Gabrielle Ray – Holland Park Rink – The Daily Mirror – Monday 29th January 1912
HOLLAND PARK RINK.
Great Popular Carnival.
WEDNESDAY NEXT, 9 p.m. to 2.30 a.m.
Admission, 2s. 6d.; Skating, 1s.
Prizes for: Ladies Three Prettiest Costumes; Ladies, Three Most Original Costumes; Gentlemen, Three Most Effective Costumes.
Judges:-
Miss Gertie Millar. Miss Jessie Bateman. Miss Grace Lane. Miss Florence Smithson, Miss Gabrielle Ray, Miss Olive May. Miss Millie Legarde. Mr. Edward Royce. Mr. Alfred Lester. Mr. George Grossmith.
Mlle. Maria Carmi, Miss Constance Dreyer. Miss Phyllis Dare. Miss Clara Evelyn. Miss Ethel Dane. Miss Blanche Stocker. Mr. Kenneth Douglas. Mr. George Graves. Mr. Joseph Coyne.
Daily Sessions at 3 and 8. Admission, 1s; Skating, 1s
The Daily Mirror – Monday 29th January 1912
Gabrielle Ray – Bichara – Ritzol Preparations – The Daily Mirror – Wednesday 11th October 1911
MISS GABRIELLE RAY, the famous Gaiety actress, who writes of the Bichara and Ritzol Preparations: “I want to tell you that I think your preparations and perfumes are simply delightful, and that I use them with pleasure.”
Photo. by Fousham and Banfield
Miss Gabrielle Ray’s enthusiasm is shared by leading English and French actresses everywhere. Miss Ellaline Terriss, Miss Irene Vanbrugh, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Miss Constance Dreyer, Miss Ethel Irving, Miss Elsie Spain, Mlle. Gaby Deslys, Mlle. Polaire, Mlle. Sahary Djeli, and countless others vie with one another in praise of “the delightful Bichara-Ritzol Preparations,” and the reason of this is not far to seek.
It is because the Bichara-Ritzol preparations are, first and foremost, prepared by sound scientific methods; possessing an added daintiness that is essentially Parisian. The Bichara-Ritzol preparations afford a certain means of preserving and enhancing beauty. They are based on a profound knowledge of the skin and the phenomena of the complexion; they are eminently pure, and leading medical men speak in high praise of their hygienic properties. They promote beauty by scientific methods -methods already famous all over the Continent, where the cult of beauty is a recognised profession demanding thorough qualifications – which, until but lately, were unknown in this country.
Mme. Rai, the Manageress of the Bichara Institute, in Piccadilly, is just now making an offer which, throughout Europe, is without parallel in the history of beauty culture. Her experience has been long and comprehensive, and she is convinced that the only certain way of affording to all women a full realisation of the beneficient qualities of the Bichara-Ritzol Preparations is that they should make a personal trial. To this end she offers a complete outfit of the Bichara-Ritzol Preparations and Specialities, in sufficient quantity, for a week’s full treatment
FREE TO ALL
who fill in the attached coupon and forward it to her – the only stipulation being that a P.O. for sixpence should be enclosed as evidence of good faith, which amount may be deducted from the cost of the first purchases. The preparations are contained in a dainty casket, accompanied by a copy of “The Golden Key,” Madame Rai’s invaluable treatise; and a personal letter of advice, the whole being enclosed in a plain, sealed box.
The Casket includes: Ritzol Skin Food, a preparation for use at night, whose emollient qualities obviate blemishes and restore to the face youthful roundness; Lait Veloute, Ritzol Cream, Ritzol Poudre – for the day toilet, the Veloute and Cream to give velvety freshness to the complexion, the powder adding a smooth sheen; Ritzol Concentrated Floral Perfume, a perennial scent; Ritzol Tooth Powder, giving pearly whiteness to the teeth and firmness to the gums.
The Daily Mirror – Wednesday 11th October 1911
Gabrielle Ray – Ritzol Preparations -The Daily Mirror – Thursday 27th November 1913
There is still time to obtain one of these trial outfits of the wonderful Ritzol Preparations.
