The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-08-08
Dx HAYDEN CHURCH

out OF IL OF inem ana makes the tenth
| into a sure treasure.
Mrs Turnbull has been married for
a years, and has three Children boy
| of 10, who is now at Harrow, and
wishes he were at the front, and two
little girls. both exceedingly attractive
| 4 photograph of the younger of them,
by the way, was one of queen Mary's
! Christmas cards last year, and de-
lighted her majesty, who wrote to say
that she had seldom seen a lovelier
child. You should hear this progresses
ing little damsel of eight. whose name
Is Zoe. sing "Tipperary" in Frenchl
Previous TO her marriage Mrs. Turn
bun was we'll known on the stage, first
in New York and later in London as
Elliott Page" She told me about her
| dramatic career as we sat at tea in her
garden, with a white Australian cocxa-
too which she brought back from that
country, and which is a gifted CONVEX
sationalist, screaming impolite moth
! ings over our heads.
MY father, who owned a good deal
| of real estate in the western states,
as well as in Fifth avenue and other
parts of New York, was one of the VIC
TINS of the first Black Friday there. ="
Mrs, Turnbull said. "and it was neces
sary for me to find some kind of en-
ployment, so I decided on the stage.
had luck from the start, and made my
| first appearance with E. II. Sothern at
! the New York Lyceum in The Dancing
Girl by Henry Arthur Jones After
| that I was with Elsie de Wolf for two
years and then I decided to come to
England, having a godfather here in
the person of the late Viscount Parker
/ who was one of my own fathers best
| friends. BY the way, I must tell you
| that he drank the health and happiness
of his little goddaughter' al Sherborne
castle on the night of my christening
| day.
80 to England 7 came, accompanied
by my mother from whom. I may tell
you, l have never been separated SINCE
| not even during the two years that
| spent in Australia ! was the first Amer
lean girl to make a serious appearance
on the London stage-long before Fay
Davis, who Is generally looked upon as
the pioneer-and I made good quite soon
I first studied with the famous Sarah
Thorne, who gave a special matinee of
| The Joker for me. AS a result of it /
got two offers of engagements-one from
George Alexander The signature of the
other letter l couldn't read. so r. paid
hardly any attention to 1t. Later it
proved to have been from Forbes Robert
soni
| IT appeared with Alexander in Oscar
| Wilde's famous play, The Importance of
Being Earnest and understudied Irene
Vanbrugh. Wilde was greatly pleased
with my work and told me that he had
arranged with Alexander that I should
play the leading part in a Florentine play
which he had Just finished ard for which
Alexander had already paid him 5000
Just then, however, came Wilde's dis
grace. and l never got the chance he
promised me- The play has never been
produced. l wonder what has become of
it,"
Later she played with Wilson Barrett
in THE Sign of the Cross and with
Charles Hawtrey in THE Mummy" and
created a record of herself producing
and appearing in what was virtually
the first sketch" ever done by West
End actress at a London music hall. The
piece, which was called THE Order of
the Bath" was given at the Palace"
and 100 nights there and soon after
wards Elliott Pages lead in thus "going
or the Halls" the phrase Is, was fol-
lowed by many other stars of the legitl-
mate stage. The American girl herself
went to Australia and played there sue
cessfully for a couple of years. She was
a great success socially too, it seems
going, as she put it, "from one govern
ment house to another And then she
came back to England and, after some
more acting in distinguished company got
married This in 1901.
Since then, as a playwright, Mrs Turn
bull has made quite an enviable name for
herself One of her first pieces, written
with Nora Wynne and called "Notoriett"
was accepted by Charles Hawtrey, WHO
paid $1,000 down for it and then, having
had bad luck in the meantime, had to
postpone production so long that the play
got out of date. 1t must have contained
good stuff at any rate, for Mrs. John
Wood, the English actress who had heard
1t read, offered $500 for a single speech in
the last act, her intention being to have
another piece written around this speech
alone. But her offer was NOT accepted
THE Wheat King" Mrs. Turnbull's dra-
matization of THE PITT was given at
the Apollo, London, in 1904 and had a
pleasing reception, though no one con-
cerned made a fortune out of it. Later
His Lordships Cure was produced,
first in Johannesburg and afterwards, at
al special matinee in London.
This piece in which chrysanthemum
| culture figures prominently, was writ
ten by its American author in collabor-
alton with "Dolf Wyllard" the gifted
authoress of THE Story of Eden" and
SO many other stories of South African
life. Mrs Turnbull is rather proud
of this as 1t represents the only oc-
casion on which Miss "Wyllard'' has
consented to collaborate with anyone
The special matinee of this play was
given by Mrs. Turnbull for the bene-
fit of a special fund that was being
raised by Prince Francis of Teck for
the Middlesex hospital, and so success
full was 1t that she was promptly made
a life governor of that institution 1t
will not be surprising in the least If
Ills Lordships Cure" makes a big hit
when presented regularly here and
meanwhile its energetic author. this
time in collaboration with Ronald
Macdonald, distinguished son of a IA
nous father, is hard at work on new
play. It's theme is exceptionally inter-
esting, being concerned with condi-
tons in England as they are likely to
be after the war.
Muswell Hill, where she and her hus-
band have their beautiful home, takes
its name from a certain Mouse Weir
that was famous in the time of King
John. The original site of this we'll
was sought for, some few years ago,
and it was at first thought to be in
the Turnbulls' garden, but afterward
was located elsewhere. Their grounds,
which are extensive and include a fine
tennis court beside the big garden al
ready mentioned, command by the
way a view of the renowned Alexandra
palace. in peace times a sort of local
Madison Square Garden, but which now
is full of German prisoners. Every
year before this Mrs. Turnbull has
= held a big garden party, at which no
] end of celebrities invariably have been
= present. One of these parties was
, given in honor of Felice Lyme, the
S American girl whose voice took Lon
= don by storm when Oscar Hammerstein
e opened his beautiful but i'll fated opera
r house here.
e At present the fair embodiment of
S American hustle is busy in further