave Alfred Hitchcock his first role as director, a film written by and starring Hicks, Always Tell Your Wife.
The rumours caused the Dare and Hicks families "the greatest annoyance and great unhappiness"; Hicks receiving a considerable number of anonymous letters as well as verbal abuse. So where did these rumours start?
A bloke trying to impress a girl, in a bar on Lime Street, Liverpool, popular with actors and others associated with the theatre. Frederick Henry Wolfries, an engineer with a criminal history, adopted the name Frederick Vernon Dare and claimed to be Zena and Phyllis' brother. If he had access to Google he would have known that Dare was a stage name, the family name was actually Dones and that their brother was named Jack.
In order to strengthen his claim he spoke 'from time to time of writing to them, gave his landlady their photographs, and left letters addressed to them about his room'. Worse still, in a ‘silly attempt at self-glorification, [and] an endeavour to obtain fictitious importance in the eyes of the girl he loved’ he wrote four letters to a barmaid at the Lime St establishment. In these he wrote that he was heartbroken about Phyllis' plight and how horsewhipping was too good for Hicks.
He was found out when one of Hicks' troupe visited Liverpool and subsequently charged with libel.
In November 1906 at the Autumn Assizes, held at St George's Hall, Justice Sutton presiding over the criminal business told the grand jury that there were 64 prisoners awaiting trial, including Wolfries.
Hicks' counsel stated‘It might be thought that these atrocious libels would not be believed, but there [are] ignorant people who would believe anything of a libellous nature.’ In his view there were people who, ‘hearing an appalling story of this kind connected with the theatrical profession’, would be more inclined to believe it, expressing ‘unctuous horror that such depravity would be possible’.In his summing-up, the judge warned of the dangers of ‘untrue statements … made in such a place’ as Liverpool, ‘an important theatrical centre’, proliferating and travelling ‘quickly through the country’. The theatre network was itself seen as a contaminant and propagator of scandal.Woolfries pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawfully and maliciously publishing defamatory libels of Hicks and Dare and was sentenced to eight months’ hard labour.
In her autobiography From School to Stage, published when she was 17, Phyllis Dare, wrote that the stage was the ‘happy hunting ground for busybodies and malicious, meddling gossipers, who aspire to “bring down” some luckless member of the profession about whom they think the story they propose to fabricate will be swallowed with avidity by the many to whom they relate the outcome of their imaginative brains’.
This piece draws heavily on Viv Gardner, Women Performers and the Law in the Long Edwardian Period published in Stage Women, 1900-50 Female, theatre wo