So successful was the last distribution, that Bichara de Paris decided to renew the offer, and set aside a further 10,000 outfits for the purpose. These preparations are used and recommended by famous’ actresses and Society leaders everywhere, including Miss Ellaline Terriss, Miss Constance Dreyer, Miss Elsie Spain, Miss Ethel Irving, Miss Gabrielle Ray, &c., &c.
Less than 4,000 Outfits now remain, and those readers who wish to participate in the distribution should at once apply.
Each Outfit is sent in a plain sealed box, carriage paid, and contains a full week’s supply of Ritzol Skin Food for the night toilet to nourish the skin, Ritzol Cream, Lait Veloute, Poudre Ritzol, for the day toilet, cleansing the skin thoroughly and giving it perfect whiteness and a delicate sheen, Ritzol Antiseptic Tooth Powder, Ritzol Concentrated Floral Perfume, a perennial scent, and a copy of the book “ Beauty-its Quest and Conquest.”
Every woman should be interested in a treatment which enables the complexion to retain and enhance its beauty. Bichara de Paris offer
FREE ADVICE.
A Confidential Enquiry Form is sent with each Outfit, and if you return it filled in, a simple inexpensive treatment suited to your individual needs is prescribed free of charge.
Send your name and address and a P.O. 6d. to-day.
BICHARA DE PARIS,
61, Egyptian House,
170-173, Piccadilly,London,W
Opposite. Burlington Arcade.
Daily Mirror – Thursday 27th November 1913
Gabrielle Ray – The Daily Mirror – Friday 29th September 1911
FOR THE FRENCH SUFFERERS.
Remarkable Support for Madame Rejane’s Liberte Matinee at the Hippodrome.
The list of artists who have expressed their intention of helping Mme. Rejane at the Hippodrome matinee increases hourly.
The following was the complete list at a late hour last night:-
Sir Herbert Tree, Joseph Coyne, Charles Hawtrey, Auguste Van Biene, Cyril Maude, Marie Tempest, Sir John Hare, Lena Ashwell, Granville Barker, Violet Vanbrugh, C. H. Workman, Irene Vanbrugh, Oscar Asche, Lily Elsie, Sir George Alexander, Phyllis Dare, Dion Boucicault, Adeline Genee, Gerald Du Maurier, Gertie Millar, Robert Loraine, Kate Cutler, George Grossmith, Iris Hoey, Arthur Bourchier, Margaret Cooper, W. H. Berry, Florence Smithson, Huntley Wright, Olive May, Alfred Lester, Cecilia Loftus, George Graves, Gabrielle Ray, Albert Chevalier, Connie Ediss, Harry Tate, Clara Evelyn, Arthur Prince, Evie Green.
Many others express themselves as “delighted to give my assistance in any way you may decide.” The booking is so heavy that there is a great possibility of the prices being raised and even doubled. One hundred and fifty pounds worth of seats was booked in an hour yesterday.
Lavish schemes of decoration are being put in hand. The souvenir programme should be unique – a thing of originality and artistic worth.
Signor Leoncavallo has not yet divulged his secret for the performance, but The Daily Mirror learned yesterday that lie had decided to conduct the music from the third act of “Zaza,” his new opera which has not yet been heard in England.
The Daily Mirror – Friday 29th September 1911
Gabrielle Ray – The Dollar Princess – The Daily Mirror – Monday 27th September 1909
“THE MERRY WIDOW’S” SUCCESSOR.
£20,000 Worth of Seats Booked for “The Dollar Princess.”
£10,000 PLAY.
“The Dollar Princess” promises to rival even “The Merry Widow,” its famous predecessor, in popularity.
It cost £lO,OOO to mount, but £20,000 worth of seats were booked before the curtain went up on Saturday night at Daly’s, and its first performance was a triumphant success.
Nor is this very wonderful. The music was pretty, and of a high class, too; the acting was a long, long way above the ordinary run of musical comedy; the comic element was there, and not forced; the dresses were charming, and the scenery beautiful.
Mr. Edwardes has produced a piece which ought to rim comfortably into its second year.
The plot of the play is simple and hangs on the “almighty” dollar. All the servants at the establishment of Harry Conder, the multi-millionaire, are ruined members of the English aristocracy.
FASCINATING COUNTESS
Conder – Mr. Joseph Coyne – engages as housekeeper the Countess Olga (Miss Emmy Wehlen), formerly a lion-tamer. He falls in love with her, and, in spite of all his friends and family can, say and do, insists on marrying her.
