The English Rose
first published Nov 18
by Robin Gill
The rose in question, Olga Brandon, was not English by birth. Born in Redcastle Australia in 1863, she died in London on 8th May 1906 of consumption, an illness she suffered from for ten years keeping her away from the stage for the last six. She had a good reputation as a dramatic actress especially at the Adelphi Theatre, but was equally at home in comedic roles elsewhere. At the end of her career which was dramatically cut short, she was suffering from the onset of tuberculosis. Acclaimed as a heroine to many stage heroes, she was constantly in demand in her early acting years.
The eyes have it
She was a tall beautiful woman, with a distinguished appearance and fluidity in motion, a powerful emotional actress. Renowned as “Olga of the midnight eyes” people meeting her in the street remarked “I am conscious of a huge pair of dark brown eyes long before she gets close enough to recognise whose they are”. Olga insisted she was of Russian descent, her real name was Olga Lazzarovich, and her mother was Danish. After leaving Australia, she emigrated first to China, and then America in 1875. In February 1878 when aged just fourteen, she married August Valentine Wolfenstein a photographer seventeen years her senior, but divorced after a couple of months. She married again two years later (1880) Herman Brandenstein a 25-year-old bookkeeper, who she divorced in December 1885. Her stage career began in San Francisco in 1882 where she played all sorts of parts, from burlesque to Shakespeare. She made her first East Coast stage appearance at the Madison Square Theatre New York in October 1884, and then travelled to London, where her debut was at the Olympic Theatre in January 1886.
She continued to make appearances in the theatres around London mainly in matinees, but started attracting positive comments from the critics in spite of” a pronounced American accent”. They reported that her beauty was allied with a brain, and was “likely to win a host of admirers”. Rumour had it that for ten years “she had never touched water to her face or neck, but removed dust and all impurities by careful rubbing with a piece of white velvet”.
She returned to America in 1887, touring for six months playing amongst others Ophelia in Hamlet and Miss Hardcastle in She Stoops To Conquer. Returning to London she toured the provinces and played in London. Major success came with a revival of a 50-year-old comedy called Caste where she played a pure minded and noble ballet dancer and “surpassed even her most ardent admirers’ anticipation”
Have faith in me
In May 1890 she opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in a new play “Judah” where she played a bogus faith-healer called Vashti Dethic, a part which in later life she always identified with. This performance received lavish praise from the critics “an actress of extraordinary promise”, “secures her a prominent position on the London stage”.
Leaving Judah, her next play “The English Rose” had her playing opposite another up and coming actor in the Irishman Leonard Boyne. It was during rehearsals for the production, that Boyne wrenched her arm so severely, that the surgeon who treated the injury, recommended amputation. Olga refused this dramatic suggestion, but for some weeks had to play her part in a sling. The play had a year’s run playing to a full house of 1500 with room for another 500 standing. She was back playing Vashti in January 1892 for three weeks.
She followed this with a succession of flops before playing the part of a Russian Countess in The Broken Melody at the Prince Of Wales’s theatre for 30 nights. Olga returned to the New York stage in August 1893, but found herself upstaged by Louie Fuller, a pioneering American dancer. In the end, Olga fled the stage in tears as it became apparent she was not who the audience had come to see.
Accidents will happen
Returning again to London, she found difficulty in obtaining parts she thought suitable, so she turned her hand to management gaining mixed reviews. She toured with La Tosca, but one night in Leicester, when the scene required her to throw herself off the castle ramparts she slipped and fell eight feet knocking herself out. She returned for the rest of the play’s run non- the worst for her experience.
Olga’s last performance was at the Norwich Theatre in December 1900 where she played her part “in a convincing and earnest style” but the fact that the review was in a Norfolk newspaper, and she was playing in a Norwich theatre, showed how much her star had fallen. Dying of tuberculosis almost penniless six years later, she was about to be buried in a common grave in St Pancras Cemetery when her coffin was rescued with the help of friends, and placed in a private burial site.
For some time during her stage career in London, Olga lived at Lytton Lodge on the corner of Cambridge Road and Connaught Road New Malden. A large property with seven rooms and servants, five minutes walk from the railway station with direct trains to London.
She only gave two performances locally, one in 1894 at the Assembly Rooms in Surbiton in a comedy drama that she co-produced (The Yellow Curtain), and another at the Royal County Theatre in Kingston in 1898 a one act “comedietta” (Delicate Ground). She regarded that the actor she could play best with was Leonard Boyne a young Irish performer who “acted with you” (she said), rather than acted alone.
