Ada Reeve | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Adelaide Mary Reeves (1874-03-03)3 March 1874 London, England |
| Died | 5 October 1966(1966-10-05) (aged 92) London, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1878–1957 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingGoodie Reeve |
Ada Reeve (bornAdelaide Mary Reeves, 3 March 1874 – 5 October 1966) was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform inpantomime andmusic hall as a child. She gained fame inEdwardian musical comedies in the 1890s.
Reeve found considerable success on tour in Australia, South Africa, America and other places in pantomime, variety and vaudeville in the new century. At the age of 70 she began a film career, which she pursued for over a dozen years.
Adelaide Mary Reeves was born in London on 3 March 1874. Her father was Samuel Isaacs, an actor who changed his name to Charles Reeves, and her mother was Harriet Reeves (née Seaman), a dancer. She was of Jewish descent.[1][2] She made her first appearance on the stage at the age of four in thepantomimeRed Riding Hood onBoxing Day 1878 at thePavilion Theatre, Whitechapel and continued to play in pantomimes. As a young child, she toured for several years with the Frederick Wright Dramatic Company, performing with the youngHuntley Wright and his family. Her first role with them was "Little Willie" inEast Lynne.[3][4] A series of pantomime and dramatic roles followed, many at the Pavilion. The touring company the family worked for went bankrupt in 1888 and the large family was reduced to singing on the beach to keep the family fed.[5] When she was 14 years old, Reeve's father's health failed, and she was left to support her family, so she began working as amusic hall performer, finding immediate success.[3] As a child, she performed under the name "Little Ada Reeves", but she shortened her surname to Reeve by 1886.[citation needed]
"She Was a Clergyman's Daughter" (see illustration) was a seemingly innocent, but actually risqué music hall song about a clergyman's daughter who was not as naive or charitable as she would have you imagine. Reeve performed the song in a demure costume of a flounced dress and bonnet, letting the audience in on the racyinnuendos of the song through knowing winks and gestures. She continued to perform in pantomimes, being promoted toprincipal boy in 1891 inThe Old Bogie of the Sea at the Britannia Theatre and playing the title role inAladdin at the Prince of Wales's Theatre,Birmingham, in 1892, where she sang her hit song "What Do I Care?" In 1893, she played Bo-Peep inBo-Peep and Bonnie Boy Blue at the same theatre.[4]
Reeve married actor Bert Gilbert (Joseph Gilbert Hazlewood) in 1894, and returned to starring in provincial pantomimes and touring as Haidee inDon Juan. She soon became known for her role in one ofGeorge Edwardes' earliestmusical comedies at theGaiety Theatre, starring as Bessie Brent, the title role inThe Shop Girl (1894) oppositeSeymour Hicks. She was pregnant, however, and had to be replaced in the role by Hicks' wife,Ellaline Terriss. She returned inAll Abroad at theCriterion Theatre (1895), and as the title character inThe Gay Parisienne at theDuke of York's Theatre (1896). She and her husband then toured Australia in 1897 withJ. C. Williamson in 1897–98. She starred as Robin Hood and later Maid Marion in Williamson's pantomimeBabes in the Wood, drawing popular and critical praise.[4] However, the marriage with Gilbert had turned sour, with Reeve claiming extreme cruelty and petitioning for divorce while still in Australia. On the return sea journey to Britain, Reeve was forced to appeal to the captain of the ship for protection from him.[6] Once in England, the couple separated, and the divorce was finalised in 1900. Ada settled in London with her two daughters, Bessie Adelaide Hazlewood (b. 28 March 1895 in Wolverhampton) andLillian Mary "Goodie" Hazlewood (b. Jan 1897 in London).[citation needed]
