Fanny Mackay (née Rudge; 20 October 1878 – 15 July 1972), better known as Fanny Dango, was a British comedienne, singer and actress who found fame in both the UK and Australia. She was one of the

Rudge Sisters The Rudge Sisters were English actresses and dancers from Birmingham. Their father, Henry Rudge, was a brass founder and chandelier maker. Their mother, Elizabeth, had a brief acting career in the Birmingham area. They also had two brothers wh ...

. She married a rich Australian grazier and died in Australia.

Life

Dango was born in the Birmingham area of

Ladywood Ladywood is an inner-city district next to central Birmingham. Historically in Warwickshire, in June 2004, Birmingham City Council conducted a citywide "Ward Boundary Revision" to round-up the 39 Birmingham wards to 40. As a result of this, La ...

. Her parents were Annie Elizabeth Rudge (née Hemming) and Henry Rudge who was a gas fitter, brass founder and chandelier maker. Her mother, Elizabeth, had a brief acting career in the Birmingham area. She had three brothers and two became brass founders.Cruickshank, Graeme. "The Rudge Family: The Lives and Work of Letty Lind and her sisters", National Operatic and Dramatic Association newsletter, January 2005, page 5 She was one of five sisters (they were known collectively as the Rudge Sisters): Letitia Elizabeth aka

Letty Lind Letitia Elizabeth Rudge (21 December 1861 – 27 August 1923), known professionally as Letty Lind, was an English actress, singer, dancer and acrobat, best known for her work in burlesque at the Gaiety Theatre, and in musical theatre at Daly's ...

, Sarah aka

Millie Hylton Sarah Frances Louise Rudge (8 February 1870 – 1 September 1920), known professionally as Millie Hylton, was an English actress, dancer and principal boy in pantomime. Early life Sarah Frances Louise Rudge was born on 8 February 1870 on 22 Ho ...

(1870–1920), Elizabeth aka Adelaide Astor (1873–1951; who married

George Grossmith Jr. George Grossmith Jr. (11 May 1874 – 6 June 1935) was an English actor, theatre producer and Actor-manager, manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies. Grossmith was also a ...

in 1895), Lydia aka Lydia Flopp (1877–1963) and Fanny.

Britain

Fanny Dango worked in theatre in London and she started and was frequently involved in pantomime. She appeared at

Daly's Theatre Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937. The theatre was built for and named after the American impresa ...

in Westminster which was one of

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 ...

houses. In 1896 and 1897 she was acting in ''The Geisha''. Later in 1897 she was in musical comedy ''

A Runaway Girl ''A Runaway Girl'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts written in 1898 by Seymour Hicks and Harry Nicholls. The composer was Ivan Caryll, with additional music by Lionel Monckton and lyrics by Aubrey Hopwood and Harry Greenbank. It w ...

'' at the Gaiety Theatre and in Harry Graham's ''Little Miss Nobody'' at the '' Lyric Theatre''.

Australia

She had another successful career in Australia after she arrived in Melbourne in 1907. She was part of the cast for "

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' ( ) is an operetta by the Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The Libretto, librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein (writer), Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's ...

" who arrived at the request of the impresario J. C. Williamson. She worked as a comedienne co-starring in "The Girls of Gottenburg" and "The Dairymaids" with Reginald Roberts, W. S. Percy and George Lauri in Melbourne. During the latter in 1908 she was replaced due to "her fatigue" rehearsing another role in " The Lady Dandies". While she was in Australia, she met the land owner Samuel Peter Mackay whose interest was racehorses. He had just divorced his wife, Florence Gertrude Taylor, on the grounds of her infidelity. They married in London. Her new step-daughter,

Elsie Mackay Elsie Mackay (21 August 1893 – 13 March 1928) was a British actress, jockey, interior decorator and pioneering aviator who died attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean with Walter Hinchliffe in a single engined Stinson Detroiter. Her stage nam ...

became a noted actress. Elsie Mackay made her debut on stage in a minor role in ''Pygmalion'' in 1914 at

His Majesty's Theatre, London His Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated in the Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The building, designed by Charles J. Phipps, was constructed in 1897 for the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who ...

.Hal Porter (1965),''Stars of Australian Stage and Screen''. p 166. Rigby Limited, Adelaide. Porter gives a birth date of 1894 When her husband died in 1924 he left a fortune. The bulk of his estate was left to his two sons, but Dango was a trustee and awarded £2,500 per annum for life if she remained unmarried. If she married then this would be reduced to £500 per annum. Dango died in

Mount Waverley Mount Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Mount Waverley recorded a population of 35,340 at the 2021 census. It ...

in 1972. She was buried with her husband, her son and her step-daughter Elsie Mackay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dango, Fanny 1878 births 1972 deaths 19th-century English actresses 20th-century English actresses English stage actresses Actresses from Birmingham, West Midlands People from Ladywood British emigrants to Australia English women comedians Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands