Florence Mary MacArthur (27 October 1893 – 12 January 1972), was an English artist and stage designer who also illustrated a number of books. Her work for the stage (always as Molly MacArthur) was first seen in 1923, after which she worked in the theatre continuously until 1958.

Early life

She was born Florence Mary MacArthur in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

, on 27 October 1893, the second child of the Liberal MP

William MacArthur The Honourable Sir William Macarthur (December 1800 – 29 October 1882) was an Australian botanist and vigneron. He was one of the most active and influential horticulturists in Australia in the mid-to-late 19th century. Among the first vitic ...

and Florence Creemer (née Clarke). She trained at the

Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman descri ...

and was registered as a student in 1915.

Creative career

MacArthur's skill and sensitivity as an artist raised her book illustration beyond the purely decorative, distilling the essence and atmosphere of the texts it accompanied. Her work, often in the form of woodcuts, appeared in books, including: *

Trevor Blakemore Trevor Ramsey Villiers Blakemore (13 October 1879 – 8 July 1953) was an English poet and author. Early life Born in Chislehurst, Kent, Blakemore was the son of Ramsey Blakemore, a merchant, of St Leonards-on-Sea,"BLAKEMORE, Trevor Ramsey" in J ...

, ''China Clay'' (W. Heffer & Sons, 1922) * Florence Mary MacArthur, ''Tribute'' (Pelican Press, 1925) *

Eleanor Farjeon Eleanor Farjeon (13 February 1881 – 5 June 1965) was an English author of children's literature, children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Several of her works had illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her cor ...

, ''Come Christmas'' (Collins, 1927) * Helen Simpson, ''Mumbudget'' (Heinemann, 1928) * Ann Driver, ''Music and Movement'' (Oxford University Press, 1936) Her first work for the theatre was seen at the

Oxford Playhouse The Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F. G. M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road (Oxford), W ...

in 1923–24 for J. B. Fagan, and two years later she designed her first London production at the

Fortune Theatre The Fortune Theatre is a 432-seat West End theatre in Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster. From 1989 until 2023 the theatre hosted the long running play '' The Woman in Black''. History The site was acquired by aut ...

, ''The Cradle Song'' (1926). In 1931, after Anmer Hall bought the St. James's Picture Theatre in Westminster, she and fellow designer

Arnold Dunbar Smith Arnold Dunbar Smith (2 December 18667 December 1933) was an English architect who in 1897 formed Smith & Brewer (18971949) with Cecil Claude Brewer (18711918) who were responsible for the design of the Mary Ward House in London (1899) and the ...

converted it into the

Westminster Theatre The Westminster Theatre was a theatre in London, on Palace Street in Westminster. History The structure on the site was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, by William Dodd with money from his wife Mary Perkins. Through Peter Ri ...

. There she worked for Tyrone Guthrie: ''A Pair of Spectacles''; ''The Anatomist''; ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'', and ''The Kingdom of God''. Her later West End credits included: ''

The Green Bay Tree ''The Green Bay Tree'' is a 1933 three-act drama written by Mordaunt Shairp that explores a "half-suggested homosexual relationship" between a man and his protégé or, in the words of one critic "a rich hot-house sybarite" and someone "he a ...

''; ''Hervey House'' (1935); ''Call It a Day'' (1935); '' Love from a Stranger'' (1937); ''Mary Read''; ''The Black Eye''; ''Bitter Harvest''; '' Bonnet Over the Windmill'' (1937); ''Busman's Honeymoon''; ''Black Limelight''; and ''

Quiet Wedding ''Quiet Wedding'' is a 1941 British romantic comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Margaret Lockwood, Derek Farr and Marjorie Fielding. The screenplay was written by Terence Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald based on the play '' ...

''. Throughout the 1930s, she designed for

Tyrone Guthrie Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at ...

at the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

: 1933–34 ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' () is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition later that year in Saint Petersburg, via A.F. Marks Pu ...

'' and ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892), ''A Woman of No Importance'' (1893) and ''An Ideal Husban ...

'', 1936–37 ''

Love's Labour's Lost ''Love's Labour's Lost'' is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and his three companions as ...

'' and ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' and, 1937–38 '' Pygmalion'' and ''The King of Nowhere'' for

Esmé Church Esme Church (11 February 1893 – 31 May 1972) was a British actress and theatre director. In a long career she acted with the Old Vic Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company and on Broadway. She directed plays for the Old Vic, became head of t ...

. In 1937, she had accepted Esmé Church's invitation to design an 18th-century ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...

'' at the

and New Theatres, "giving the setting for the most memorable Rosalind of Dame

Edith Evans Dame Edith Mary Evans (8 February 1888 – 14 October 1976) was an English actress. She was best known for Edith Evans – stage and film roles, her work on the West End theatre, West End stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and t ...

" (Marie Ney), and in 1939 designed ''Viceroy Sarah'' for the Old Vic's Buxton season. The

OUDS The Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) is the principal funding body and provider of theatrical services to the many independent student productions put on by students in Oxford, England. Not all student productions at Oxford University a ...

also saw her work in

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

's production of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' (1932) and ''Twelfth Night'', produced by

(1937). Other producers with whom she was associated include

Basil Dean Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, a ...

and Irene Hentschel. During the war, MacArthur served as an air-raid warden. She also did her own work and, after it, designed austerity revues for

Laurier Lister George Laurier Lister, OBE (22 April 1907 – 30 September 1986) was an English theatre writer, actor, director and producer, best known for a series of revues presented in London in the late 1940s and 1950s. He was later associated with Laurence ...

. In 1949, she renewed her association with Esmé Church who, in 1944, had accepted the invitation of the Bradford Civic Group to become director of its playhouse in Chapel Street. An important part of Esmé Church's work was founding and nurturing the Northern Children's Theatre, which gave practical training to young actors in the north of England and provided entertainment for children.

Robert Stephens Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 193112 November 1995) was an English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre. Early life Stephens was born in Shirehampton, Bristol, in 1931, the eldest of three children of shipyard ...

and

Edward Petherbridge Edward Petherbridge (born 3 August 1936) is an English actor, writer and artist. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in the 1987 BBC television adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's ''R ...

were just two of the actors whose careers started there. Molly MacArthur was responsible for the design of virtually all productions during the 12 years of its existence.

Personal life

MacArthur married James Sinclair Standish Anderson on 15 February 1917. Her married name has led to some confusion with children's illustrator Florence Mary Anderson (1889–1945), but MacArthur always used her maiden name for her professional work. MacArthur died in Oxford on 12 January 1972. Her obituarist in ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'' said of her: "She had a remarkable eye for stage pictures, which made a deep impression on the audience and long haunted the memory of those who saw them."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Florence 1893 births 1972 deaths 20th-century English painters Alumni of the Westminster School of Art Artists from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea English children's writers English illustrators English watercolourists People from Chelsea, London English women watercolourists English women engravers 20th-century English engravers 20th-century English women painters