¹ “Symbol of innovation” from Watson, Ernest Bradlee, Sheridan to Robertson: A Study of the Nineteenth-Century London Stage (Cambridge, Mass., 1926), p. 380CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

² See, for example: Carlson, Marvin, “Montigny, Laube, Robertson: The Early Realists,” Educational Theatre Journal, XXIV (10 1972), 227–236CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mackie, W. Craven, “The Bancrofts' Repertory, 1865 to 1885,” ETJ, XXVII (03 1975), 98–110Google Scholar.

³ West, E. J., “The Original Robertsonians: Competency, a Touch of Genius, and the Make-up Box,” Speech Monographs, XVI (09 1949), 265Google Scholar; Pascoe, Charles Eyre, The Dramatic List (London, 1879), p. 11Google Scholar.

⁴ Wilton was often referred to as a “genius” during her career; some sample references: Scott, Clement, The Drama of Yesterday and Today (London, 1899), II, 204Google Scholar; Archer, Frank, An Actor's Notebooks (London, 1912?), p. 26Google Scholar; Spectator, 24 April 1926.

⁵ “Epoch” in Shaw, George Bernard, Dramatic Opinions and Essays (London, 1912), II, 281Google Scholar. Marie Effie Wilton was born on January 12, 1839. (Squire, and Bancroft, Marie, The Bancrofts: Recollections of Sixty Years London, 1909, p. 220Google Scholar). This date is confirmed by the DNB, 1922–1930, p. 61. Squire, and Bancroft, Marie, Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft On and Off the Stage (London, 1888), I, 29, 200–210Google Scholar, subsequently referred to as On and Off.

⁶ Reynolds, Ernest, Early Victorian Drama (1830–1870) (Cambridge, 1936), p. 2Google Scholar. See also: Rahill, Frank, “A Mid-Victorian Regisseur,” Theatre Arts Monthly, XIII (11 1929), 841Google Scholar.

⁷ See especially: London Review, 18 November 1865; Pall Mall Gazette, 17 November 1865; Times, 14 November 1865; Bell's Life in London, 18 November 1865.

⁸ Orchestra, 18 November 1865; Bell's Life in London, 18 November 1865; Illustrated Times, 18 November 1865; Era, 19 November 1865.

⁹ Illustrated Times, 6 January 1866.

¹⁰ The following parts and/or productions have been confirmed by the Times: Perdita, , Perdita, the Royal Milkmaid (1856)Google Scholar; Serena, , Conrad and Medora (1856)Google Scholar; Cupid, , Atalanta (1857)Google Scholar; Cupid, , Harlequin and the Lovers of Cupid and Psyche (1857)Google Scholar; Pippo, , The Maid and the Magpie (1848)Google Scholar; Raleigh, Sir Walter, Kenilworth (1858)Google Scholar; Juliet, , Romeo and Juliet; or, the Cup of Cold Pisen (1859)Google Scholar; Tell, Albert, “Tell” and the Strike of the Cantons (1859)Google Scholar; Karl, , The Miller and His Men (1860)Google Scholar; Aladdin, , Aladdin; or, the Wonderful Scamp (1861)Google Scholar; Milesna-Coppaleen, , Miss Eily O'Connor (1862)Google Scholar; ?, The Great Sensation Trial (1863); Orpheus, , Orpheus and Eurydice (1863)Google Scholar; Mazourka, , Mazourka (1864)Google Scholar; Alessio, , La! Sonnambula! (1865)Google Scholar; Edgar, , Lucia di Lammermoor (1865)Google Scholar; Don Giovanni, Little, Little Don Giovanni (1865)Google Scholar.

¹¹ OED.

¹² On and Off, I, 46. “Graceful”: Punch, 2 March 1861; Players, 3 March 1860; Orchestra, 2 January 1864. On her ability to speak puns: Athenaeum, 18 April 1857; Illustrated Times, 2 January 1864; Orchestra, 2 July 1864.

¹³ See, for example, “vivacity”: Athenaeum, 8 April 1857; Times, 28 December 1863; Players, 12 April 1860. “Archness”: Examiner, 18 April 1857; Times, 28 December 1857; Times, 28 December 1863. “Piquancy”: Orchestra, 2 January 1864; John Bull, 9 January 1864; Baker, H. Barton, The London Stage and Its Famous Players 1576–1903 (London, 1904), II, 133Google Scholar.

