Ellen Mary Blanche Henderson Massey (16 April 1868 – 27 September 1929) was a British actress and singer. A Gaiety Girl, she was best known for her stage appearances in London and the United States in the 1890s. Among her appearances in many productions with the George Edwardes company, especially in Edwardian musical comedies, she was perhaps most remembered for A Gaiety Girl.
Life and career Massey was born on 16 April 1868 in Northumberland, the daughter of Rose Massey, a well-known actress in her time, who died of consumption in 1883."Personal and Other Jottings", The Morning Call, 7 October 1894 Her father, who was not married to her mother, was the theatrical manager and artist agent Alexander Henderson, also the father of her half-sister Effie Adelaide Rowlands; he was later married to Lydia Thompson.Pascoe, Charles, E. "Rose Massey", The Dramatic List, pp. 259–260 (1880)
Massey appeared in plays, Victorian burlesques and Edwardian musical comedies as A Run of Luck (1888), Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1889) (incorrectly listed as Blanche Massie),Vinent, W.T. Recollections of Fred Leslie, Volume 2, p. 100 (1894) Carmen up to Data (1890),Carmen Up To Data Photo (1890), Retrieved August 4, 2011 Cinder Ellen up too Late (1891), The Geisha (1896),Platt, Len. Joyce, race and Finnegans wake, p. 134 (2007)"Massey in The Geisha", Munsey's Magazine (August 1896) My Friend the Prince (1897), and Lady Madcap (1904).The Play Pictorial, Vol. V (1905)Musical comedy in America, p. 66 (1991 ed.) (orig 1950)
She appeared in both the 1893 West End production of A Gaiety Girl and also the 1894 Broadway production, playing Alma Somerset, the title role, in the latter."A Gaiety Girl Is Here", The New York Times, 19 September 1894 The New York Times reviewer wrote, after its Broadway debut in September 1894, that "Blanche Massey is only to be looked at, and few persons will ever tire of looking at her.""The Week at the Theatres", The New York Times, 23 September 1894Photograph and profile of Massey in A Gaiety Girl", Munsey's Magazine (November 1895), pp. 235 and 237–238
Massey married George F. Tully (1876–1930), an Irish-born actor, who appeared in a few silent films in the 1910s.Who's Who in the Theatre, p. 1030 (1930); Theatrical costume, masks, make-up and wigs: a bibliography and iconography, p. 488; and
She died at age 61, on 27 September 1929.
References
External links Drawing of Massey in Ruy Blas Photo of Massey