Marie Dainton

Marie Dainton (8 June c. 1881 – 1 February 1938) was an actress of the Victorian and Edwardian eras who appeared regularly in both music halls and in dramatic theatre.

Dainton was born in Russia, apparently in 1881, but other sources cite 1877. Her father was Robert E. Sharlach, and her mother was the English actress and singer Jenny Dawson (d. 1936). Dainton made her stage debut on 24 March 1894 at York Theatre Royal in Little Red Riding Hood. In this show, she gave imitations of well-known theatrical personalities, and this gift for mimicry became her trademark. Dainton became a versatile performer in various theatrical genres, including musical comedy, pantomime and revue.^[1]

Dainton made her first London appearance at the Metropolitan music hall in Edgware Road on 6 August 1894. On 24 December 1894 she opened as 'Mr Falsehood' in The House that Jack Built at the Opera Comique, and the following year toured as Flo in Buttercup and Daisy. The next few years were spent appearing mainly in the music halls until June 1899 when she scored a big success at the Avenue Theatre giving impressions of popular stage stars in a production titled Pot Pourri.^[2] In 1898 Dainton appeared in the pantomimePuss in Boots with Eugene Stratton at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Birmingham.^[3] She also appeared in the legitimate theatre. Dainton was in demand both in London and on tour in the British provinces and abroad. During 1900 and 1901 she appeared at the Casino Theatre in New York, and at the Apollo Theatre in London, as Paquita in The Belle of Bohemia. In New York, she temporarily was restrained from appearing in the show until a breach of contract case was resolved in the courts.^[4] She also toured Austria as Fifi in The Belle of New York. At the Strand Theatre in London in 1902, she appeared in the successful musical play A Chinese Honeymoon. In 1902, she made several gramophone recordings for the Gramophone & Typewriter Co Ltd and Pathé of songs from this show, namely "The à la Girl", "Sweet Little Sing-Sing", and "Mandie of Ohio".^[1]

Dainton fue la Peggy Machree original en el Wyndham's Theatre de Londres desde el 28 de diciembre de 1904, y desempeñó el papel principal en la producción original de The Girl Behind the Counter , también en el Wyndham's, desde el 21 de abril de 1906. Dainton fue una figura destacada en la Guerra del Music Hall de 1907, ^{[ 2 ]} junto, entre otros, a Joe Elvin , Gus Elen y Marie Lloyd . En el Colonial Theatre de Nueva York en marzo de 1909, Dainton apareció en el vodevil , interpretando nuevamente sus imitaciones de celebridades, incluyendo a Harry Lauder , Anna Held , Marie Tempest , Marie Lloyd y la Sra. Patrick Campbell . ^{[ 5 ]}

En octubre de 1909, Dainton realizó una segunda gira por Estados Unidos, actuando en Filadelfia y Chicago en las óperas The Silver Star y Madame Sherry . En 1910, recorrió las provincias inglesas interpretando a Clarice en la ópera The Mountaineers antes de regresar a los teatros de variedades. Entre otras producciones, participó en Autumn Manoeuvres durante la gira de 1912, y en I Should Worry en el Palace Theatre durante la gira de 1913.

Apareció en Society Ltd en 1920, Riverside Nights en 1926, The Eternal Flame en 1929 y en Getting George Married en 1930. ^{[ 2 ]} Sus últimas apariciones tuvieron lugar a principios de la década de 1930, interpretando a la Duquesa de Capablanca en The Werewolf , una temporada de ocho funciones producida en el Kingsway Theatre de Londres el 9 de noviembre de 1932 por el Independent Theatre Club; y como una ramera en la obra Mary Read en el Phoenix Theatre de Londres en 1934. ^{[ 1 ]}

Marie Dainton murió a la edad de 56 años en Londres el 1 de febrero de 1938 después de una breve enfermedad. ^{[ 6 ]}

• Biografía de Dainton en el sitio web Footlights Notes.
• Marie Dainton en la base de datos de Broadway en Internet
• Dainton en la Galería Digital de la Biblioteca Pública de Nueva York
• Retrato de Dainton en la página de Zena Dare
• Retrato de Dainton en el sitio web de la National Portrait Gallery .