Ellen Mary Blanche Henderson Massey (16 April 1868 – 27 September 1929) was a British actress and a Gaiety Girl best known for her stage appearances in London and the United States in the 1890s. Among her appearances in many productions with the

George Edwardes George Joseph Edwardes (né Edwards; 8 October 1855 – 4 October 1915) was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond. Edwardes started out in theatre ma ...

company, especially in

Edwardian musical comedies Edwardian musical comedy is a genre of British musical theatre that thrived from 1892 into the 1920s, extending beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions. It began to dominate the English musical stage, and even the American musical ...

, she was perhaps most remembered for '' A Gaiety Girl''.

Life and career

Massey was born on 16 April 1868 in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, the daughter of Rose Massey, a well-known actress in her time, who died of consumption in 1883."Personal and Other Jottings"
''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second-longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after '' The Express-Times''. The newspaper is owned by Alden Global Capital ...

'', 7 October 1894 Her father, who was not married to her mother, was the artist agent Alexander Henderson (1828–1886, father of

Effie Adelaide Rowlands Effie Adelaide Maria Henderson (later Rowlands and Albanesi; c.1859 – 16 October 1936) was a British novelist, better known under the pen names Effie Adelaide Rowlands, E. Maria Albanesi and Madame Albanesi. She was the author of more than 1 ...

and later spouse of

Lydia Thompson Lydia Thompson (born Eliza Thompson; 19 February 1838 – 17 November 1908), was an English dancer, comedian, actor and theatrical producer. From 1852, as a teenager, she danced and performed in pantomimes, in the UK and then in Europe and so ...

). Massey appeared in plays, Victorian burlesques and

as ''A Run of Luck'' (1888), ''

Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué Ruy or RUY may refer to: Arts and Entertainment *Ruy, the Little Cid, Spanish animated television series *Ruy Blas, a character in the eponymous tragic drama by Victor Hugo People *another form of Rui, a Portuguese male given name *another form o ...

'' (1889) (incorrectly listed as Blanche Massie), ''

Carmen up to Data ''Carmen up to Data'' is a musical burlesque with a score written by Meyer Lutz. Set in Seville, the piece was a spoof of Bizet's 1875 opera ''Carmen''. The libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt. After a tryout in Liverpool in ...

'' (1890), '' Cinder Ellen up too Late'' (1891), '' The Geisha'' (1896), ''My Friend the Prince'' (1897), and '' Lady Madcap'' (1904). She appeared in both the 1893 West End production of '' A Gaiety Girl'' and also the 1894

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

production, playing Alma Somerset, the title role, in the latter. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reviewer wrote, after its Broadway debut in September 1894, that "Blanche Massey is only to be looked at, and few persons will ever tire of looking at her.""The Week at the Theatres"
''

'', 23 September 1894 Massey married George F. Tully (1876–1930), an Irish-born actor, and appeared in a few silent films in the 1910s.''Who's Who in the Theatre''
p. 1030 (1930)
''Theatrical costume, masks, make-up and wigs: a bibliography and iconography''
p. 488
George Tully
Internet Movie Database, Retrieved August 4, 2011; and She died at age 61, on 27 September 1929.

References

External links

Drawing of Massey
in ''Ruy Blas''
Photo of Massey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massey, Blanche 1868 births 1929 deaths English stage actresses