David Slattery-christy

Edwardian Beauty: Lily Elsie & the Merry Widow David Slattery-christy

Publisher Marketing: This 3rd edition compilation includes a new foreword by the author, the book 'Anything But Merry!' and the Screenplay version adapted from the book titled The Last Edwardian Star. With a foreword by Sonia Berry. 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. Contributor Bio:  Slattery-Christy, David David was born in Oxford, England, in 1959. He graduated from London's City University with a BA (Hons) Degree in Journalism. In addition to this he has a Teaching Degree from Lancaster University and a Masters Degree in the Arts from the University of Central Lancashire. Prior to this he attended London Theatre Arts to study drama, and then worked extensively in the performing arts industry as a playwright, producer and director. His stage plays include the award winning Forever Nineteen, After The Tone and The Post Card - which enjoyed London and New York productions, as well as touring nationally in the United Kingdom. His involvement in adapting the libretto for Ivor Novello's 1935 musical Glamorous Night resulted in him directing the 50th Anniversary Concert to celebrate the life and work of Novello at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London's West End. Subsequently he has worked as the Ivor Novello Consultant on Julian Fellowes and Robert Altman's Oscar and BAFTA winning film Gosford Park, and contributed to the BBC Documentary on the life of Novello The Handsomest Man in Britain. He is the author of In Search of Ruritania, a biography on Ivor Novello - Anything But Merry! The Life and Times of Lily Elsie the Edwardian actress and singer who found fame in Lehar's The Merry Widow; the novel based on the legend of The Mistletoe Bride - A Haunting and Mildred on the Marne: Mildred Aldrich, Front-line Witness 1914-1918. Currently he is developing a play based on the relationship between opera composer Puccini and his wife, Elvira, and a new biography based on the life of Martita Hunt (Miss Haversham in David Lean's 1947 film of Great Expectations) titled: Greater Than Expectations: The Life and Times of Martita Hunt. Further information www.christyplays.com