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Viola Tree

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Viola Tree(17 July 1884 – 15 November 1938) was an English actress, singer, playwright and author. Daughter of the actorHerbert Beerbohm Tree,she made many of her early appearances with his company atHis Majesty's Theatre.Later she appeared in opera,variety,straight theatre and film.

Tree made her London debut in 1904 as Viola inTwelfth Night,and for the next four years she appeared in her father's productions at His Majesty's Theatre, often in Shakespeare roles. She yearned to have an operatic career, and studied in Milan, but sang only two opera roles; she then resumed her career in plays and in variety. In 1919, she became manager of theAldwych Theatre,while continuing her acting career.

In 1930–31 she played onBroadwayand on tour in drama and appeared in theZiegfeld Follies.In London in the 1930s, she played in comedies and tried her hand at directing. Her last West End role was inThe Melody that Got Lostin 1938. She also appeared in four films between 1920 and 1938, wrote two plays and several books, including a novel and a book of etiquette.

Biography

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Tree was born in London, the eldest of three daughters ofHerbert Beerbohm Treeand his wife, the actressHelen Maud Tree,néeHolt.[1]Her aunt was authorConstance Beerbohmand an uncle wasMax Beerbohm.She was educated privately in London and in Europe. Her sisters wereFelicity TreeandIris Tree.She also had seven illegitimate half-siblings, the products of her father's many infidelities, among them the directorCarol Reedand Peter Reed, whose son became the actorOliver Reed.[2]

Stage and film career

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Originally, Tree planned a career as a singer, but entered the family profession in 1904. She made a very successful London debut in March 1904 as Viola inTwelfth Night.[3]For the next four years she appeared in her father's productions atHis Majesty's Theatre.Her otherShakespeareroles included Hero inMuch Ado about Nothing,the Queen inRichard II,Ariel inThe Tempest,Anne Page inThe Merry Wives of Windsor,Ophelia inHamletand Perdita inThe Winter's Tale,in whichEllen Terryplayed Hermione.[1][4]

1907 drawing byJohn Singer Sargent

Tree continued to plan an operatic career, and after making a success in the title role ofIphigénie en Taurideand as Euridice inOrfeo ed Euridiceat theSavoy Theatrein 1910,[5][6]she went toMilanto study. On her return, however, she did not pursue her operatic ambitions, except for playing Euridice again in 1912. Instead, she continued to build her stage career in plays and invariety.[1]In 1912, Tree married a drama critic, Alan Parsons, who died in 1933, aged 44. They had two sons, includingDavid Tree,and a daughter Virginia Penelope Parsons (1917–2003), wife of David Tennant and then the6th Marquess of Bath.[1][7]

In 1919, Tree took over the management of theAldwych Theatre,scoring particular success with the works ofSacha Guitry.[1]Her last Shakespeare role was Helena inA Midsummer Night's Dreamin 1923.[8]In 1930–31 she was in the US, appearing on Broadway and on tour in drama and also appeared in theZiegfeld Follies.[1]Through the 1930s, Tree continually played in light comedies in the West End, varied with occasional unorthodox undertakings. In 1930 she directed an Italian play,La PiccolabyMassimo Bontempelli,in the original Italian,[9]and in 1934 she directedJean-Philippe Rameau's operaCastor et Polluxfor the Oxford University Opera Club.[10]Her last West End appearance was inThe Melody that Got Lost,"a comedy with music", in January 1938.[11]She was an early and strong supporter of the foundation of aNational Theatre.[12][13]

Tree also played in four films between 1920 and 1938,[8]the last of which,Pygmalion,byGeorge Bernard Shaw(1938), completed three generations of the Tree family's connection with premieres of versions of the play: Tree's father created the role of Henry Higgins in the London stage premièrein 1914;[14]Viola Tree revived the play in 1920;[15]and she played a cameo role in the film, in which her son David Tree played Freddy.[16][17]

