Violet Melnotte (2 May 1855 – 17 September 1935), was a British stage performer,actress-manager and theatre owner of the late 19th century and early 20th century. She was the wife ofGilbert and Sullivan performerFrank Wyatt, whom she met when they both appeared in the hit operettaErminie.
Melnotte performed incomic opera and pantomime in London and the British provinces for eight years before venturing into theatre management in 1885. After this, she continued to perform while managing severalWest End theatres. She and her husband built theDuke of York's Theatre in 1892, and she owned the theatre for four decades. In 1910 she built theDuke of York's Picture House inBrighton, a state-of-the-art facility.
Born inBirmingham in 1855 asEmma Solomon, the daughter of Henry Solomon (born 1831), a general dealer, and later a traveller in jewellery, and his wife Ellen (née Coley), in 1872 she married Thomas Hopkins in Birmingham and had a daughter, Ellen 'Nellie' (born c. 1876).
Melnotte made her professional debut in apantomime at the Theatre Royal inHull in the mid-1870s. She made her London debut in October 1876 as Fezz inBluebeard at theFolly Theatre. In early 1877 Melnotte appeared as a Tittlebat-fisher inRichard D'Oyly Carte's operettaHappy Hampstead at theRoyalty Theatre.[1]
She performed incomic opera and pantomime in London and the British provinces for eight years before venturing into theatre management with theAvenue Theatre in 1885.[2] She was manager of theComedy Theatre when her Miss Violet Melnotte's Comic Opera Company launched the original British production ofEdward Jakobowski'scomic operaErminie (1885), which went on to become an international sensation.[3] Melnotte played the role of Cerise Marcel in the production.
In 1886 she secured the British rights toIvan Caryll's first theatre piece,Lily of Léoville, which she also presented at the Comedy Theatre and appeared in as Turlurette. In the same year she married the futureD'Oyly Carte Opera Company actorFrank Wyatt.[1]
Melnotte managedToole's Theatre and produced plays at theRoyalty Theatre, while at the same time she and Wyatt were building theDuke of York's Theatre in London. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, withWedding Eve, and Melnotte retained ownership of this theatre until her death in 1935, with the exception of a five-year gap from 1928 to 1933. The theatre became known as the Trafalgar Theatre in 1894 and the following year became the Duke of York's to honour the futureKing George V.[1]
In 1910 she built theDuke of York's Picture House inBrighton, at a cost of £3000; it boasted all the latest amenities and comforts. In April 1918 she sold the cinema to Jack Channon, the director of Sussex Picturedromes Ltd. With Wyatt she had a son, Nevill Francis Gunning Wyatt (1890–1933),[4] and a daughter, Rita Dagmar Wyatt (born 1891).
In 1934, aged 79, she was briefly engaged to the 31-year-old Archibald Patrick Moore, the general manager at theDuke of York's Theatre.[5] There was such a public outcry over the difference in their ages she considered adopting him instead so that he could inherit the theatre on her death, all her children having predeceased her. Eventually, neither marriage nor adoption went ahead.[2][6]
In her final years, Melnotte lived at thePiccadilly Hotel in London and theHotel Metropole inBrighton.[7] She died in London in 1935 aged 80.