Author’s Note
331 Words
Author’s NoteMusical Comedy, which succeeded the old Burlesque, opened at the Gaiety Theatre in 1894.
George Edwardes, who was an acknowledged genius of the Theatre, had taken great care over the production of The Shop Girl, which was different from anything that had been seen previously.
First Nighters flocking to the Gaiety saw a glittering and exciting show.
They were astounded by the exquisite taste in decor and costumes and they were entranced by the Gaiety Girls who were the perfection of femininity.
The word ‘Girl’ was in the title and the idea of Girl dominated the show.
George Edwardes gloried in femininity and he made his Girls acceptable to both men and women alike. He believed above all things in the attraction of the word ‘Girl’.
He put the word in his titles whenever he could and it proved to be a winning decision.
From 1894 to 1914 was the Gaiety Girl period.
They married into the Peerage and were as successful there as they had been on the stage.
I knew well Rosie Boote, who became the charming Marchioness of Headfort, and Denise Orme, who married two Dukes and who was exceedingly beautiful and alluringly feminine right up to her death.
The Shop Girl ran at the Gaiety for 546 performances, setting up a new record at the time.
It was followed by My Girl with Ellaline Terriss who was now the Gaiety’s leading lady, but it was not the success of The Runaway Girl which followed it and ran for 593 performances.
There would never again be the same excitement over showgirls as there was over the Gaiety Girls.
To the young men of London Society they were the dream of their hearts, and it was each one’s ambition to take them out to supper.
There has been nothing like it before or since.
The Gaiety Stage-Door was the Gateway to Romance, but when women became what they called ‘emancipated’ they lost the glamour, the glitter and the adoration which the Gaiety Girls personified.
- Writer
