Mark Melford

• Comment: Clearly notable, but it needs more inline citations to back up some of the assertions made. Also, please look at WP:CIT on how to properly format citations. Onel5969 (talk) 19:28, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

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Mark Melford
Mark Melford in Non-suited c.1900
Born	c. 1850 Fareham, Hampshire, England
Died	69 Sedgeford Rd, North Hammersmith, London, England
Occupation	Playwright, actor, author, political activist
Nationality	English
Genre	Farce, melodrama, comedy, drama,
Signature

Mark Melford (c.1850 - 4th January 1914) was a British "dramatic author, actor and variety artiste".

Born in Fareham, Hampshire, Mark Melford was a prolific writer and wrote not only many farces, melodramas and comic sketches, but also a musical drama, and a comic opera. He was also an accomplished actor and during his theatrical career of about 40 years, he combined acting with playwriting, often taking the leading role in his own works. He was known affectionately in the Portsmouth area, by the soubriquet "Rhymeo", and the Portsmouth Evening News noted his special rapport with the audience saying that a "mutual good feeling appears to exist between the performer and the public from the moment Rhymeo's genial countenance smiles upon them." In 1898 The Stage says “It is well nigh impossible not to laugh when Mr. Mark Melford occupies the stage, his odd grimaces, quick and extraordinary gestures, quaint antics, and generally comic behaviour make him a most droll comedian.”

As a playwright the genre in which he was most prolific was farce; Jeffrey H. Huberman in his book Late Victorian Farce says that Mark Melford wrote and had produced more full-length original farces than any other Victorian playwright. The hand-list of plays in the six-volume A History of English Drama, 1660-1900 by Allardyce Nicoll lists thirty nine different works by Mark Melford up to 1900.Some of his works covered serious topics, but were usually seen through the prism of comedy, and not always sympathetically. Kleptomania: A Farcical Comedy in Three Acts, first performed in 1888, "lampooned the concept of kleptomania and the wealthy women who supposedly suffered from the disorder." Tammy Whitlock says that "Melford's play demonstrates not only the popular acceptance of the term and the idea of the kleptomaniac, but is also part of the continuing tradition of criticizing women's role in consumer culture and class status." Turned Up, 1886, was arguably the most successful play that he wrote. Jeffrey H. Huberman says that the play's "combination of standard stereotypes, at least one unforgettable eccentric, and some of the wildest act-ending spectacle ever, helped to make Turned Up one of the most popular plays of the genre."

From 1912 onwards he also wrote, directed, and acted in many short silent films.

Early life

Born George Smith in Fareham, Hamphshire, England, he was the son of Joseph Smith, a provisions merchant, and Priscilla Hill the daughter of a farmer. From humble beginnings working in the family business he became well known in his time as an actor and dramatic author. Taking the stage name of Mark Melford, he and his brother Alfred (later known as the actor Austin Melford) were known theatrically in the Portsmouth area as the 'Humerous Brothers', Rhymeo and Alfred Smith. Alfred first appeared as an amateur in Portsmouth, carrying off all prizes at singing contests with character songs, written by his brother Mark.

Actor

During his twenties he briefly joined a travelling portable theatre company in the North Country of England. The account of his adventures in the portable theatre, or booth, are recounted in his book entitled Life in a Booth. Later he worked with Charles Rice, Charles James Mathews, Mrs Rousby, and Walter Speakman, and other theatrical figures such as Eloise Juno, Willie Edouin and Alice Atherton, and Oswald Stoll, theatre manager, and the co-founder of the Stoll Moss Group theatre company. He advertised himself in his early career as an actor able to play the 'heavy lead' or villain, and burlesque, or 'character' parts.

Dramatic author

He began writing and performing plays and recitations in his early days as a Portsmouth schoolboy. As an established author he was a fast writer. His plays were reputedly swiftly written in an almost indecipherable hand; his manuscripts were never revised, and went to the typewriter as written.

