Jennie Lee (c. 1854Birth year based on a 1904 article in which Lee stated she was fourteen when her father died, about a year and a half prior to her stage debut in the fall of 1869. – 3 May 1930) was a Victorian-era English stage actress, singer and dancer whose career was largely entwined with the title role in Jo, a melodramaAlso known as Poor Jo, Joe or Bleak House. her husband, John Pringle Burnett,usually billed as J. P. Burnett) wove around a relatively minor character from the Charles Dickens novel Bleak House. She made her stage debut in London at an early age and found success in New York and San Francisco not long afterwards. Lee may have first starred in Jo around 1874 during her tenure at San Francisco's California Theatre, but her real success came with the play's London debut on 22 February 1876 at the Globe Theatre in Newcastle Street. Jo ran for many months at the Globe and other London venues before embarking for several seasons on tours of the British Isles, a return to North America, tours of Australia and New Zealand and later revivals in Britain. Reduced circumstances over her final years forced Lee to seek assistance from an actor's pension fund subsidised in part by proceeds from Royal Command Performances.Pascoe, Charles Eyre (editor). The Dramatic List: A Record of the Principal Performances of Living Actors of the British Stage, 1879, p. 228. Retrieved 4 January 2014Jennie Lee Dead; Won Fame on Stage. The New York Times, 4 May 1930, p. 30

Early life and career

Emily Lee was born in London, the daughter of Edwin George Lee, an artist of some note who worked in the mediums of watercolour and wood engraving.Kumm, Elisabeth, "Jennie Lee and Bleak House", theatreheritage.org.au. Retrieved 8 April 2018. Her father counted among his friends the writer Charles Dickens and artist John Everett Millais. Lee would sometimes accompany her father to the latter's studio, where, on occasion, she would sit for the artist; as did her maternal aunt, Anne Ryan, the young woman depicted in his painting A Huguenot.

Lee was raised in a large household that included seven siblings and her father's younger brothers, whom she liked to call "her three wicked uncles". Lee once described her father as austere and that what fun she found as a child often occurred surreptitiously or while he was away on one of his frequent painting excursions. Often during these absences, she would sneak into her father's library to read books normally forbidden to her or organise family plays with the help of her three uncles.

In the fall of 1869, some eighteen months after her father's death, Lee made her stage debut at London's Lyceum Theatre as one of the twelve pages in Chilpéric, an opéra bouffe with libretto and music by Hervé. At the same venue later in 1870, Lee was a crossing sweeper in Hervé's operetta Le petit Faust, and in July 1870 at the Royal Strand Theatre she played Prince Ahmed in Henry James Byron's romance The Pilgrim of Love.We Are Amused Exhibit Labels and Images – University of Illinois . Retrieved 24 January 2014

New York

Lee remained at the Strand Theatre through the season of 1870–71 and afterwards accepted an offer from E. A. Sothern to play Mary Meredith that fall at New York's Niblo's Garden in a revival of Our American Cousin.Amusements this Evening. The New York Times, 23 October 1871, p. 4 After Our American Cousin closed, Lee (As Jenny Lee) continued to play at Niblo's in such productions as the fairy operetta Queen Naiad, by Emile Pacardo and Charles. F. Gordon;Amusements this Evening. The New York Times, 28 February 1872, p. 4Emile Pacardo and Charles. F. Gordon. Libretto of the Fairy Operetta of the Naiad Queen, or the Mission of Justice, Faith and Mercy, 1872. Retrieved 5 January 2014 and as Rosey Budd in Black Friday, Henry Harwood Leech's drama based on the murder of financier James Fisk Jr.Amusements, Black Friday. The New York Times, 23 April 1872, p. 5 Black Friday closed on 5 May 1872, just two days before a devastating fire destroyed Niblo's Garden.Another Landmark Gone. The New York Times, 7 May 1872, p. 8The Biograph and Review, July–December 1880, pp. 483–486. Retrieved 25 January 2014

The following month Lee joined the Vokes family at the Boston Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, as Betsey Baker in a farce-comedy entitled The Wrong Man in the Right Place.Amusements. Boston Daily Advertiser, (Boston, Massachusetts), 28 June 1872, Issue 154, p. 1, col. ABoston Theatre (advertisement). Boston Daily Advertiser, (Boston, Massachusetts), 2 July 1872, Issue 2, p. 1, col. A Lee next appeared with the Vokes family in New York at the Union Square Theatre in the William Brough comedy Kind to a Fault,Union Square Theatre. The New York Times, 21 July 1872, p. 7 and the same venue in September 1872 she joined Agnes Ethel's company, which included J. P. Burnett, in Agnes, a play written specifically for Agnes Ethel by Victorien Sardou.Union Square Theatre (advertisement), The New York Times, 25 September 1872, p. 7 After a serious illness, Lee returned to the Union Square Theatre on 31 December 1872 to play a principle part in J. P. Woolner's one-act playlette Orange Blossoms.Union Square Theatre (advertisement), The New York Times, 29 December 1872, p. 7 She closed out 1872–73 season there playing Blanche in a comedy by M. Louis Leyroy entitled Cousin Jack.Union Square Theatre (advertisement), The New York Times, 21 March 1873, p. 7 On 12 June 1873, the Union Square Theatre held a benefit performance on Lee's behalf with a production of Thomas William Robertson's Caste, with the British-born actor James Henry Stoddart in the role of Eccles.Union Square Theatre (advertisement), The New York Times, 12 June 1873, p. 7 Afterwards Lee returned to England for a brief visit.

