A
Glimpse of Theater History
Olga
Nethersole (1870-1957), Actress, Manager
Olga Nethersole, hailed as the best "emotional actress" of her day and panned as a hack with no technical skills, was the focus of one of the earliest confrontations between the forces of "decency" and "censorship" and those of "license" and "freedom of expression." In 1897, her portrayal of Carmen included what became known as the "Nethersole kiss," an apparently realistic liplock that caused a sensation and generated a sensational amount of publicity. Then, during the first performance of Clyde Fitch's Sapho at Wallack's Theatre February 16, 1900, Hamilton Reveille carried Miss Nethersole upstairs! While that opening night audience saw nothing untoward in this clearly sexually charged scene, the following morning's newspapers carried scandalized headlines which portrayed the scene as "shocking," with the result that the second night was closed down by the local constabulary. The matter had to be settled in court, where Miss Nethersole's win established a precedent that persists to this day. William Winter, never a fan of hers, sniffed that "…her level of speaking was hard, dry, monotonous, and frequently tame," but he noted that "in moments of excitement she created a disturbance which passed for emotion…" But the coverage that the trial generated, ensured a box office smash, and the play settled into quite a prosperous run.
Miss Olga Nethersole was born in Kensington (London), the daughter of "a woman of Spanish descent" and a man who was descended from an ancient Kentish family. Educated in England and Germany, she was obliged to go on the stage to support herself due to the untimely death of her father. In March 1887, she made her professional debut as Lettice Vane in Henry Hamilton's Harvest at the Theatre Royal, Brighton. Following a year in the provinces, she made her London debut in a minor role on a hot July evening at the Adelphi in Sidney Grundy and Henry Pettitt's The Union Jack.
She played her first major role in October of that year in another Grundy
collaboration, The Dean's Daughter, a "comedy drama"
co-authored by F. C. Phillips. Nethersole played the daughter of a debt-ridden,
gluttonous, hypocritical clergyman (Barrington), who is dunned into giving
his daughter to his ravenous creditors. She is only saved by the intervention
of her young lover, played by Lewis Waller. It was the first managerial
effort of Rutland Barrington at the St. James, and a colorful first night
it was. W. Macqueen-Pope recounts the potentially inauspicious beginning
of several careers:
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…Clement Scott, the critic, had by some unknown word or deed provoked the ire of the pit and gallery, and when he took his seat in the stalls the hoots and boos from those quarters concentrated in a dreadful din. This demonstration, repeated during the interval, inevitably upset the new-actor-manager and his company and negated any chance of them assuaging their usual first-night nerves. It distracted the audience, took whose thoughts right from the start were intrigued more by the row than the happenings on stage. After all, they could watch a show at any time, but a rowdy show, if only because so rare, had its own special appeal and peculiar points of attraction. The commotion, simmering throughout, broke into a fury at the end. Barrington was trying to quell the disorder by dimming the lights when help came in the person of George Edwardes, know by common consent as "The Guv'nor". He addressed the malcontents in his own impressive style. "Boys," he bawled, "you're not giving Barrington a chance. Go home quietly and say what you like to Mr. Scott outside." As they cheered, George improved the occasion by adding: "Don't forget the first night at the Gaiety next week." The cheered again and presently went on their way. So far as could be estimated through the din, the play itself had a good reception. They all had a warm spot for Barrington, and he had to take a call at the end. So did his young leading lady, Olga Nethersole--another of St. James's lucky artistes--who, from that time on, never looked back… |
Still the reviews savaged the play while praising Miss Nethersole. And her professional career was launched. She next appeared as Lola Montez in The Silver Falls at the Strand. Then at the opening of the Garrick Theatre, Miss Nethersole became a member of John Hare's company, appearing in Pinero's The Profligate, in La Tosca, and A Fool's Paradise. She remained with Hare four years before departing to tour Australia for ten months with Charles Cartwright, appearing in a varied repertory which included The Idler, Moths, The Village Priest, The Fortune of War, and A Scrap of Paper among others.
When she returned to London, she rejoined John Hare at the Criterion and appeared as the Countess Zicka in a revival of Diplomacy and created the leading role in The Silent Battle, a play written by an American novelist, Isaac Henderson.
Then in 1894 Miss Nethersole made her first foray into management, leasing the Royal Court Theatre, in London, and there produced The Transgressor. Her American debut took place at Palmer's Theatre, New York, October 15, 1894, again in The Transgressor.
A Partial list of her performance credits:
Mary Magdalene
The Writing on the Wall
The Awakening
The Enigma
I Pagliacci
Carmen
Sapho
Magda
Camille
The Second Mrs. Tanqueray
Adrienne Lecouveur
The Labyrinth
The Profligate
The Termagant
The Wife of Scarli
The Transgressor