MuseVision

Dorothea's World

The first time I saw this unusual photo, I came under its spell. I simply had to find out more about the subject. Who was this girl with the Sgt. Peppers costume and the rapturous expression? I began web-sleuthing and, bit by bit, the results began to develop into a fascinating set of facts.

The girl in the picture was none other than Dorothea Baird, star of the British Stage at the turn of the last century. Her costume and expression were due to her posing “in character” as “Trilby”, a hypnotized young woman from Bohemian Paris, virtually held hostage by the villainous “Svengali”, from a drama based on George Du Maurier’s novel, “Trilby”. Trilby is a young Parisian grisette who works as an artist’s model. She falls in love with Billee, one of the young art students, but their romance flounders and Billee moves to England. Trilby is seduced by the hypnotist and musician, Svegali, who uses her in a lucrative and elaborate theatrical spectacular in which she, after having no special vocal skills, suddenly sings like an angel. Billee comes back to Paris and eventually rescues Trilby from the clutches of Svengali, but it is too late. Poor Trilby is at death’s door. Their fleeting reunion is bittersweet and final. Chopin’s “Impromptu in A flat” is heard at points throughout the play in order to represent Trilby’s ordeal and stretch the emotional foundation. The play became a monster hit in England and America. It’s cast, author and producers became famous and successful .Dorothea Baird was an overnight sensation at the age of 20 and would remain one of Britain’s most beloved actresses until her retirement in 1913.

It has been said that du Maurier’s “Trilby” and Henri Murger’s Scènes de la vie de Bohème were the two most important 19^th century works to explore “Bohemia”, the term used to represent the community and relationships of young artists. The Murger book was the foundation for the most lasting of any work on the subject, Puccini’s “La Boheme”. The Trilby drama also cast it’s weight on the culture of the late 90’s, influencing taste and fashion. Trilby smoked cigarettes on stage – a shocking sight in that era. Part of her costume was a hat, odd for it’s time, which came to be called the Trilby Hat. A town in Florida named all of its downtown streets after characters in the book. “Svengali” became a synonym for a ruthless deceiver. Dorothea rode the Trilby tsunami like a real star-trouper, but there was much more to this young lady and her own story is well worth reading.

Born in Teddington, England in 1875, Dorothea was the daughter of a Barrister- at- law. The family was of Scots ancestry and both parents are said to have had a great admiration for the Theatre. Dorothea’s natural interest in drama took her to Oxford University, where she performed in Shakespearean roles. The year was 1894 and she was only 19. It is said that women were still not admitted as students of the University at that time, but talented actresses were encouraged to participate in the school’s drama productions. It was at Oxford that she met her future husband, another fascinating character named Henry B. Irving.

Henry Broddrib Irving was the eldest son of one of Britain’s theatre icons, Sir Henry Irving. Sir Henry was, at that time, the only actor to ever be knighted by the Queen and was a man of immense energy and creativity. His son, Henry, was studying Law at Oxford, but had inherited his father’s dramatic gifts. Henry and Dorothea met and fell in love with each other in the rarefied atmosphere at Oxford. They married in 1896, when the Trilby phenomenon was reaching critical mass. Henry would become on of England’s most celebrated lawyers, but would not enter that field until 1914. First, he and Dorothea would produce drama for nearly two decades. They would also begin a family. During those years, they would appear together in numerous plays.

Sir Henry must have been very pleased with his new daughter-in-law, and must have recognized her sizeable talent. Though she was definitely “bonnie” in appearance, there were far deeper qualities beneath the surface. Underlying her talent was the gift of timing, a huge stage presence, and a large melodious singing voice all combined with respect for good drama and imbued with a “trouper’s” attitude. She must have had a great capacity for getting into character without losing her own personality in the process. These great professional qualities were still not the end of Dorothea’s story.

Enter one, Beerbohm Tree. Yes, that is his name. It’s interesting that a man with so fanciful a name should be such a mighty figure in the Theatre of his day. Beerbohm was, like Sir Henry, a stellar actor, and an energetic theatre promoter. He had traveled to America, where “Trilby” had first been produced and had acquired the right to produce the play in Britain. He returned home passionately committed to the Trilby production. By this time George du Maurier himself had joined him in the new enterprise. He had seen a photograph of Dorothea posing as Rosalind from “As You Like It” and had decided immediately that she should be Trilby. According to legend, he persuaded Tree of his decision, as well. Oddly enough, in the actual play, ”As You Like It”, one Orlando falls in love with Rosalind at first sight. Do you think our subjects could have contrived this Dorothea anecdote form the Shakespeare? No doubt it’s just a coincidence. At any rate, du Maurier and Tree went direct to Dorothea’s residence contract in hand. She signed. The Trilby pandemonium soon followed.