San Francisco

In August 1873, Lee and J. P. Burnett returned to New York aboard the Steamship IdahoAmusements, The New York Times, 13 August 1873, p. 4 and subsequently travelled by rail to San Francisco, where they joined up with Susan Galton to form the Susan Galton and Jennie Lee Opera Bouffe, Burlesque and Comedy Troupe. Their first engagements there came in early September to mid-October at the New Alhambra Theatre in productions of the comedies Thrice Married by Howard Paul (1830–1905)The Athenaeum 1905, p. 848. Retrieved 10 January 2014 and Andrew Halliday's Checkmate; operettas Fanchette; The Flower Girls of Paris; Too Many Cooks; Charles Selby's three-act comedy Peggy Green; and an opera bouffe entitled Trom-Al-Ca-Zar.New Alhambra Theatre (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco), 2 September 1873, p. 1, col. AAlhambra Theatre (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco), 18 September 1873, p. 1 col. DAlhambra Theatre (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco), 23 September 1873; Issue 144; col. D

By the third week of October, Lee's company had moved to Gray's Opera House, where they would remain until the end of February 1874. There she and Burnett played Mr. and Mrs. Honeyton in the comedietta The Perfect Pair;Gray's Opera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco), 20 October 1873, p. 1, col. E Fanny Curry and Mr. Dabster in the farce playlette Dabster Done;Gray's Opera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco, California) 31 October 1873, p. 1 col. E and in November Lee was Wanda, the peasant girl, to Galton's Grand Duchess in an adaptation of La Grande-Duchesse de GérolsteinGray's Opera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 10 November 1873, p. 1 col. D and Fleurette to Galton's Boulotte in Offenbach's Barbe-bleue.Gray's Opera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 29 November 1873, p. 1 col. G The following month Lee reprised her role in productions of Kind to a FaultOpera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 11 December 1873, p. 1 col. D and later appeared with Burnett in the comedietta The Happy Pair.Opera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 19 December 1873, p. 1 col. D The year ended in productions of the chinoiserie extravaganza Ching-Chow-Hi, an adaptation of Offenbach's Ba-ta-clan.Moon, Krystin R. 2005, Yellowface: Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performances, p. 25. Retrieved 10 January 2014

Early in January 1874, Lee played Jelly, the chambermaid in an English farce entitled Beautiful Forever,Opera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 6 January 1873, p. 1 col. D and appeared in the H. J. Byron burlesque extravaganza Eily O'Conner, based on Boucicault's The Colleen Bawn.Opera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 12 January 1874, p. 1 col. D On 19 January, Lee and Burnett played Mrs. Julia Juniper and Mr. Singleton Sunbury in the Frederic Hay one-act farce Lodgers and Dodgers.Opera House (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 20 January 1874, p. 1 col. D A week later Lee was reported to have fallen seriously ill during an engagement in Sacramento.Brief Mention. Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 28 February 1874, p. 1 col. E

By 31 March, Lee and Burnett had apparently parted from Galton's troupe and were now appearing together at San Francisco's California Theatre in Thomas Haynes Bayly's one-act farce The Maid of Munster.California Theatre (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 31 March 1874, p. 1 col. D The two remained at the California and later Platt's Hall into the month of April appearing in the two-act English farce The Happy Pair and several benefit shows.Platt's Hall (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 7 April 1874, p. 1 col. D On 23 May at San Francisco's Maguire's New Theatre Lee was the heroine Gilberte in Augustin Daly's adaptation of the Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac five-act comedy, Frou-Frou.Augustin Daly, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy. Four Frou: A Play of Powerful Human Interest. Retrieved 13 December 2014Maguire's New Theatre (advertisement). Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 22 May 1874, p. 1 col. E

Lee returned to the California Theatre in June 1874 for an engagement that would last into August of the following year. In June and July, she played Mary Meredith to Edward Sothern's Lord Dundreary in Our American Cousin;Amusements. Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 29 June 1874, p. 1 col. E in July, Polly Eccles, in Thomas Robertson's comedy Home;Amusements Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 30 June 1874, p. 1 col. C in August, Zamora to Bella Pateman's Juliana, in John Tobin's comedy The Honeymoon;Amusements Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 21 August 1874, p. 1 col. F Athenian Society (London, England). 1903, The Drama; its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, Volume 16, p. 6. Retrieved 18 January 2014 in October, Bob, the boot-black, to Frank Mayo's Badger, in Dion Boucicault's The Streets of New York;also known as The Poor of New YorkAmusements Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 20 October 1874, p. 1 col. G in November, Susan to William Florence's Captain Cuttle, in John Brougham's adaptation of Dickens's Dombey and Son;Amusements Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 17 November 1874, p. 1 col. G in December, Bridget Maguire to Florence's Bryan O'Farrell, in Edmund Falconer's Eileen Oge;Amusements Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 7 December 1874, p. 1 col. F in January 1875, reprised Polly Eccles for her benefit performance of Robertson's Home;Amusements Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco, California) 14 January 1875, p. 1 col. E and in February, Mrs. Wobbler in Henry J. Byron's drama Blow for Blow.Amusements Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco) 18 February 1875, p. 1 col. C