Still in 1898, Reeve played the role of "Madame Celeste" inMilord, Sir Smith, followed by the role of Cleopatra inThe Great Caesar in 1899. Later that year, she created the role of Lady Holyrood in the musical comedyFlorodora at theLyric Theatre. She reprised her role as principal boy inAladdin at thePrince's Theatre,Bristol, over Christmas 1899–1900. In 1900–01, she again toured Australia, returning to Britain to tour inFlorodora. Reeve joined the cast of the hit musicalSan Toy, in 1901, playing Dudley and later taking over the title role fromMarie Tempest. The music was transcribed down for Reeve's lower voice.[7] Late in the year, she succeededEvie Greene in the title role of "Kitty Grey", followed by Ada Branscombe inThree Little Maids, in 1902.[8] In between these engagements, she continued to play in pantomime, which she enjoyed very much, often as Aladdin.[4]
Reeve remarried in 1902 to Wilfred Cotton, a manager and actor who was the uncle ofLily Elsie. That year, she leased the Eden Theatre, Brighton, on behalf of her new husband. However, she caught typhoid fever on a trip to Germany and consequently was too ill to perform that Christmas. Under her husband's management, in 1903, she played Miss Ventnor inThe Medal and the Maid. Next, in 1904, she co-produced with her husband, and played the title role in, the playWinnie Brooke, Widow. In 1905, she played the title role inThe Adventures of Moll on tour and appeared in Birmingham again as Aladdin in the Christmas pantomime. In 1906, Reeve touredSouth Africa with her husband, becoming very popular. Back in England, she appeared at the Tivoli and Empire theatres and on tour and, in 1908, played Rhodanthe in the musicalButterflies at theApollo Theatre, which she produced.[3] In 1909, they toured South Africa again and then touredButterflies in Britain. She played the title role in the 'Christmas 1908 and 1909 pantomimes ofJack and the Beanstalk, withGeorge Robey as her stage mother.[4]
Over the following years, Reeve played invariety in England and enjoyed extensive and lucrative foreign tours, including South Africa and the U.S. in 1911, South Africa in 1913, Australia in 1914, Australia and South Africa in 1917–1918 (including a return engagement at the Tivoli in Melbourne inYou're in Love), South Africa in 1920, Australia and New Zealand from 1922 to 1924 (again often inAladdin with the Williamson company), and in 1926 and 1929, the last time playing invaudeville. She was absent from England from 1929 to 1935. In Australia in 1932, she starred in short films produced byEfftee Studios, including two in the "Efftee Entertainers" series of films of variety acts from the local stage. The most notable of her Efftee films isIn the Future (1932), a twelve-minute play that Reeve co-directed withF. W. Thring.[9] The film's central premise is a reversal of traditional gender roles, in which Reeve plays a domineering wife who smokes a cigar and departs for her club while her husband sits at home embroidering. Both of Reeve's daughters, Bessie and Goody, had settled in Australia, where both married and had children, Goody becoming a well known radio personality. Bessie died of an illness in 1954. Upon Ada's return to England, she appeared in cabarets,revues and variety. Her next dramatic role was in 1940 in the musicalBlack Velvet.
After a few more years on stage, in 1944 Reeve began appearing in films as Mrs. Barley inThey Came to a City. She appeared in a total of nine movies and continued her stage work in the 1940s and 1950s. At the age of 80, she retired from the stage but made two more films, the last of which was at the age of 83 inThe Passionate Stranger in 1957.
She was the subject ofThis Is Your Life in 1956 when she was surprised byEamonn Andrews at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, London.[citation needed]
Ada Reeve died in 1966 at the age of 92.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1919 | Comradeship | Betty Mortimore | |
| 1944 | They Came to a City | Mrs. Batley | |
| 1947 | Meet Me at Dawn | Concierge | |
| 1947 | When the Bough Breaks | 2nd Landlady | |
| 1949 | Dear Mr. Prohack | Mrs. Griggs | |
| 1950 | Night and the City | Molly | |
| 1952 | I Believe in You | Mrs. Crockett | |
| 1953 | Time Bomb | Old Lady | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Eyewitness | Mrs. Hudson | |
| 1957 | The Passionate Stranger | Old Woman |
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