In 1896, Dorothea and Henry were married. St. Pancras was the scene of the ceremony. The couple’s first child was born in April ’97. The little boy’s name was Lawrence Henry Forster Irving. He had the distinction of becoming an author, an artist, and a fighter pilot. He was one of the handful of pilots to wear the RAF uniform in both World Wars. Dorothea and Henry rounded out their professional life by buying some property in Borstal to use as a week-end retreat whenever possible. The property included a lovely old windmill. It was a child’s delight as well as a great place for entertaining. In the years immediately after their marriage, Henry and Dorothea produced many plays together. One, in particular, that comes down to us in photos is a version of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. It had Henry in the dual lead roles and Dorothea as Mrs. Jekyll. The photos depict the players very strongly in character during moments of intense drama onstage. It gives a true feel for the players high level of skill.

Another of Dorothea’s blockbusters came in 1904, when she became “Mrs. Darling” in the original stage production of J.M. Barrie’s, “Peter Pan”. This first staging featured Nina Boucicoult as Peter It opened at Duke of York’s Theatre. Henry and Dorothea played a lot of Shakespeare during this time, too. In fact they traveled all over Britain in various productions. In 1906, the couple went on tour in America, and started out with several plays on Broadway before venturing into the states. In 1911, they sailed for Australia, where they were a considerable sensation. That same year, they made their first movie, a version of a play from their repertoire, “Princess Clementina”. The couple’s

Second child, Elizabeth, would become an actress, following her Mother’s lead. She even played “Trilby” in a 1921 remake. Eventually she would become Lady Brunner and give guidance and support to many worthwhile causes including the “Keep Britain Tidy” movement of the late fifties. Remember the scene in “A Hard Days Night” where the fab four are answering questions from the press and Paul makes the statement that he would like to “Keep Britain Tidy” – and you thought it was all just ambiguous, daffy, tongue-in-cheek sixties zaniness.

There would be one more movie in Dorothea’s life. “Motherhood” was made in 1917, well into her retirement. Dorothea wrote the screenplay and played a small part in the picture. This film was part of Dorothea’s new life in retirement in which she dedicated herself to charitable causes. What little I’ve been able to find out so far tells of her being especially involved in issues of Infant welfare and surely, “Motherhood” would have been part of that effort. Dorothea’s work, which has a Dickensian tone to it, can be found in web searches, but only the sketchy details are available. Few icons of the Theatre ever made it to the screen. To fill a huge Theatre with the essence of drama required a great energy. Some would call it over-acting, perhaps. It is quite distinct, however, from the under-acting required in traditional movie making. It probably took actors a long time to discover that fact. Also, movies seemed liked upstarts compared to Shakespeare and it’s hard to imagine Henry and Dorothea being happy with movie making.

In 1913, Dorothea began her retirement period. It seemed to many that her exit from the stage was unnecessarily early, but she had other things on her agenda and the period after The Great War would be an entirely new era in her chosen art. Her husband, Henry, died in 1919, but had realized great success in his second profession. He became known for his writing as well as his acting, having published a hugely successful book in 1918 about the law and criminality entitled “The Book of Remarkable Criminals”. In the text, Henry writes about the nature of King Claudius in “Hamlet”: The most successful, and therefore perhaps the greatest, criminal in Shakespeare is King Claudius of Denmark. His murder of his brother by pouring a deadly poison into his ear while sleeping, is so skillfully perpetrated as to leave no suspicion of foul play. But for a supernatural intervention, a contingency against which no murderer could be expected to have provided, the crime of Claudius would never have been discovered. Smiling, jovial and genial, King Claudius might have gone down to his grave in peace as the bluff hearty man of action, while his introspective nephew would in all probability have ended his days in the cloister, regarded with amiable contempt by his bustling fellowmen.

How Claudius got over the great difficulty of all poisoners, that of procuring the necessary poison without detection, we are not told; by what means he distilled the 'juice of cursed hebenon'; how the strange appearance of the late King's body, which 'an instant tetter' had barked about with 'vile and loathsome crust', was explained to the multitude we are left to imagine. There is no real evidence to show that Queen Gertrude was her lover's accomplice in her husband's murder. If that had been so, she would no doubt have been of considerable assistance to Claudius in the preparation of the crime. But in the absence of more definite proof we must assume Claudius' murder of his brother to have been a solitary achievement, skillfully carried out by one whose genial good-fellowship and convivial habits gave the lie to any suggestion of criminality. Whatever may have been his inward feelings of remorse or self-reproach, Claudius masked them successfully from the eyes of all. Hamlet's instinctive dislike of his uncle was not shared by the members of the Danish court. The 'witchcraft of his wit', his 'traitorous gifts', were powerful aids to Claudius, not only in the seduction of his sister-in-law, but the perpetration of secret murder.

Dorothea lived until 1933. There is still a lot of gaps in her story and when more pieces of the puzzle come to light, Musevision will report on them.

Labels: Dorothea Baird Trilby

# posted by DreamSpinner @ 3/19/2006 05:43:00 PM