Anna Pavlowa - Postcard, 1912
Title
Anna Pavlowa - Postcard, 1912
Date
2 December 1912
Description
Promotional postcard of international star Anna Pavlowa, performing at the Theatre Royal in her ballet show in 1912.
What's the story?
Anna Pavlowa appeared at the Theatre Royal in her own show from 2 to 7 December 1912. With Pavlowa performing with Laurent Novikoff, the show was produced by Daniel Mayer and billed as ‘The Event of the Century’.
Anna Pavlowa was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev and is most recognized for her creation of the role of The Dying Swan. She later created her own company and became the first ballerina to tour around the world, including South America, India and Australia. She eventually settled to live in England in 1912.
Famously, the Pavlova, the meringue-based dessert, was created in her honour during a 1920s tour of New Zealand and Australia.
To have had a dancer with such an international reputation perform at the Theatre Royal would have been an enormous coup for the venue.
This postcard forms part of a large scrapbook collection donated to the Theatre Royal archive by Diane Meadwell from Sandiacre. Her great grandfather was Bernard Hill, the former landlord of The Sun Inn on Parliament Street and who later became the Stage Door Keeper at the Theatre Royal. Bernard’s daughter Edith also worked at the Theatre Royal as an usherette.
Whilst in his stage door job, Bernard collected a large number of postcards of the numerous artists who performed at the venue, many of which he got them to autograph, as well as writing the date and if necessary the show on the reverse, making the future archivist’s job that little bit easier. We have then been able to cross-reference this information with the list of Theatre Royal shows being compiled by volunteer researcher Lynn Whitley.
We are grateful to Diane for sharing her family memories with us and for donating such a valuable resource to the archive.
Anna Pavlowa was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev and is most recognized for her creation of the role of The Dying Swan. She later created her own company and became the first ballerina to tour around the world, including South America, India and Australia. She eventually settled to live in England in 1912.
Famously, the Pavlova, the meringue-based dessert, was created in her honour during a 1920s tour of New Zealand and Australia.
To have had a dancer with such an international reputation perform at the Theatre Royal would have been an enormous coup for the venue.
This postcard forms part of a large scrapbook collection donated to the Theatre Royal archive by Diane Meadwell from Sandiacre. Her great grandfather was Bernard Hill, the former landlord of The Sun Inn on Parliament Street and who later became the Stage Door Keeper at the Theatre Royal. Bernard’s daughter Edith also worked at the Theatre Royal as an usherette.
Whilst in his stage door job, Bernard collected a large number of postcards of the numerous artists who performed at the venue, many of which he got them to autograph, as well as writing the date and if necessary the show on the reverse, making the future archivist’s job that little bit easier. We have then been able to cross-reference this information with the list of Theatre Royal shows being compiled by volunteer researcher Lynn Whitley.
We are grateful to Diane for sharing her family memories with us and for donating such a valuable resource to the archive.
Type
Postcard
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Researchers: David Longford / Lynn Whitley