¹⁴ McCarthy, Justin, Portraits of the Sixties (London, 1903), p. 294Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Players, 12 April 1860.

¹⁶ On and Off, I, 79–80; Forster, John, The Life of Charles Dickens, ed. Ley, J. W. T. (London, 1928), p. 668Google Scholar. See also a photograph of Wilton as Pippo in Donaldson, Frances, The Actor-Managers (Chicago, 1970), opp. p. 64Google Scholar.

¹⁷ On and Off, I, 82–83.

¹⁸ Non-burlesque productions Wilton appeared in from her London debut, Sept. 22, 1856, to the opening of the Prince of Wales's, 1865, (from the Times): Henri, , Belphegor (1856)Google Scholar; Lemondrop, , My Friend from Leatherhead (1857)Google Scholar; ?, Dominique the Deserter (1857); ?, The Drapery Question (1857); ?, Legend of the Headless Man (1857); Halcyon, Harry, The Middy Ashore (1857)Google Scholar; Betty, , Rory O'More (1858)Google Scholar; ?, Guy Mannering (1859); Dalrymple, Kate, The Little Savage (1858)Google Scholar; Katinka, , Which of the Two (1859)Google Scholar; Charlotte, , Captain Charlotte (1859)Google Scholar; Minka, , The Great Russian Bear (1859)Google Scholar; Morton, Lucy, Court Favor (1861)Google Scholar; ?, More Precious Than Gold (1861); ?, A Lover By Proxy (1861); D'Harville, Louis, A Lucky Escape (1861)Google Scholar; Gushington, Kate, Marriage at Any Price (1862)Google Scholar; ?, The Little Treasure (1863); Alice, , A Grey Mare (1863)Google Scholar; Nan, , Good for Nothing (1863)Google Scholar; May, , The Little Sentinel (1863)Google Scholar; Beckwith, Florence, Unlimited Confidence (1864)Google Scholar; Juliet, , scene, balcony, Romeo and Juliet (1864)Google Scholar.

¹⁹ Ibid., 65; Players, 3 March 1860; Orchestra, 6 February 1864. “Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft Interviewed,” Black and White, VI (11 11, 1893)Google Scholar. “Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft,” Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States From the Days of David Garrick to the Present Times, ed. Matthews, Brander and Hutton, Laurence (New York, 1886), V, 31Google Scholar; Athenaeum, cited in On and Off I, 97–98.

²⁰ Wilton, describes her appearance as Perdita in On and Off, I, 44Google Scholar.

²¹ Ibid., II, 242; O'Connor, T. P., “Lady Bancroft: Personal Recollections,” undated clipping in the Theatre Collection, New York Public LibraryGoogle Scholar. See also, photograph of Wilton, in Recollections, opp. p. 56Google Scholar.

²² 15 May 1880; Bancroft, Squire, Empty Chairs (New York, 1925), p. 231Google Scholar. Saturday Review, 6 June 1885.

²³ “Memoir of Miss Marie Wilton,” published with Morton, Thomas, The Great Russian Bear; or, Another Retreat from Moscow (London, n.d.)Google Scholar. On her “pointmaking,” see: Athenaeum, 18 April 1857; Illustrated Times, 2 January 1864. Times, 14 April 1857; Illustrated Times, 2 January 1864. “Chapters on Histrionic Art III. Abandon.” Theatre, 30 October 1877.

²⁴ On and Off, I, 83.

²⁵ Ibid., 10, 28, 30, 38.

²⁶ Punch, 2 March 1861. For critical reactions to other, similar parts, see Orchestra, 6 February 1864; Athenaeum, cited in On and Off, I, 97– 98.

²⁷ On and Off. I, 100–110.

²⁸ Ibid., 11; Bancroft, George Pleydell, Stage and Bar (London, 1939), p. 264Google Scholar.

²⁹ Bell's Life in London, 17 June 1865. See also, Times, 12 June 1865; Illustrated London News, 17 June 1865.

³⁰ On and Off. I, 201– 202.

