LETTY LIND

'Letitia Elizabeth Rudge', better known as 'Letty Lind' (December 21 1861 - August 27 1923), was an English actress and dancer, best known for her work in Burlesque at the Gaiety Theatre, and in musical theatre at Daly's Theatre, in London.

Contents

Life and career

Early career

Musical comedy and later years

Notes

References

External links

Life and career

Lind was born at her parents' residence in Birmingham, England, and was christened at Saint Thomas church. Her father, Henry Rudge, was a brass founder and chandelier maker. Her mother, Elizabeth Rudge, was an actress whose career was brief and confined mostly to the Birmingham area. Lind was one of five sisters, all of whom became well known performers.

Early career

Lind first appeared on stage when she was about five years old as Eva in ''Uncle Tom’s Cabin'', then toured with entertainer and writer Howard Paul (1830 - 1905) and his wife^[1] from the age of ten. The Pauls billed her as "La Petite Letitia." Howard Paul became Lind's lover and fathered two illegitimate children by her: a girl who died in infancy (1878) and a son (Henry Horace Howard Paul Rudge, b. 1880). Lind made her first London appearance as "Letty Lind" in Howard Paul's ''Locked Out'' at the Princess's Theatre in 1879. In 1881, Lind left Paul's company. It is not clear exactly when their relationship ended, but Paul married Florence Kate Arthur in 1889.
After leaving Paul's company, Lind appeared in London and the British provinces for over twenty years in comedy, farce and pantomime. Lind's first appearance at the Gaiety Theatre was in December 1880 as a background performer in ''The Nine Days' Queen'' by Robert Buchanan. In 1882, she played at the Olympic Theatre in ''The Exiles of Erin'', and in ''Little Miss Muffet'' at the Criterion Theatre. She returned to the Gaiety in 1882 in ''A Madcap Prince''. She spent much of the next year at Her Majesty's Theatre in a revival of Jacques Offenbach's ''Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon)''. She continued to tour the UK for the next few years in ''Storm Beaten'', ''Queen of Hearts'' and ''Fun in Bristol''.
In 1887, Lind began her long and successful association with George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre with ''Monte Cristo Junior'', taking over the role of Mariette, which was created by Lottie Collins. Collins devised her own cross between skirt dancing and the Can-Can in her performance of her hit song 'Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay'. It was around this time that Lind fans began to number in the "tens of thousands" as her fame was spreading.^[2] George Edwarde's London Company spent most of 1888 and part of 1889 in Australia. Lind next played in ''Miss Esmeralda'' in the United States, ''Ruy Blas and the Blase Roue'' back in London, (1889), Mercedes in ''Carmen-up-to-Data (1890)'', and the title role in ''Cinder-Ellen Up Too Late'' (1891).
Lind became famous as a skirt dancer. Skirt dancing, popularized by Kate Vaughn, was a huge craze from the 1880s to around 1910. It fused the grace of ballet with the footwork of step-dancing, which was considered common and lacking in grace. The dance depended on the dancer's skill in manipulating up to 12 metres of fabric in the skirt of her costume. Skirt dancing's advantage over ballet was that people could do it at home, and it became popular among all social classes. Lind was able to diferentiate herself from other skirt dancers because she had the benefit of classical training that most of them did not. When she danced in America in 1888, the critics were surprised to see a dancer who did not show her legs and breasts.

Musical comedy and later years

By 1892, burlesque was losing popularity, and musical comedy was taking over the London stage. Though Lind's singing voice was limited, it was said to be pretty, and she used it to its best advantage, becoming a popular musical comedy performer.
Lind's first musical comedy roles were at the Trafalgar Square Theatre in ''Morocco Bound'' (1893 as Maude) and in ''Pick-me-up'' (1894, with George Grossmith, Jr. and Jessie Bond). After this, she re-joined George Edwardes's management to play at Daly's Theatre in a series of hit musicals: ''A Gaiety Girl'' (1894), ''Go Bang'' (1894, as Di Dalrymple), ''An Artist's Model'' (1895, as Daisy Vane), ''The Geisha'' (1896, as Molly Seamore), and ''A Greek Slave'' (1898, as Iris).
Lind also played in ''The Gay Pretender'' and ''The Girl from Kays'' (1902, as Ellen), her last performance in a West End show. After a brief break from performing, Lind returned to the stage to try her luck in the music halls. She pursued this endeavor for only a few months, at the end of which she made her final public appearance at the Gaiety Theatre to sing one of her first hits, "Listen to my tale of woe." It was part of a show the last night of the Old Gaiety, which was demolished soon afterwards. She retired from performing at the age of 41. Lind spent her last years in Slough, living a peaceful life on the farm.^[3]
Lind was the best known of the five Rudge Sisters, one of whom, Adelaide Astor, was married to George Grossmith, Jr.. Besides her son with Howard Paul, she had another son, John R. H. Rudge (b. 1892), whose father was acknowledged to be the third Earl of Durham. It is not clear when her relationship with Durham began, but it is clear that it continued throughout her life. Lord Durham wanted to marry Lind, but was unable to do so because of the divorce laws. His wife had been in an insane asylum for years, and he was unable to break his marital ties to her.^[4]
Lind died at her residence at Brookside, Salthill, Slough, England. Her obituary from ''The Times'' said, "She was very pretty; she was very graceful; there was something appealing about her which might almost be called childish. She had a queer and very attractive little croak in her voice, and an elementary, little-girlish way of saying things which made them peculiarly engaging, and caused her saying of them to stick in the memory with a permanence which their wit or point might by no means justify. Add to this the enchanting lissomeness and beauty of all such movements as she was mistress of, and a stage personality (as we call it) which was like no one else’s, and there is more than justification for the glow which the remembrance of her performances kindles."[1] Lind's funeral took place at St. Mary's Church, Slough, on Friday, 31 August 1923.

Notes

1. Mrs. Howard Paul, nee Isabella Featherstone (1833 - 1879), left Paul about 1877 but continued to perform under the name Mrs. Howard Paul. She later appeared in Gilbert and Sullivan's ''The Sorcerer''.
2. W. Macqueen-Pope, ''Gaiety, Theatre of Enchantment'', W.H. Allen, 1949, p. 254
3. O'Connor, T. P., MP, "Personal Recollections" in ''The Daily Telegraph'', August 28, 1923.
4. Hollander, Bertie, ''Before I Forget''. Grayson & Grayson, London, 1935, p. 11.

References

★ Cruickshank, Graeme. "The Life and Loves of Letty Lind" in ''The Gaiety'', Issue 22, Summer 2007

★ Lind's obituary

★ 1887 review of Lind in a pantomime

★ Information about Lind

★ Profile of Lind

★ Source claiming that Lind was born in 1861, not 1862

External links

★ Photos and reviews of Lind in ''Go Bang''

★ 1890 review of Lind in ''The Bride of Love'']

★ Information about skirt dancing and Lind

★ Includes a Midi File of a song composed by Lind