Lily Elsie
Anything But Merry!
Discover the extraordinary life of one of Edwardian
England’s most celebrated and revered musical comedy
stars, Lily Elsie. From her childhood days in the music halls
of Salford and her rise to fame as the child singing star
“Little Elsie” (hailed by press and public as “the infant
Patti”, after the world famous opera star Adelina Patti) to
her arrival in London as a young woman with an almost
reluctant desire to conquer the West End stage, her ever-
present mother urging her to make the most of every
opportunity.

Her association with the most powerful theatre impresario
of the time, George Edwardes, the father of the musical
comedy genre, with his innovative and lavish productions at
The Gaiety and Daly’s Theatre. Her friends included Gertie
Millar, the most powerful and luminous of the “Gaiety
Girls”, as well as Zena and Phyllis Dare, Beatrice
Edwardes and Marie Lloyd.

Elsie’s rise to fame as Sonia in Lehar’s The Merry Widow
in 1907, produced by Edwardes at Daly’s Theatre, was
achieved in spite of her lack of confidence and overwhelming
stage fright that would leave her sick with nervous
exhaustion and cause the press to accuse her of being “a part
time actress” when she missed performances. In spite of this
she became the most celebrated actress of her time. Her
image would endorse everything from toothpaste to face
creams; the costumes and hats she wore for The Merry
Widow were emulated everywhere. Retiring from the stage
in 1911 to marry a handsome and wealthy husband, she
enjoyed a brief period of domestic harmony as Mrs
Bullough. But it wasn’t to last.

The early signs of the paranoid neurosis and mental health
problems which would overwhelm her in later years were
already in evidence. She mastered the art of being reclusive
long before Garbo took up the mantle. Her final years were
spent in isolation, her personality eroded by her mental
health problems. Elsie died alone in 1962, a tragic end to a
life which had promised so much. In fact her life had been
Anything But Merry from the very beginning.

            Copyright: David Slattery-Christy 2007. All rights
reserved.
"It is unthinkable to see
The Merry Widow without Lily Elsie..."
Winston Churchill
"Lily Elsie wrapped the whole of my
childhood in a haze of roses."
Cecil Beaton
Anything But Merry!
The life and times of Lily Elsie.
By David Slattery-Christy

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Lily Elsie as Alice &
Joseph Coyne as Harry
Condor in The Dollar
Princess, Daly's
Theatre, London, 1909.
Joseph Coyne who starred with Lily Elsie in
The Merry Widow and The Dollar Princess
Lily Elsie as Sonia in
The Merry Widow, 1907
Lily Elsie & Bertram
Wallis in The Count Of
Luxembourg, Daly's
Theatre, 1911.
Lily Elsie in a popular
post card image
Elsie's friend Gertie Millar
The life and times of Lily Elsie...
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Grateful thanks
to Rob Sedman,
Matthew Lloyd,
John Culme, Daniel
Creasey for their
invaluable help and
special thanks
to my friend and
editor
Lynn Nortcliff.
Paperback: £9.99 + pp
Hardback: £14.99 + pp
Reviews...
The Stage Newspaper - 8th May 2008

"It looked as though the London premiere of Franz Lehar's operetta, The Merry
Widow, was going to flop. Its producer, George Edwardes, was running out of
money and his critics damned him for choosing Lily Elsie as the star.

A fragile actress seized with stage fright, Elsie herself believed her voice was not
strong enough for the role. In the event, The Merry Widow was a roaring success,
which transformed Elsie's career. It ran for 778 performances, admirers showered
her with jewellery and she was asked to promote everything from face cream to
toothpaste. So, why is her first biography called Anything But Merry?

Firstly, the show made her ill, both physically and mentally. Secondly, men scared
her. Her marriage, which was deeply unhappy, ended in divorce. Thirdly, as time
went by, her mental health broke down completely, resulting in a dubious
operation on her brain. She became a recluse and, in 1962, she died alone.

David Slattery-Christy has researched his work diligently. He tells Lily's story clearly
and dispassionately. He has added mini-biographies about the most significant
people in her life, notes about the theatres she played and a list of the shows she
appeared in, but unfortunately no index.

His book is an important contribution to our understanding of Edwardes and the
Gaiety Girls, one of the most glittering periods of London's theatre history."
Richard Anthony Baker
The Stage Newspaper - May 2008

By K.Maxwell
(Sydney Australia) - December 2010

Lily Elsie was one of the bright stars of the Edwardian stage, and even now her
beauty is evident in the popular postcards of her which survive from this period.
Lily was the Original "Merry Widow" on the stage and it bought her unsought fame
for a play which most people considered dubious before the opening night, but
was one which made Lily's reputation. This is not a formal footnoted biography.
Instead Lilly's life is written more like a very well researched novel for the reader.
It gives a good flavor for the challenges of Lily's life and how truly unexpected her
fame was and how hard she found it to handle with both a delicate physical and
mental constitution.

Probably the saving grace of this book for most readers will be the back section
which offers mini biographies of all the main people in Lily Elsie's life and a
comprehensive biography of sources. This is not a thick book as documents for
the private life of Elsie after she left the stage are scarce but it shines a light on
lady whose postcards from the height of her fame fascinate even now. It was a life
that succeeded on the stage despite physical and mental problems that meant
she was really unsuited for it and it was one that ended in tragedy, but despite
that this is an interesting read that is not too thick in theater jargon for those
readers who don't know much about the Victorian and Edwardian theater scene.