Around 1883 he became an actor-manager forming Mark Melford’s Comedy Company and later known as Mark Melford and Company. The performances were of his own plays, and he says his tours with Kleptomania, Flying from Justice, Secrets of the Police, were all great financial successes. The play Turned Up was highly successful too, and he sold the rights to Willie Edouin in 1886 for 25 pounds and a royalty of one pound per performance. Turned Up was performed as far afield as Perth in Western Australia and was later made into a film.

He wrote at least two farces based on mental disorders, Kleptomania, 1888, and A Screw Loose, 1893; and also a drama in four acts called The Maelstrom about a homicidal maniac. Originally titled A Hidden Terror the play was performed in London at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1892, to mixed reviews. The Era said "The Maelstrom is decidedly a remarkable play; and though, for reasons given later on, we do not believe that there is much "money in it" for London; we must give to the author the credit due to daring and fertility." But the People newspaper severely criticised the play. In response Mark Melford brought an action for libel against the newspaper and won damages of ₤50.. William Moy Thomas in his review of A Screw Loose in The Graphic says "Lunacy as a basis of farce is obviously a material that may easily be made offensive; but Mr Melford handles it with such excellent discretion and keeps the humorous side of things so constantly in view throughout the genuinely comic imbroglio, that his audience are always in good humour."

The "frivolously farcical comedy" Frivolity was written by Mark Melford for The Leopolds, a family of performing acrobats. The troupe's gymnastic and musical abilities were melded into a story line involving an elopement, some students, a pursuit to France and some lively adventures in Paris.The play was first performed in Liverpool in 1893 and The Leopolds toured with it for at least ten years.

Later career

In the late nineteenth century the three act extreme farce was becoming out of favour, and variety shows in the music halls became more popular. From the mid 1890's Mark Melford wrote and performed many short farcical sketches in the music halls. He and his company were frequent performers at the London Pavilion Music Hall in Piccadilly Circus over a period of at least 15 years. Ironically Desperation, one of the first of his one act farcical sketches to be played at the London Pavilion in 1896, was also one of the last, in 1908.

Non-suited

Non-suited 'an illegal sketch in one scene', opened in London at The Pavilion in September 1899, and was his most successful sketch. The plot involves a breach of promise suit, and was usually played with Mark Melford himself taking the title role of the barrister. Later Miss Marie Dalroyde purchased the provincial rights to the 20 minute sketch, for the record price of ₤500, worth almost ₤45,000 British pounds today. His last performance in this role was at his farewell benefit concert in late 1913 at the Little Theatre in Johns Street, London, a few months before his death.

Films

In 1912 Mark became involved with the early silent film industry. Heron Films Ltd. was established in 1912 by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper and Andrew Heron in order to produce films with Mark Melford’s theatrical company. He wrote, directed, and played in many short filmsalthough, apart from an excerpt from The Herncrake Witch, none of his films are known to exist today. His play Flying from Justice was produced by Neptune Films as a silent black and white movie in 1914, directed by Percy Nash. Turned Up (original title Too Much Married) was adapted for the cinema and produced as Who’s Your Father in 1935, directed by and starring Lupino Lane.

Political activism

He was a free thinker, a humanist, an anti-vivisectionist, an animal rights activist, and a supporter of women's suffrage, as documented in his book Life in a Booth. He was actively opposed to cruelty towards performing animals and was instrumental in bringing at least one such case, concerning performing elephants, before the courts.

Personal life

On 9th May 1887 he married Ethel Byford, an actress and sister of Roy Byford, also an actor. They had four children Jackeydawra, Benjamin (died young), Paul and Mavis. Jackeydawra, his eldest daughter, born Alice Bradshaw Jackeydora Melford, was one of the early British women pioneers of film.

He had a fondness for birds, especially jackdaws, jays and magpies. At their house, “The Jackdaw’s Nest” on the outskirts of Southhampton, a whole room was left just for his birds. The window was left open and they were free to roam the countryside at will, only coming home to roost at night.

He died on the 5th January 1914 and his death was reported widely, even in the New York Times. The Liverpool Echo reported that he "died with his pen in his hand." Mr Bransby Williams said that, after being in bed practically helpless for some months, Mark rallied and wrote 3,000 words of his unfinished book in the few days before his death. He was cremated at Golders Green, "the ceremony, in accordance with the deceased artist's expressed wishes, being of the simplest possible character".

