Ada Blanche
[1] In 1878 she toured in Britain with the actor-manager Charles Calvert in Olivia, W. G. Wills's adaptation of Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield, playing Polly Flamborough to her mother's Mrs Primrose.
[1] In 1879–80 she played at the Imperial Theatre in a rival version of Goldsmith's story, adapted by Tom Taylor and starring Marie Litton, Lionel Brough and Kyrle Bellew.
[8] On tour or in London she played in the burlesques Little Jack Sheppard (1886) and Miss Esmeralda (1887), and, as Farren aged, Blanche took the title roles in Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1890) and Joan of Arc (1891).
[1] Blanche was only briefly among the top names in West End burlesque, but in the 1890s she achieved and maintained the highest degree of stardom in pantomime under the management of Sir Augustus Harris at Drury Lane.
In the six seasons from December 1892 she starred there in the theatre's lavish pantomime versions of Little Bo-Peep, Robinson Crusoe, Dick Whittington and His Cat, Cinderella, Aladdin and Babes in the Wood.
[1] In the title role of Robinson Crusoe, she was singled out by The Times for mention before her famous co-stars, Little Tich, Dan Leno, Marie Lloyd and Herbert Campbell.
The paper commented, "Miss Ada Blanche as Robinson Crusoe would probably have astonished Daniel Defoe; but her liveliness and amusing impertinence atoned for lack of fidelity to the original character.
Her vivacious but refined method, her expressive singing, clever dancing, and general daintiness of touch have long since made her a favourite with local theatre-goers, as was abundantly proved by the cordiality of her reception last night.
Miss Blanche is, of course, the telephone girl, and as the interest centres in Lottie Myrtle and her love affair, it need hardly be said that she once again proved her right to be accorded a high rank among English actresses of vaudeville and burlesque.
[1] The great West End success of Blanche's career came in her mid-40s in the hit musical comedy The Arcadians, in which she had the non-singing comic role of Mrs Smith, the wife of the protagonist.
