Olive Morrell
Olive Morrell, born Olive Miller (1877–1937), was an English actress, singer and Gaiety Girl best known for her roles in Edwardian musical comedies.
Early life[edit]
Morrell was born in Highbury in 1877[1] and grew up in Highgate, near London. A singing teacher introduced her to theatrical producer George Edwardes, which led to roles at the Gaiety Theatre, London.[2]
Career[edit]
Morrell played roles in the Edwardian musical comedies A Greek Slave (1898–1899),[3] San Toy (1900),[4] A Country Girl (1902–1904), The Catch of the Season (1904–1906), Sergeant Brue (1904), Under a Panama (1904),[5] The Talk of the Town (1905), and The Spring Chicken (1905).[6] She appeared in a benefit performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury in 1906.[7][8]
As a Gaiety Girl, Morrell's appearance and gowns were at least as reviewed as her talents, and she was a popular subject for photo postcards.[9] In 1904, Morrell defended actresses from criticism by writer Marie Corelli, writing: "Actresses are not more extravagant than other people."[10]
She toured as a performer in musicals and pantomime in Australia for six months in the 1906–1907 season.[2][11] The press interest in her appearance continued: "She is distinctly English, with her lovely complexion of milk and roses, a skin as fine as a baby's, straight delicate features, and good grey eyes", wrote one interviewer in a Melbourne newspaper, continuing to describe her teeth ("perfect"), her smile ("bewitching"), her eyebrows, her hair, her height, and her dress.[12] In the same 1906 interview, Morrell said:
"If any girl has any ability for the stage, I never blame her for going on. ... It is really the best thing a woman can do, and now there is a very much better class upon the stage. Managers have realized, I think, that a girl who is decently educated and nicely brought up is quicker to understand and learn, and also that she generally makes a better impression than the comparatively uneducated girl."[12]
Personal life[edit]
Morrell married Australian politician Willie Kelly in 1908, in London.[13][14] In 1909 the couple had a daughter, Mary Wentworth Kelly, and in 1911 they were living with four servants in Knightsbridge in London.[15] When they separated, Morrell moved back to England with their daughter.[16]
Morrell died in Hampstead in London in 1937.[17]
References[edit]
- ^ 1901 England Census for Olive Morrell, London, St Marylebone, via Ancestry.com (subscription required)
- ^ a b "Confidences of Stage Favorites: Miss Olive Morell", The Sunday Times, December 9, 1906, p. 5, via Trove
- ^ Wearing, J. P. The London Stage 1890–1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel, Scarecrow Press (2013), p. 382. ISBN 9780810892828
- ^ "Grand Theatre" The Age, April 21, 1900, p. 8, via Newspapers.com
- ^ "'Sergeant Brue' at the Prince of Wales", Sketch, August 31, 1904, p. 260
- ^ Caryll, Ivan and Lionel Monckton, The Spring Chicken, Chappell & Company (1905), unnumbered cast page.
- ^ "Trial by Jury at the Terry Matinee", The Bystander, June 20, 1906, p. 603
- ^ Edwards, G. Spencer. "Concerning Olive Morrell", Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, August 5, 1905, p. 894
- ^ "Miss Olive Morrell", Punch, November 8, 1906, p. 8, via Trove
- ^ "Corelli Attacks the Women", Buffalo Times, August 28, 1904, p. 14, via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Miss Olive Morrell", The Sunday Sun, Sydney, October 7, 1906, p. 1, via Trove
- ^ a b "The Interviewer: Miss Olive Morrell", Table Talk, Melbourne, November 1, 1906, p. 12, via Trove
- ^ Kelly, Frederick Septimus (2004). Thérèse Radic (ed.). Race Against Time: The Diaries of F. S. Kelly. National Library Australia. p. 395. ISBN 9780642107404.
- ^ "Mr. William Kelly M. P., Marriage to Miss Morrell", Telegraph, Brisbane, February 20, 1908, p. 4, via Trove
- ^ 1911 England Census for Olive Kelly, London, St Margaret and St John, via Ancestry.com (subscription required)
- ^ Rutledge, Martha (1983). "Kelly, William Henry (1877–1960)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 9. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538.
- ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 for Olive Kelly 1937, Q1, via Ancestry.com (subscription required)
External links[edit]
- The National Portrait Gallery, London has six postcard images of Olive Morrell, by various photographic studios.
- The U. S. National Library of Medicine has a photograph of Olive Morrell in a nurse's uniform, from about 1908, in their digital collections.