Selected works

Plays:

• Frivolity, farcical comedy, 1883, written for the acrobatic troupe The Leopolds
• No Mercy, drama in five acts, 1883
• Blackberries, comic drama, 1886
• Too Much Married, Farce, 1886; later became Turned Up, 1891
• Ivy, four act comic drama, 1887
• Kleptomania, farcical comedy in three acts, 1888
• The Hidden Terror, 1889; later became The Maelstrom, 1892
• The Best Man Wins, farce, 1890
• Flying From Justice, melodrama, 1890
• Jackeydora; or, The Last Witch, comic opera, 1890, music by Popsie Rowe
• The Rope Merchant, sketch, 1890
• The Jerry Builder, farcical comedy, 1892
• A Screw Loose, farcical comedy, 1893
• Skyward Guide, drama, 1895; co-writer Mrs Alfred Bradshaw
• Desperation, comic sketch, 1896
• Black and White, musical drama, 1897; with J. Crook and W. Sapte.
• A Hampshire Hog, dramatic sketch, 1899
• Non-suited, comic sketch,1900

Filmography:

Writer

• 1912 The Courtier Caught (Short)
• 1912 A Day's Sport (Short)
• 1912 The Land of the Nursery Rhymes (Short) (story)
• 1912 The Herncrake Witch (Short) (story)
• 1912 His First Sovereign (Short)
• 1913 Wanted: A Husband (Short) (sketch)
• 1913 Flying from Justice (Short) (play)
• 1913 Only a Wedding (Short) (sketch)

Director

• 1912 His First Sovereign (Short)
• 1912 The Herncrake Witch (Short)
• 1912 The Land of the Nursery Rhymes (Short)
• 1912 A Day's Sport (Short)
• 1912 The Courtier Caught (Short)
• 1913 Gretna Green (Short)
• 1913 Bottled Courage (Short)
• 1913 Pat's Idea (Short)

Actor

Mr Melford also appeared as an actor in all of the above films as well as

• The Inn on the Heath, 1914, written and directed by Jackeydawra Melford.

Film adaptations

• 1915, Flying from Justice (from the play “Flying from Justice” 1890)
• 1935, Who's Your Father (from the play "Turned Up" 1891)

References

• Abelson, Elaine S. The Invention of Kleptomania 

 Signs, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Autumn, 1989) , pp. 123-143 Published by: The University of Chicago Press
 http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174709
• Baker, Richard Anthony British Music Hall: an Illustrated History Sutton Publishing Ltd
• Booth, Michael R. Theatre in the Victorian Age
• Gill, Maude. See The Players. Birmingham, George Ronald, 1948
• Harrop, Josephine. Victorian Portable Theatres. London: The Society for Theatre Research, 1989. Print.
• Hudson, W. H. Birds in Town and Village. New York: E. P. Dutton 1920
• Huberman, Jeffrey H. Late Victorian Farce. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1986. Print
• Leach, Robert . Theatre Studies: The basics. 2nd edition New York: Routledge, 2013
• Mayer, David "Why Girls Leave Home": Victorian and Edwardian "Bad-Girl" Melodrama Parodied in Early Film Theatre Journal, Vol. 58, No. 4, Film and Theatre (Dec., 2006), pp. 575-593 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press http://www.jstor.org/stable/25069916
• Melford, Mark. Life in a Booth. London: Hendersons, 1913. Print
• Stephens, John Russell The Profession of the Playwright: British Theatre 1800-1900 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1992 ISBN: 9780521034432
• Whitlock, Tammy Gender, Medicine, and Consumer Culture in Victorian England: Creating the Kleptomaniac

 Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies Vol. 31, No. 3 (Autumn, 1999) , pp. 413-437Published by: The North American Conference on British Studies
 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4052958
p. 413

External Links

1. Life in a Booth http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0000360420;view=2up;seq=8
2. Filmography: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0577658/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
3. More Melford Sketches http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175035149585;view=2up;seq=4