Alice Delysia
In the star vehicle Afgar, from 1919 to 1921, first in London, then New York and on tour in the U.S., Delysia's fame was at its height, and her lively performance was celebrated by the critics.
During the Second World War she abandoned the West End and devoted herself to entertaining British and allied troops, marrying a naval officer in the Free French Forces.
[2] In 1903, at the age of 14, she made her stage debut in the chorus for the French premiere of The Belle of New York at the Théâtre du Moulin Rouge.
Cochran's biographer James Harding writes that Odds and Ends "set the standard of all his subsequent revues: beautiful dresses, taste, wit, elegance, brightness, and colour.
"[8] The Times called the show "a pleasant piece of nonsense and sense combined",[9] The revue was originally the final part of a triple bill.
Alice Delysia, a pretty young Frenchwoman, in a travesty called "My Lady's Undress", Fortunately, the incident ended abruptly, and in pitch darkness, otherwise the Censor of Plays, if he were present, might possibly have been seen to blush.
[11] After an uncertain start, the revue was a huge success; the song "We don't want to lose you, but we think you ought to go", encouraging young men to join the army, was a particular hit for Delysia.
[12] Within two months of the opening, Delysia was an established star, invited to take part with Muriel Foster, Charles Hawtrey, Oscar Asche and Isidore de Lara in a charity matinée attended by Queen Alexandra.
Her biographer Anne Pimlott Baker writes that Delysia entertained wounded troops, and took many French refugees and orphans into her home.
[4] In 1916, she made her film début, and took a leading role in SHE, an adaptation of the Rider Haggard story, about a woman's passion for a young traveller.
[14] Delysia was the star of the two further revues that Cochran staged at the Ambassadors, More, in 1915, again by Grattan, and Pell Mell by Fred Thompson and Morris Harvey in 1916.
[20] The show was structured around Delysia, giving her the chance to shine in a succession of roles including Ninon de l'Enclos, Helen of Troy, Elizabeth I, and Cleopatra.
[21] Cochran's, and Delysia's, first new show after the war was Afgar by Fred Thompson and Worton David with music by Charles Cuvillier, which opened at the Pavilion in September 1919.
"[22]The show ran in London for 300 performances, after which Delysia sailed to New York at the end of 1920 for the Broadway production at the Central Theatre, for which she was paid £2,500 a week, a prodigious sum at that time.
[4] The show had a mixed reception,[26] and it suffered a fatal blow when Delysia lost her voice with a throat infection and had to withdraw from the cast six weeks into the run.
During rehearsals for the show, Cochran disliked Coward's song "Poor Little Rich Girl", written for Delysia, and he wanted to cut it.
And even when she bows in acknowledgment of a tumult of applause there is, in her delicate graciousness, something which distinguishes an actress from those who hopefully gambol on to the stage and cheerfully flounder off it.
An adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's Topaze, which was a huge success in Paris, failed to sparkle in its English version, despite a starry cast in which Delysia was joined by Raymond Massey, Martita Hunt, Donald Wolfit and Frank Cellier.
[35] Delysia returned to musical comedy in 1932 in the London production of The Cat and the Fiddle, by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach, presented by Cochran at the Palace Theatre.
It was adapted for the English stage as a vehicle for Delysia by A. P. Herbert from Oscar Straus and Alfred Grünwald's 1932 operetta, Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will.
[38] A year later, she appeared with George Robey, in a farce, Accidentally Yours, by Clifford Grey, adapted from Monsieur à Cinq Heures, by Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber.
[4] Her last London appearance was in 1939 as Hortense in The French for Love, a light comedy by Marguerite Steen and Derek Patmore, co-starring with Athene Seyler and Cecil Parker.
