Lil Hawthorne
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lil Hawthorne (4 July 1877 – 22 March 1926) was an American-born British stage beauty,
music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...
performer and
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 ...
Principal Boy In pantomime, a principal boy role is the young male protagonist of the play, traditionally played by a young actress in boy's clothes. The earliest example is Miss Ellington who in 1852 appeared in ''The Good Woman in the Wood'' by James Planc ...
. In 1910, Hawthorne was involved in bringing Dr. Crippen to justice for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen, whom she had regarded as a good friend prior to her death.


Early years

Born in
Nashville, Illinois Nashville is a city in Washington County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 3,105. It is the county seat of Washington County. Geography According to the 2010 census, Nashville has a total area of , of whi ...
, as Lillian Hawthorne, she was one of four daughters of New Orleans estate agent Tazwell Wolfe (known as Hawthorne) and his wife Adrianna or Ada ''née'' Rogers, a farmer's daughter from Pontotoc, Mississippi. In 1889 aged 12 Lilian Hawthorne was cast in the role of a small boy in the
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 ...
''Paola'' after which she and her younger sister Adelaide joined the theatrical company, The Bostonians, for whom they appeared in ''The Knickerbockers'', ''Robin Hood'', and ''The Ogallalas''. In 1892 they played Leila and Fleta in ''
Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...
'' with Henry Dixey's company at Palmer's Theatre. She started her
variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
career in America at the age of 14, as part of the song and dance trio, "The Hawthorne Sisters," with her sisters Eleanor and Adelaide (1892–1898). Gänzl, Kurt
Cartesians: Murder, she said ....: Kurt of Gerolstein - Around the World in Twenty Years: Years One to Twelve
/ref>
/ref> She performed with her sisters in Boston and New York before transferring to England, making her first appearance in London at the Palace Theatre in 1896, singing
Leslie Stuart Leslie Stuart (15 March 1863 – 27 March 1928) born Thomas Augustine Barrett was an English composer of Edwardian musical comedy, best known for the hit show ''Florodora'' (1899) and many popular songs. He began in Manchester as a church orga ...
's popular song, "Willow Pattern Plate".Hawthorne on the ''Footlight Notes'' website
/ref>


Career

After her sisters' marriage and retirement, Hawthorne remained in the United Kingdom where she soon became popular in music halls all over the country. She made the first of many appearances 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 ...
at the Empire Palace Theatre, Edinburgh in 1898. Hawthorne's repertoire of songs included 'Lucy Loo', 'Tessie, You are the Only, Only, Only' and 'Mamie May,' all of which she recorded, as well as 'Kitty Mahone' and 'Don't Cry Little Girl, Don't Cry'.The Era, London, Saturday, 26 August 1899, p.19a In 1899 she married John Edward Nash (1863–1934), who became her manager. Also in 1899 she recorded the song "Sweet Rosie O'Grady" (written by Maude Nugent) for
Berliner Gramophone Berliner Gramophone – its discs identified with an etched-in "E. Berliner's Gramophone" as the logo – was the first (and for nearly ten years the only) disc record label in the world. Its records were played on Emile Berliner's invention, the ...
and "I'll Be Your Sweetheart". In 1900 she starred in Walter Gibbon's Anglo-American Bio-Tableaux film ''Kitty Mahone''. She was the
Principal Boy In pantomime, a principal boy role is the young male protagonist of the play, traditionally played by a young actress in boy's clothes. The earliest example is Miss Ellington who in 1852 appeared in ''The Good Woman in the Wood'' by James Planc ...
in the
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 ...
s ''
Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" (; ; ; ) is a European fairy tale about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand in marriage of a princess for his penniless and low-born master. The oldest written telling version ...
'' (1903–1904) and ''
Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...
'' (1904–1905), both at the
Prince's Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. It opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, with a capacity of 2,500. The current capacity is 1,416. The title "Shaftesbury Theatr ...
in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
. On 6 December 1909 Hawthorne topped the bill at the opening night of the Hippodrome Theatre in
Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...
.


Dr. Crippen

Hawthorne was a close friend of Cora Henrietta Crippen (née Corrine Turner and stage name Belle Elmore), the estranged wife and murder victim of
Hawley Harvey Crippen Hawley Harvey Crippen (11 September 1862 – 23 November 1910), colloquially known as Dr. Crippen, was an American Homeopathy, homeopath, Otolaryngology, ear and Ophthalmology, eye specialist and medicine dispenser who was hanged in HM Prison P ...
. She and Elmore were members of the Music Hall Ladies' Guild. Police first heard of Elmore's disappearance from her friend, strongwoman Kate Williams, better known as
Vulcana Miriam Kate Williams (6 May 1874 – 8 August 1946) sometimes called Kate Roberts and better known by her stage name Vulcana, was a Wales, Welsh strongwoman. With Strongman (strength athlete), strongman William Hedley Roberts, better known ...
, but began to take the matter more seriously when asked to investigate by Hawthorne and her husband, who were personal friends of
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
Superintendent
Frank Froest Superintendent Frank Castle Froest (1858, Bristol – 7 January 1930, Weston-super-Mare) was a British detective and crime writer. Froest was described by a journalist as being "...short, thick-set, full-faced, Mr. Froest in uniform looked more l ...
. Larson, Erik ''Thunderstruck'' – New York: Crown Publishers (2006) pg 347=348 They were able to prove that, despite Crippen's assertion to the contrary, his wife had not died in America. As they lost professional engagements due to appointments with the police and the nervous strain Hawthorne suffered because of these and giving evidence at the trial, on 7 April 1911
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...
authorised the payment of £100 in respect of expenses incurred and loss sustained by the couple in connection with the case of Rex v. Crippen. In about 1915 Hawthorne and her husband finally left Britain and returned to America to Manhattan Beach. After various business enterprises including beach catering and owning a garage her husband found a new career in writing film screenplays. Lil Hawthorne died of heart trouble in 1926 aged 49.


References


External links


Photographs of Hawthorne
on the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...
website
Hawthorne on the ''Footlight Notes'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawthorne, Lil 1877 births 1926 deaths American music hall performers American stage actresses American vaudeville performers American emigrants to the United Kingdom