May Leslie Stuart

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May Leslie Stuart
Head and shoulders of a woman with dark hair, wearing a draped dress and flat hat
May Leslie Stuart, photographed by Lallie Charles (c. 1910)
Born
Mary Catherine Barrett

January 1887
Salford, Lancashire, England
Died20 June 1956 (aged 69)
Richmond, London, England
Occupation(s)Actress, singer
Spouses
Cecil Cameron
​
​
(m. 1911; div. 1916)​
James Mayhew Balls
​
(m. 1917)​
ChildrenFour

May Leslie Stuart (born Mary Catherine Barrett, January 1887[1] – 20 June 1956) was an English actress and singer in operetta and Edwardian musical comedy from 1909 to 1915. She also sang on the music hall circuit, performing with her father, the composer Leslie Stuart.

Early life[edit]

Stuart was born in Salford, Lancashire (now in Greater Manchester),[1] the elder daughter of the composer Leslie Stuart (born Thomas Augustine Barrett) and his wife, Katherine Mary, née Fox.[2][3][n 1] Her father's song "Sweetheart May" was written about Stuart when she was a girl.[2]

Head and shoulders of a woman with long dark hair, wearing a draped costume and an ivy wreath in her hair
Stuart, photographed by Lallie Charles, from a 1906 publication

Career[edit]

Stuart acted and sang on the London stage, with roles in Pinkie and the Fairies (as "Beauty", 1909),[5] Sunlight and Shadow (1910),[6] The Slim Princess (1910),[7] The Count of Luxembourg (1911), The Hope (1911), The Crown of India (as "Delhi", 1912),[8][n 2] an adaptation of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1913),[6] The Girl Next Door (1915),[10] Florodora (as "Lady Holyrood" in the 1915 revival)[11][12] and The Case of Lady Camber (title role, 1915).[13] A reviewer mentioned her "brilliant" acting in creating the role of Lady Camber as a highlight of the last work.[14]

Stuart appeared in one British silent film, The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1916), in the role of Lady Orreyd.[15] She appeared on the music hall stage[16] and made some recordings as a singer in 1915, in both settings accompanied by her father on piano, and singing his songs.[17][18]

In 1910 she was the subject of a photograph in Lallie Charles's exhibit, "Five Hundred Fair Women".[19] After her father's death, she formed and conducted a small touring orchestra to present his works.[20] Her obituaries in Variety and The Stage record that she and her husband were involved in theatrical production after her father's death.[21][22] Later in life she wrote radio scripts and was an on-air presenter for the BBC.[2][23][24]

Personal life[edit]

In 1911 she married a fellow actor, Cecil Cameron, son of the actress Violet Cameron.[25] They divorced in 1916.[26] She married again in 1917, to James Mayhew Balls, an auctioneer. There was some opposition from Stuart's family to the second marriage on the grounds that Balls was five years her junior and a Protestant, whereas the Stuarts were staunchly Roman Catholic. Stuart's pregnancy with the first of the couple's four children effectively ended the family's opposition.[27][n 3] In her last years Stuart lived in Twickenham, a London suburb; she died in 1956, in Richmond, London.[22]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Her younger sister Constance ("Lola") married an American banker and, while living in Maine, taught a young George H. W. Bush to play tennis.[4]
  2. ^ This was a masque, with music by Edward Elgar, marking the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to India, for their coronation as Emperor and Empress of India.[9]
  3. ^ In 1923 the family, which by then included four children, changed its surname name by deed poll from Balls to Mayhew.[28]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b General Record Office Births, Year 1887, Quarter 1, District – Salford, vol. 8D, p. 19
  2. ^ a b c Lamb, pp. 29, 36, 56–58
  3. ^ "Miss May Leslie Stuart, daughter of Mr. Leslie Stuart". The Sketch. 56: 58. 24 October 1906.
  4. ^ "Lola Stuart-Hine". Tampa Bay Times. 7 October 1988. p. 33. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Pinkie and the Fairies". The Observer. 19 December 1909. p. 6. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b Wearing, J. P. (2013). The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810893009.
  7. ^ Bull, George (6 March 1910). "Will Appear in Father's Play in America". Detroit Free Press. p. 52. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Untitled item". The Observer. 10 March 1912. p. 7. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.; The Stage year book. Robarts – University of Toronto. London Carson & Comerford. 1913. p. 140 – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link); and "Sir Edward Elgar's Masque". The Guardian. 12 March 1912. p. 14. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Reed, W. H. (1946). Elgar. London: Dent. p. 107. OCLC 8858707.
  10. ^ The Stage Year Book. Robarts - University of Toronto. London Carson & Comerford. 1916. pp. 97.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ "Theatre Heritage Australia - Florodora". theatreheritage.org.au. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  12. ^ "Florodora Reviva". The Observer. 21 February 1915. p. 11. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Savoy Show Finally On". Variety: 4. October 1915 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ "Well-Made Tragedy". The Guardian. 18 October 1915. p. 8. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Picture Theatres". Sheffield Independent. 7 June 1916. p. 4.
  16. ^ "British Composer, Leslie Stuart, Dies". The New York Times. 28 March 1928. p. 27 – via ProQuest.
  17. ^ "Florodora". Library of Congress. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  18. ^ "Musical Comedy Composer Dies". The Daily Colonist. 8 April 1928. p. 36. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ "Miss May Leslie Stuart, in the Exhibition of 'Five Hundred Fair Women'", The Playgoer and Society Illustrated (1910): 224.
  20. ^ "Sings Father's Songs". The Daily Herald. 13 March 1937. p. 13.
  21. ^ "May Leslie-Stuart". Variety. 27 June 1956. p. 63. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via Internet Archive.
  22. ^ a b "Death of May Leslie-Stuart". The Stage. 28 June 1956. p. 5.
  23. ^ "The Life of Leslie Stuart". The Radio Times. No. 1411. 24 November 1950. p. 18. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  24. ^ "A Leslie Stuart Programme". The Radio Times. No. 331. 31 March 1930. p. 48. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  25. ^ "A Drury Lane Romance". The Guardian. 7 October 1911. p. 8. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via Newspapers.com.; and Who's who in the Theatre. Pitman. 1922. pp. 1002. May Leslie Stuart.
  26. ^ "Cecil Cameron Divorced". Variety. 14 July 1916. p. 4. Retrieved 22 May 2019 – via Internet Archive.
  27. ^ Lamb, pp. 253–255
  28. ^ Lamb, p. 255

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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