Miss Wehlen scored a hit the first moment she appeared, and she never lost her grip on the audience. Her fascination is something quite out of the ordinary, and Miss Wehlen, besides having a fine voice, is a clever and extremely natural actress. Daisy (Miss Gabrielle Ray), Conder’s cousin, picks out John Earl of Quorn for a husband and marries him on the understanding that there is to be no silly love-making.
When he leaves her, however, she naturally follows him and all is well. Miss Gabrielle Ray and Basil Foster make a fine pair, and play to each other splendidly. Alice – Miss Lily Elsie – Conder’s sister, falls in love with Freddie Fairfax, the only untitled Englishman of the lot. Alice proposes quite calmly to marry Fairfax, but the latter has some pride left and declines. In the last act we find him a millionaire, having literally struck oil. Alice pretends to have lost all her money, and applies to Fairfax for the post of secretary at ten dollars a month, which was what Fairfax had as her secretary.
Then, of course, all is merry and bright, and the curtain comes down with the pair in each other’s arms.
Miss Lily Elsie scored the greatest success of her life on Saturday night. Her voice, always good, has improved immensely, and her acting is very dainty and polished. Mr. Robert Michaelis also had a great success.
Mr. Joseph Coyne played Harry Conder to the life. Mr. Evelyn Beerbohm was a perfect sketch of an absent-minded dandy; and W. H. Berry was really funny, and, without trying to force the part, kept the house laughing all the time he was on.
The Daily Mirror – Monday 27th September 1909
Twenty Million Picture Postcards – The Daily Mirror – Monday 20th February 1905
TWENTY MILLION PICTURE POSTCARDS.
Boy’s Enterprise Creates a Huge and Still Increasing Business.
Twenty million post-cards in twenty thousand boxes! A thousand post-cards in each box!
That is the stock of a single firm engaged in supplying that large section of the community which collects picture post-cards, and which multiplies by leaps and bounds, not only throughout the country, but throughout the world.
That firm is known as the Wrench Post-Cards, Limited, and it owes its origin to the enterprise of one who was little more than a schoolboy at the time he began the business.
Four years ago Mr. Wrench took a little room in the Haymarket, and with fifty designs and an assistant or two he began operations. In a very short time the headquarters of the Wrench Postcards will occupy a building with close on ten thousand superficial feet of space.
Not less striking is the way in which the fifty original designs have multiplied, for to-day there are altogether fifteen thousand separate and distinct subjects issued by the firm.
Of each of these designs an edition of five thousand cards is usually printed to start with, but it may be reprinted four, five, or even ten times to meet the popular demand. That demand at present is largely in the direction of pretty actresses.
At the head of the list at the moment is Miss Gabrielle Ray, of the Gaiety Theatre. Scarcely less popular is pretty Miss Marie Studholme, the dozen designs of whom have sold to the tune of about twenty thousand postcards.
On the other hand, few men enjoy any great postcard popularity. When a political agitation is on, and he is making one of his great speeches, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain is inquired for, while certain actors, like Mr. George Alexander, Mr. Cyril Maude, and Lewis Waller, enjoy a steady, if small, demand.
Views, however, especially coloured views, never seem to weary the collector, and in the course of a short time reproductions of landscapes which have been painted in oil will be offered to the public.
The Daily Mirror – Monday 20th February 1905
Fred Walmsley – Little Red Riding Hood – The Daily Mirror – Thursday 17th January 1935
Panto Stars – Fred Walmsley
In Blackpool, during the summer, Fred Walmsley is an institution. For twenty-three years he has appeared on the pier, and in 1914 Sydney Howard was a member of his company. And Fred is just as much a stalwart in pantomime, as Bradford is agreeing. He is playing Baron Badlotte in “Red Riding Hood” at the Alhambra. This is his twenty-third pantomime. He was at the Palace, Manchester, when Fay Compton made her pantomime debut as Dick Whittington, and he also was in the pantomime at which the famous Gabrielle Ray made a triumphant stage come-back in 1917-18.
Not So Hot!