Down on the farm
At the same time Olga was living in Cambridge Road in the 1890s, Leonard Boyne was also living locally. Firstly, in Acacia Grove, before moving to Blue House Farm a twelve-roomed property near to West Barnes Lane, now occupied by the road Barnes End. He called this his sylvan retreat, though he could still reach the Strand within an hour. The farm stood at the bottom of a leafy lane, surrounded by fields of hay and grazing cows.
Leonard was an Irishman, born in County Westmeath around 1853. He was originally destined for the army but ran away, booked a passage on a steamer to Liverpool, for a life on the boards. He was robust and always popular making his debut in Liverpool at the Theatre Royal in 1870, and his first London appearance four years later. Amongst his many parts was the lead in Romeo and Juliet, but he was more at home playing the hero in the great melodramas. He was an excellent all-round sportsman, proficient at riding, shooting and boxing.
Knock out performance
Sometimes these attributes presented unexpected hazards. In a play called “Sporting Life” Boyne playing the hero was supposed to knock out his opponent in the first round of a boxing bout. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred everything went according to plan, but, in one performance his foe had had too much to drink, and Boyne ended up knocked out nearly into the audience.
As a horseman he was an expert at riding in the confines of a stage, even when it involved skirmishes as in Richard III or Dick Turpin. He nearly lost his life when a trap door gave way sending his horse and rider down through the stage. On another occasion his horse galloped off stage caught its hooves in some scenery depositing Boyne rather heavily on the boards. Avoiding “dead” bodies on stage while riding also proved a hazardous task, as did avoiding the orchestra pit!
Luxurious mount
These were not broken-down nags he was riding. One horse Voluptuary had won the Grand National in 1884 and had run in the Derby three years earlier. He regularly appeared on the Drury Lane stage ridden by his Boyne his owner. He had to clear various fences including a mock water jump to win the race (Grand National), pursued by other horses in “The Prodigal Daughter”, which was later taken to America.
Boyne made his last appearance on the London stage in 1918 at the New Theatre. He had played at practically every theatre in the metropolis over a career lasting nearly fifty years. He died in 1920 in Barons Court.
Two actors living in Malden in the 1890s who even acted together for a short time. Different backgrounds, personalities and lifestyles, but lauded by their critics.
first published Nov 18
by Robin Gill
The rose in question, Olga Brandon, was not English by birth. Born in Redcastle Australia in 1863, she died in London on 8th May 1906 of consumption, an illness she suffered from for ten years keeping her away from the stage for the last six. She had a good reputation as a dramatic actress especially at the Adelphi Theatre, but was equally at home in comedic roles elsewhere. At the end of her career which was dramatically cut short, she was suffering from the onset of tuberculosis. Acclaimed as a heroine to many stage heroes, she was constantly in demand in her early acting years.
The eyes have it
She was a tall beautiful woman, with a distinguished appearance and fluidity in motion, a powerful emotional actress. Renowned as “Olga of the midnight eyes” people meeting her in the street remarked “I am conscious of a huge pair of dark brown eyes long before she gets close enough to recognise whose they are”. Olga insisted she was of Russian descent, her real name was Olga Lazzarovich, and her mother was Danish. After leaving Australia, she emigrated first to China, and then America in 1875. In February 1878 when aged just fourteen, she married August Valentine Wolfenstein a photographer seventeen years her senior, but divorced after a couple of months. She married again two years later (1880) Herman Brandenstein a 25-year-old bookkeeper, who she divorced in December 1885. Her stage career began in San Francisco in 1882 where she played all sorts of parts, from burlesque to Shakespeare. She made her first East Coast stage appearance at the Madison Square Theatre New York in October 1884, and then travelled to London, where her debut was at the Olympic Theatre in January 1886.
She continued to make appearances in the theatres around London mainly in matinees, but started attracting positive comments from the critics in spite of” a pronounced American accent”. They reported that her beauty was allied with a brain, and was “likely to win a host of admirers”. Rumour had it that for ten years “she had never touched water to her face or neck, but removed dust and all impurities by careful rubbing with a piece of white velvet”.
She returned to America in 1887, touring for six months playing amongst others Ophelia in Hamlet and Miss Hardcastle in She Stoops To Conquer. Returning to London she toured the provinces and played in London. Major success came with a revival of a 50-year-old comedy called Caste where she played a pure minded and noble ballet dancer and “surpassed even her most ardent admirers’ anticipation”
Have faith in me
In May 1890 she opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in a new play “Judah” where she played a bogus faith-healer called Vashti Dethic, a part which in later life she always identified with. This performance received lavish praise from the critics “an actress of extraordinary promise”, “secures her a prominent position on the London stage”.
