Isabella Goodall (10 August 1851 – 2 February 1884) was an English

soubrette A soubrette is a female minor stock character in opera and theatre, often a pert lady's maid. By extension, the term can refer generally to any saucy or flirtatious young woman. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means " ...

of the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

theatre. She made her name on the stage in her native city,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, and later became a star of the London theatre, both in

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

and comic plays.

Biography

Goodall was born in

. By 1865, she was a star at the city's Theatre Royal,

Williamson Square Williamson Square is in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was initially laid out as a residential square in the 1745 by Mr Williamson. It originally only had buildings on the lower part and the other three parts were not covered. The ...

. In February 1865 she was granted a benefit performance in which she acted and sang. Works played on that occasion included

Dion Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...

burletta In theater and music history, a burletta (Italian, meaning "little joke", sometimes burla or burlettina) is a brief comic opera. In eighteenth-century Italy, a burletta was the comic intermezzo between the acts of an ''opera seria''. The extended w ...

''A Lover by Proxy''. She also starred in productions in other Liverpool theatres at about this time. The author and journalist William Henry Rideing reminisced in 1912 about his boyhood in Liverpool, where he remembered Goodall as the reigning soubrette: "Then the orchestra would tune up and Miss Goodall, smiling and bowing, would open the most beautiful mouth in the world .... It bowled me over." She made her London debut in April 1865 at the

Prince of Wales's Theatre The Scala Theatre was a theatre in Charlotte Street, London, off Tottenham Court Road. The first theatre on the site opened in 1772; the last was demolished in 1969, after a catastrophic fire. From 1865 to 1882, the theatre was known as th ...

in J P Wooler's ''The Winning Hazard'', attracting favourable reviews from '' The Era'', London's leading theatre journal, and ''The Daily News.'' In July of the same year, also at the Prince of Wales's, she made a success as a comic Lancastrian housemaid in a new farce, ''The Mudborough Election.'' In December 1865 she was cast in

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

in ''King Chess'' at the New Surrey Theatre. Over the next two years she continued to establish herself as a leading West End player in comic plays and

burlesques A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

. In 1866 she was cast as one of two "squabbling schoolgirls intent on marriage" in

H. J. Byron Henry James Byron (8 January 1835 – 11 April 1884) was a prolific English dramatist, as well as an editor, journalist, director, theatre manager, novelist and actor. After an abortive start at a medical career, Byron struggled as a provincia ...

's ''One Hundred Thousand Pounds''. Her subsequent performances in this period included Byron's classical burlesque, ''Pandora's Box'', ''Magic Toys'' at the Prince of Wales's with

Marie Wilton Marie Effie Wilton, Lady Bancroft (1836–1921) was an English actress and Actor-manager, theatre manager. She appeared onstage as Marie Wilton until after her marriage in December 1867 to Squire Bancroft, when she adopted his last name. Bancro ...

, ''

La Vivandière LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

'' by

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

and the farces, ''Mr and Mrs White'' and ''The Rendezvous''. In pantomime she was "a very dashing and prepossessing Princess Eglantine" in a version of ''

Valentine and Orson ''Valentine and Orson'' is a romance which has been attached to the Carolingian cycle. Synopsis It is the story of twin brothers, abandoned in the woods in infancy. Valentine is brought up as a knight at the court of Pepin, while Orson grows ...

'' for the 1867 Christmas season, and she successfully took a '' travesti'' (male) role in Boucicault's ''The Flying Scud'' at the Holborn Theatre, playing Lord Woodbie, followed by another trousers role, the valet Max, in Gilbert's burlesque, ''

The Merry Zingara ''The Merry Zingara; Or, The Tipsy Gipsy & The Pipsy Wipsy'' was the third of W. S. Gilbert's five Victorian burlesque, burlesques of opera. Described by the author as "A Whimsical Parody on ''The Bohemian Girl''", by Michael Balfe, it was prod ...

'', a parody of ''

The Bohemian Girl ''The Bohemian Girl'' is an English language Romantic opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Miguel de Cervantes' tale, ''La gitanilla''. The best-known aria from the piece is "I D ...

''. In 1868 she joined the company of the Strand Theatre in the burlesque ''The Field of the Cloth of Gold'' and appeared with the company mainly in London but also on tour during the next four years. In 1870 she appeared as "a spirited

St Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba ...

" in F. C. Burnand's ''Sir George and a Dragon'', in which her dancing was "a marvellous tour de force – perhaps more vigorous than graceful, but her Irish jig is decidedly one of the most attractive features in the burlesque." During her time with the Strand company the repertoire mixed burlesques and straight plays, including comedies such as ''Up in the World'', by Arthur Sketchley, in which she appeared in 1871 as a riotous page-boy. She was evidently not only a practitioner of the theatre but also a teacher. In November 1868, ''The Era'' reported, "Miss Ada Arnold, a pupil of Miss Bella Goodall, made a successful debut at the Holborn Theatre on Saturday last in the burlesque of

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto. Her family arranged ...

." She died at

Pentonville Road Pentonville Road is a road in Central London that runs west to east from Kings Cross to City Road at The Angel, Islington. The road is part of the London Inner Ring Road and part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone. The road ...

and was buried at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

.West Norwood Cemetery, Burial index and Purchase register, Grave 12,361, square 78

Notes

References

"Actors and Authors"
by

, with commentary by Andrew Crowther * Gaye, Freda (ed). ''Who's Who in the Theatre'', fourteenth edition, 1967. London, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons Ltd.

External links

Photo of Goodall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodall, Bella 19th-century English women singers Singers from Liverpool People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan 1851 births 1884 deaths Burials at West Norwood Cemetery 19th-century English actresses