His favourite pantomime story concerns his early days. It was at a dress rehearsal of “Red Riding Hood.” Artificial “snow” was falling on the stage, the scene being the woods in winter. Red Riding Hood entered and complained how bitterly cold it was, and immediately the Principal Boy followed with a scantily dressed chorus, and sang “In Sunny Havana”! None of Fred’s protests could convince the producer that there was anything amiss in this scene!
The Daily Mirror – Thursday 17th January 1935
Gabriele Ray – Mother Goose – The Daily Mirror – Tuesday 26th October 1920
Manchester’s Sunshine Ray.
Miss Gabrielle Ray, I hear, has been engaged for this winter’s pantomime at the Palace Theatre, Manchester – Cottonopolis’ gain, London’s loss. Her first “panto” appearance was as Cupid in “Little Red Riding Hood” at the Richmond Theatre, shortly after she had made her debut at the Princess’ as Geraldine in the “Green ‘Bushes.”
The Daily Mirror – Tuesday 26th October 1920
About
One of my main interests is a love of old pictures and postcards that give us a brief glimpse into a past and often forgotten age.
Collecting old postcard and pictures enables the viewer to glimpse a brief moment from that individual’s life; often far removed from their own either by the passage of time or social class. Social History, often described as “history from below” shows everyday people, their social structure and the interaction of different groups; like the wealthy and politicians these people helped shape and maintain society and so shape history.
Examining the images one can’t help but wonder how the individuals lived, were their lives hard compared with today and were they happy. Often the images come with little or no information that can answer these questions, one can only imagine.
With each image saved and seen by others, so that moment, that person is kept alive, our understanding is increased and so our lives are enriched.
A picture is often more descriptive than words can ever be, but how true is this, if a picture enables us to gain entry to another time, another world, will, like the view from a different window, even in the same house provide a different image?
These images allow a glimpse into another time, another era; but what preceded or followed this image? As the individuals were positioned and posed like an artist’s model is what we see truly reflective or like the slightly softened image of an aging beauty a less that truthful representation?
I am reminded of a documentary I watched several years ago regarding the returning troops from the front during the First World War. The camera images show a broken, demoralised sea of humanity, young men who having seen images that most of us hope never to witness had lost that sparkle; that zest which only youth has. But bring on the news camera and that battered returning group came to life, the smiles returned and even though muddied and bloodied their heads and bodies became erect, their arms swung in time and they demonstrated a swagger that spoke of courage, defiance and determination; an image that gave hope to the viewer.
It seems to me that even in the early days of photography all was not what it appeared and now in the advancing digital age a picture may paint a thousand words but will it be factual or fiction?
My interests And collections vary from Maids, Nuns, religious dress and the more risqué images of the French Maid. Often when searching for a particular subject the boundaries cross and as well as true Maids we find Edwardian actresses dressed as Nuns or Maids. During one of my searches I came across Gabrielle Ray dressed as a Maid, “Susan” in Lady Madcap and was instantly captivated by her.
Collecting the individual cards isn’t enough; I like to know more about the individual, which is easier when that person is an actress, although often the information is scarce
Searching for information about Miss Ray I discovered that she was one of the most photographed women of the Edwardian era and described in “Temps” as the most beautiful woman in the United Kingdom; but sadly her success, if measured by being visibly working or in the public eye was short-lived. She struggled with depression and alcohol abuse, and her health declined. In 1936, she suffered a complete mental breakdown and was institutionalized for nearly forty years; dying in 1973 at Holloway Sanatorium at the age of 90.
There are several other sites and blogs dedicated to the memory of Miss Ray and my intention is to share my small but growing collection of pictures and postcards with anyone who shares my interest. Reading about Miss Ray I was saddened that this lady, like many others before and since, after a brief moment in the sun they are soon forgotten. Hopefully as people view and enjoy this blog her memory will remain alive for a little longer.
I have started to write a short Biography about Miss Ray which I will try to update as frequently as possible. The Index page will show any updates under the Biography catagory.
I have also tried to link the various postcards and pictures to the plays in which Miss Ray appeared, however I realise, after several errors that this isn’t an easy task as many are decorative studio poses rather than production images. The individual Rotary, Philco and other publishers numbers are included with any description which should make searching for a particular card or ones from the same set easier. If I have made any glaring errors please feel free to let me know.
Thank you and I hope you enjoy my collection as much as I do.
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