Singer, Actress, Model. An admired glamour girl of the British stage, she is probably best remembered for singing the title lead in the first English production of Franz Lehar's "The Merry Widow". Born Elsie Hodder to a working class family, she took to the stage early, made her 1896 professional bow as "Little Red Riding Hood" at the Queen's Theatre of Manchester, and was soon a busy child star as 'Little Elsie', a moniker she modified slightly in 1900 to get her stage name. Lily made her London bow at Christmastime 1898 in "King Klondike" and in 1900 joined George Edwardes' company at the Daly Theatre as a chorus girl, over the next few years gradually expanding her skills and repertoire. After earning praise in such works of the day as "A Chinese Honeymoon", "The Little Michus", and "The New Aladdin" she was selected, despite reluctance born of inate shyness, to take the lead in the presentation of "The Merry Widow" which opened at Daly's Theatre in June of 1907 and ran for 778 shows. Lily had a major hit on the stage and soon became the most photographed girl in England, her image, particularly modeling a myriad of hats, soon adorning numerous magazines and countless advertisments for a variety of products. Continuing her busy career she appeared in a few movies as well as in Oscar Strauss' "A Waltz Dream", Lehar's "The Count of Luxembourg", Arthur Wimperis' "Pamela", and about a dozen other pieces but the never really healthy Lily was to experience a steady decline as mental and physical problems accumulated. Her schedule slowed and she earned her final credits with performances of Ivor Novello's "The Truth Game" at the Daly in 1928 and 1929. A bad marriage having worsened her condition the 1930 break-up of it caused an even more severe deterioration leading Lily to spend her final three decades in a succession of nursing and psychiatric facilities. She underwent a neurosurgical procedure, probably the pre-frontal lobotomy that was occasionally performed at the time, an intervention that made her more docile but did nothing to increase her functionality. She died after years of incapacity leaving a small recorded legacy, a portion of which has been preserved.
Singer, Actress, Model. An admired glamour girl of the British stage, she is probably best remembered for singing the title lead in the first English production of Franz Lehar's "The Merry Widow". Born Elsie Hodder to a working class family, she took to the stage early, made her 1896 professional bow as "Little Red Riding Hood" at the Queen's Theatre of Manchester, and was soon a busy child star as 'Little Elsie', a moniker she modified slightly in 1900 to get her stage name. Lily made her London bow at Christmastime 1898 in "King Klondike" and in 1900 joined George Edwardes' company at the Daly Theatre as a chorus girl, over the next few years gradually expanding her skills and repertoire. After earning praise in such works of the day as "A Chinese Honeymoon", "The Little Michus", and "The New Aladdin" she was selected, despite reluctance born of inate shyness, to take the lead in the presentation of "The Merry Widow" which opened at Daly's Theatre in June of 1907 and ran for 778 shows. Lily had a major hit on the stage and soon became the most photographed girl in England, her image, particularly modeling a myriad of hats, soon adorning numerous magazines and countless advertisments for a variety of products. Continuing her busy career she appeared in a few movies as well as in Oscar Strauss' "A Waltz Dream", Lehar's "The Count of Luxembourg", Arthur Wimperis' "Pamela", and about a dozen other pieces but the never really healthy Lily was to experience a steady decline as mental and physical problems accumulated. Her schedule slowed and she earned her final credits with performances of Ivor Novello's "The Truth Game" at the Daly in 1928 and 1929. A bad marriage having worsened her condition the 1930 break-up of it caused an even more severe deterioration leading Lily to spend her final three decades in a succession of nursing and psychiatric facilities. She underwent a neurosurgical procedure, probably the pre-frontal lobotomy that was occasionally performed at the time, an intervention that made her more docile but did nothing to increase her functionality. She died after years of incapacity leaving a small recorded legacy, a portion of which has been preserved.
Biografie von: Bob Hufford
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