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 of Gilbert and Sullivan performer Frank Wyatt, whom she met when they both appeared in the hit operetta '' Erminie''. Melnotte performed in

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

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 several

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...

s. She and her husband built the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...

in 1892, and she owned the theatre for four decades. In 1910 she built the Duke of York's Picture House in Brighton, a state-of-the-art facility.

Early life and career

Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

in 1855 as Emma 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 a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

at the Theatre Royal in Hull in the mid-1870s. She made her London debut in October 1876 as Fezz in ''

Bluebeard "Bluebeard" (french: Barbe bleue, ) is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in '' Histoires ou contes du temps passé''. The tale tells the s ...

'' at the Folly Theatre. In early 1877 Melnotte appeared as a Tittlebat-fisher in

Richard D'Oyly Carte Richard D'Oyly Carte (; 3 May 1844 – 3 April 1901) was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer, and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era. He built two of London's theatres and a hotel empire, while also establi ...

's operetta ''Happy Hampstead'' at the

Royalty Theatre The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho. Established by the actress Frances Maria Kelly in 1840, it opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938.

. She performed in

and pantomime in London and the British provinces for eight years before venturing into theatre management with the

Avenue Theatre The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square, central London. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt i ...

in 1885."Miss Violet Melnotte: Death of London Theatre Owner"
''The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser'', 30 September 1935, p. 11 She was manager of the

Comedy Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

when her Miss Violet Melnotte's Comic Opera Company launched the original British production of

Edward Jakobowski Edward Jakobowski (17 April 1856 – 29 April 1929) was an English composer, especially of musical theatre, best known for writing the hit comic opera '' Erminie''. Life and career Jakobowski was born in Islington, London, the only son of Isr ...

'' Erminie'' (1885), which went on to become an international sensation. Melnotte played the role of Cerise Marcel in the production. In 1886 she secured the British rights to

Ivan Caryll Félix Marie Henri Tilkin (12 May 1861 – 29 November 1921), better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian-born composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language, who made his career in London and later ...

'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 future

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...

actor Frank Wyatt.Stone, David
''Violet Melnotte (1855–1935)''
, Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, (Boise State University), accessed 25 April 2014

Later years

Melnotte managed

Toole's Theatre Toole's Theatre, was a 19th-century West End theatre, West End building in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. A succession of auditoria had occupied the site since 1832, serving a variety of functions, including ...

and produced plays at the

, while at the same time she and Wyatt were building the

in London. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, with ''Wedding 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 future

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

. In 1910 she built the Duke of York's Picture House in Brighton, 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), 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 the

. 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. In her final years, Melnotte lived at the Piccadilly Hotel in London and the Hotel Metropole in Brighton.Death Notice
''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

'', 31 March 1936 Issue: 34269 p. 2108 She died in London in 1935 aged 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melnotte, Violet 1856 births 1935 deaths English stage actresses Actor-managers People from Birmingham, West Midlands Women of the Victorian era 19th-century theatre managers 20th-century theatre managers 19th-century English businesswomen 19th-century English businesspeople