page_title: Daisy Burrell
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: Daisy Burrell / Early career
caption_attribution_description: English: Theatrical postcard of Daisy Burrell (born 1897) and William Spray appearing in an English production of Franz Lehár's operetta Gipsy Love (1913).
context_page_description: Daisy Burrell, real name Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Ratton, was a British stage actress and Edwardian musical comedy performer who also appeared as a leading lady in silent films and in pantomime.
  In 1951 she appeared in The Golden Year, the first musical comedy produced for television.
context_section_description: Taking her step-father's surname, at least as a performer, Burrell first appeared on stage at the London Hippodrome in July 1903, playing the part of Kitty in The Redskins, a water spectacular by Alicia Ramsey. She went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music, and in 1909 played the part of Youth in Give Heed, a modern morality play by Blanche G. Vulliamy, performed by students of the Guildhall School at the Court Theatre.
  On leaving, she went into pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and first came to wide attention in 1910, appearing at the Vaudeville Theatre in The Girl in the Train. After closing in London this production, starring Burrell in the title role, went on tour until 1911, with the Gloucestershire Echo reporting that "Miss Daisy Burrell acts and sings delightfully Gonda Van der Loo".
  After that, Burrell was with George Edwardes's touring company for six years, appearing in the hit Edwardian musical comedies The Marriage Market, Peggy, The Sunshine Girl and others. In The Marriage Market, she played a midshipman. In 1912, she sang the part of Juliette in a production of Franz Lehár's operetta The Count of Luxembourg, as one of the five principals, together with Phyllis le Grand, Eric Thorne, Lauri de Frece, and Robert Michaelis, who were collectively described by the Musical News as "all consummate artists in their own style". The next year she appeared in his Gipsy Love.
  She played a boy, David Playne, in the original cast of Lonsdale, Unger, and Rubens's new musical Betty, which opened at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester on Christmas Eve, 1914, and transferred to Daly's Theatre in the West End on 24 April 1915. Interviewed in the Daily Sketch dated May 11, 1915, Burrell said this was the first time she had originated a part in London, and while she loved playing at Daly's, she was "tremendously envious of skirts and pretty clothes". In reviewing the play, The Tatler hailed Burrell as “a Great Girl-Boy”. A year later, Burrell was interviewed for The Era and was asked “And those boys’ parts you have made so famous?” She replied “Merci, Monsieur. I am now coming to that.“
  Also in 1915, Burrell played the title role of Cinderella in the pantomime, with the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News commenting that “the Cinderella of Miss Daisy Burrell contributes very much, for she is a sweet and attractive little heroine... As a spectacle, her adventures are all prettiness and daintiness.”
caption: Daisy Burrell with William Spray in Franz Lehár's Gipsy Love (1913)
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