Herne Hill Luvvies – Miss Fanny Harrison
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nder the heading ‘Death of an Actress’, an obituary in the London Evening Telegraph and Post on 22 February 1909 reported the death of Mrs Isaac Cohen, ‘the actress mother of Mrs Joe Lyons, wife of the famous caterer’. She and her husband, Isaac Cohen, were, in the early 1900s, one of the first purchasers of the new houses in Winterbrook Road – living at No. 24 from 1900. He was the stage manager of the Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel Road opposite the London Hospital, while she was a singer and light opera star. Her stage name was Miss Fanny Harrison. From 1879 to 1890 she was a principal contralto in the D’Oyly Carte Gilbert & Sullivan touring companies. She played Little Buttercup in November 1879 — with the ‘First Pinafore Company’. A month later she was playing Ruth in Pirates of Penzance in a tiny theatre in Paignton before an audience of just 50. This was in fact the world première of the opera, put on at very short notice, and barely rehearsed, in order to establish the British copyright and thus, G&S hoped, to secure the basis for copyright protection in the United States. A full production of Pirates was due to open in New York the following day. However, copyright protection in the US continued to elude them. In the 1880s, Fanny continued to perform the parts of Little Buttercup and Ruth, as well taking the part of the Queen
A poster for one of Isaac Cohen’s productions
of the Fairies in Iolanthe. Her final G&S role was as the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in performances of The Gondoliers in 1890. She also appeared in soubrette parts under her husband’s stage management. And at one time she toured her own opera company. Her daughters, Phoebe and Katie, also toured with the D’Oyly Carte organisation in the 1880s. A third daughter, Hannah, married Joe Lyons the caterer, the man who gave us Lyons Corner Houses. The Pavilion Theatre was one of the largest theatres in London with a capacity
New plan for small grants The Herne Hill Society have decided to use some of our surplus funds to make small grants available to individuals or organisations. In order to qualify you need to demonstrate that your project will benefit Herne Hill. No
grant will normally exceed £200, and you cannot apply for more than one grant in any calendar year. Applications are welcomed at any point in the year. We have set out the rules and procedures for application on our website.
This is a new development for the Herne Hill Society. We know that Herne Hill is a great place to live — and we hope that using our funds in this way will help to make it even better. For more info, email enquiries@ hernehillsociety.org.uk
Herne Hill-Summer 2016
of 3,750, including 2,000 in the pit. Perhaps better remembered today as a prominent Yiddish theatre in the early decades of the 20th century, in earlier years it was a more conventional theatre rivalling Drury Lane in the West End — it was often advertised as ‘the Drury Lane of the East’. Originally built in 1828, it had been rebuilt and considerably enlarged after a fire in 1858. Following bankruptcy in the early 1870s, it had been taken over by Morris Abrahams, the manager of the nearby East London Theatre, who appointed Isaac Cohen to run it, which he did very successfully. Over the next 25 years Isaac produced and directed a large number of shows, from straight plays through to pantomimes such as Jack and the Beanstalk. At a benefit held for him at the theatre in 1890 (apparently he had lost much money in a court case), George Conquest, once described as ‘the most stunning actoracrobat of his time’ and a resident of Alleyn Park, performed his celebrated strangling scene from Mankind (a melodrama written by Conquest) as the opening act. Conquest later appeared with Dan Leno, who lived at 2 Stradella Road in 1902–03. A small world. Ian McInnes
l The sixth Herne Hill Music Festival (7–16 October) offers local people the usual range of music from jazz, folk and blues, to family and children’s concerts and classical music. Innovations this year include a family concert of Indian Classical music in Brockwell Hall as part of our Music in the Park on Sunday 9 October, a concert of music by Haydn and Mozart by the Southwark Sinfonietta under Rupert Bond, performances by two rising jazz stars at Off The Cuff, and Fiddling the Night Away with folk fiddlers at Canopy Beer. All the details are on hernehillfestival.org.
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