Leaving Judah, her next play “The English Rose” had her playing opposite another up and coming actor in the Irishman Leonard Boyne. It was during rehearsals for the production, that Boyne wrenched her arm so severely, that the surgeon who treated the injury, recommended amputation. Olga refused this dramatic suggestion, but for some weeks had to play her part in a sling. The play had a year’s run playing to a full house of 1500 with room for another 500 standing. She was back playing Vashti in January 1892 for three weeks.
She followed this with a succession of flops before playing the part of a Russian Countess in The Broken Melody at the Prince Of Wales’s theatre for 30 nights. Olga returned to the New York stage in August 1893, but found herself upstaged by Louie Fuller, a pioneering American dancer. In the end, Olga fled the stage in tears as it became apparent she was not who the audience had come to see.
Accidents will happen
Returning again to London, she found difficulty in obtaining parts she thought suitable, so she turned her hand to management gaining mixed reviews. She toured with La Tosca, but one night in Leicester, when the scene required her to throw herself off the castle ramparts she slipped and fell eight feet knocking herself out. She returned for the rest of the play’s run non- the worst for her experience.
Olga’s last performance was at the Norwich Theatre in December 1900 where she played her part “in a convincing and earnest style” but the fact that the review was in a Norfolk newspaper, and she was playing in a Norwich theatre, showed how much her star had fallen. Dying of tuberculosis almost penniless six years later, she was about to be buried in a common grave in St Pancras Cemetery when her coffin was rescued with the help of friends, and placed in a private burial site.
For some time during her stage career in London, Olga lived at Lytton Lodge on the corner of Cambridge Road and Connaught Road New Malden. A large property with seven rooms and servants, five minutes walk from the railway station with direct trains to London.
She only gave two performances locally, one in 1894 at the Assembly Rooms in Surbiton in a comedy drama that she co-produced (The Yellow Curtain), and another at the Royal County Theatre in Kingston in 1898 a one act “comedietta” (Delicate Ground). She regarded that the actor she could play best with was Leonard Boyne a young Irish performer who “acted with you” (she said), rather than acted alone.
Down on the farm
At the same time Olga was living in Cambridge Road in the 1890s, Leonard Boyne was also living locally. Firstly, in Acacia Grove, before moving to Blue House Farm a twelve-roomed property near to West Barnes Lane, now occupied by the road Barnes End. He called this his sylvan retreat, though he could still reach the Strand within an hour. The farm stood at the bottom of a leafy lane, surrounded by fields of hay and grazing cows.
Leonard was an Irishman, born in County Westmeath around 1853. He was originally destined for the army but ran away, booked a passage on a steamer to Liverpool, for a life on the boards. He was robust and always popular making his debut in Liverpool at the Theatre Royal in 1870, and his first London appearance four years later. Amongst his many parts was the lead in Romeo and Juliet, but he was more at home playing the hero in the great melodramas. He was an excellent all-round sportsman, proficient at riding, shooting and boxing.
Knock out performance
Sometimes these attributes presented unexpected hazards. In a play called “Sporting Life” Boyne playing the hero was supposed to knock out his opponent in the first round of a boxing bout. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred everything went according to plan, but, in one performance his foe had had too much to drink, and Boyne ended up knocked out nearly into the audience.
As a horseman he was an expert at riding in the confines of a stage, even when it involved skirmishes as in Richard III or Dick Turpin. He nearly lost his life when a trap door gave way sending his horse and rider down through the stage. On another occasion his horse galloped off stage caught its hooves in some scenery depositing Boyne rather heavily on the boards. Avoiding “dead” bodies on stage while riding also proved a hazardous task, as did avoiding the orchestra pit!
Luxurious mount
These were not broken-down nags he was riding. One horse Voluptuary had won the Grand National in 1884 and had run in the Derby three years earlier. He regularly appeared on the Drury Lane stage ridden by his Boyne his owner. He had to clear various fences including a mock water jump to win the race (Grand National), pursued by other horses in “The Prodigal Daughter”, which was later taken to America.
Boyne made his last appearance on the London stage in 1918 at the New Theatre. He had played at practically every theatre in the metropolis over a career lasting nearly fifty years. He died in 1920 in Barons Court.
Two actors living in Malden in the 1890s who even acted together for a short time. Different backgrounds, personalities and lifestyles, but lauded by their critics.