Writing

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In 1923The Dancers,a play written by Tree in collaboration with the actor-managerGerald du Maurierunder the joint pen name of Hubert Parsons, opened atWyndham's Theatre,starringTallulah Bankheadin her London début.[18]It ran for 349 performances and subsequently transferred to theBroadhurst TheatreonBroadway,where it lasted for 133 performances.[19]She wrote a second play,The Swallow,about decent people coping with the rise of Italian Fascism, produced in London in 1925.[20]Tree published several books: her memoirs,Castles in the Air(1926); a book of etiquette advice,Can I Help You?(1937); a novel; a biography of her husband; and an anthology,Alan Parsons' Book(1937).[21]

Tree died ofpleurisyin London, aged 54.[1]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1917 Masks and Faces Member of Rich's Company #4
1920 Unmarried
1932 For the Love of Mike Emma Miller
1933 The Private Life of Henry VIII Nurse
1935 Heart's Desire Lady Bennington
1938 Pygmalion Perfide Social Reporter (final film role)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^abcdefg"Miss Viola Tree".The Times.No. 48153. London. 16 November 1938. p. 9.Retrieved5 February2024– via The Times Digital Archive.
  2. ^Portrait of the Actor Herbert Beerbohm Tree,the Cyranos film website, accessed 23 September 2009
  3. ^"Miss Viola Tree Makes Successful Debut",The New York Times,26 June 1904, p. 4
  4. ^"His Majesty's Theatre".The Times.No. 38115. London. 3 September 1906. p. 10.Retrieved5 February2024– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^"Royal College of Music".The Times.No. 39200. London. 19 February 1910. p. 8.Retrieved5 February2024– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^"Music".The Times.No. 39245. London. 13 April 1910. p. 10.Retrieved5 February2024– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^Hoare, Philip."Virginia, Marchioness of Bath",The Independent,26 September 2003
  8. ^abShakespeare and the PlayersArchived10 September 2006 at theWayback Machine,accessed 23 September 2009
  9. ^"The Theatres".The Times.No. 45448. London. 27 February 1930. p. 12.Retrieved5 February2024– via The Times Digital Archive.
  10. ^"'Castor And Pollux' At Oxford ".The Times.No. 46915. London. 19 November 1934. p. 10.Retrieved5 February2024– via The Times Digital Archive.
  11. ^"The Melody that Got Lost".The Times.No. 47897. London. 20 January 1938. p. 10.Retrieved5 February2024– via The Times Digital Archive.
  12. ^"The National Theatre".The Times.No. 47976. London. 23 April 1938. p. 9.Retrieved5 February2024– via The Times Digital Archive.
  13. ^"The National Theatre".The Times.No. 48123. London. 12 October 1938. p. 10.Retrieved5 February2024– via The Times Digital Archive.
  14. ^"Mr. Shaw's New Play. 'Pygmalion' at His Majesty's... Sir Herbert Tree's Part".The Times.No. 40496. London. 13 April 1914. pp. 9,10.Retrieved5 February2024– via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^"'Pygmalion' Revived – Mrs. Patrick Campbell's Return ".The Times.No. 42314. London. 22 January 1920. p. 8.Retrieved5 February2024– via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^"New Films in London".The Times.No. 48115. London. 3 October 1938. p. 10.Retrieved5 February2024– via The Times Digital Archive.
  17. ^Slide, Anthony,Fifty classic British films, 1932–1982: a pictorial record,Dover Publications,1985,ISBN0-486-24860-7
  18. ^"Wyndham's Theatre".The Times.No. 43267. London. 16 February 1923. p. 8.Retrieved5 February2024– via The Times Digital Archive.
  19. ^Wearing p. 213
  20. ^"A Bird of Passage".The Manchester Guardian.7 May 1925. p. 12.Retrieved5 February2024– via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^"Viola Tree",The Orlando Project, 2008

Sources

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  • Wearing, J. P.The London Stage 1920–1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel.Rowman & Littlefield (2014).
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