³¹ “Slough of burlesque,” Edmund Yates, “Celebrities at Home,” World, X (April 9, 1879), 5Google Scholar. On the pernicious effects of burlesque, see in particular, Martin, Theodore, “A Word About Our Theatres,” Frasers Magazine (February, 1858)Google Scholar, and the reference to Robertson's “curious philippic … on the decline of the drama and the meretricious tendency of the stage towards burlesque,” in Orchestra, 2 June 1866.

³² Wilton's non-burlesque parts from the opening of the Prince of Wales's in 1865 to Robertson's death in 1871: Spritt, Susanna, A Fair Pretender (1865)Google Scholar; MrsDelacour, , War to the Knife (1865)Google Scholar; Hetherington, Maud, Society (1865)Google Scholar; Barlow, Alice, A Hundred Thousand Pounds (1866)Google Scholar; Netley, Mary, Ours (1866)Google Scholar; Eccles, Polly, Caste (1867)Google Scholar; Cruiser, Atalanta, How She Loves Him! (1867)Google Scholar; Fanquehere, Rosie, Play (1868)Google Scholar; MrsLangley, , Tame Cats (1868)Google Scholar; Tighe, Naomi, School (1869)Google Scholar; Dunscombe, Cecilia, M. P. (1870)Google Scholar.

³³ Shaw, II, 284–285.

³⁴ On and Off, II, 414.

³⁵ Bancrofts, , Recollections, 105, 318–319Google Scholar.

³⁶ On and Off, II, 414.

³⁷ On and Off, II, 413; James, Henry. The Scenic Art—Notes on Acting and the Drama: 1872–1901, ed. Wade, Allan (New Brunswick, N. J., 1948), pp. 149–150Google Scholar. The famous photograph of Wilton and John Hare peeking out from under the tea table in Caste (Act III) has been widely reproduced; it can most easily be found in Recollections, opp. p. 96.

³⁸ Cited in Recollections, 94.

³⁹ Ibid.; On and Off, II, 411–412.

⁴⁰ It opened on 9 March 1867 after Byron and Wilton had agreed to dissolve their partnership; perhaps Wilton appeared in the part as an act of good will after the tensions involved in their breakup. It is also interesting to note that Robertson wrote one part especially for Wilton before Mary Netley—the boy Jaques in an unproduced burlesque intended for the Strand (Pemberton, Robertson, pp. 77–78).

⁴¹ Robertson, , Works, I, 95Google Scholar. Robertson, of course, had a keen appreciation of the talents of “the burlesque actress”; his remarkable tribute, first published in the Illustrated Times, reprinted in Pemberton (pp. 120–121), might be a portrait of Wilton in her years at the Strand.

⁴² Era, 14 April 1867; Robertson, I, 105, 140.

⁴³ On and Off, I, 222.

⁴⁴ Baker, , London Stage, II, 322Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ From the Bancrofts' promptbook for Caste in the Enthoven Theatre Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, facing p. 17. The book consists of a printed text affixed to larger pages with notes in ink in differing hands; the cast list for the original (1867) production is printed; the lists for 1871, 1879, 1883 are added in ink. There seems to be no way of knowing exactly when the various additions and cuts were made, but it seems clear from contemporary reviews that Wilton's performance of Polly Eccles did not change appreciably over the years.

⁴⁶ Saturday Review, 27 January 1883.

⁴⁷ 19 January 1879.

⁴⁸ On and Off, II, 411–412.

⁴⁹ Watson, 380.

⁵⁰ 25 January 1979. See also: World, 15 January 1879; Era, 19 January 1879; Illustrated London News, 27 January 1883.

⁵¹ Caste promptbook, p. 24 and facing page.

⁵² World, 15 January 1879. See also on the issue of vulgarity: Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 27 January 1883; St. James's Gazette, 25 January 1883. For examples of earlier reviews citing these same qualities, see: Orchestra, 30 April 1864; Orchestra, 6 February 1864; Bell's Life in London, 17 June 1865; Bell's Life in London, 13 May 1866.

⁵³ On and Off, II, 47–48. Wilton, is here speaking of her work on Peg Woffington in Masks and Faces (1875)Google Scholar, but her comments may be taken generally; she repeats them, with one important shift in emphasis in a later interview in Black and White (cited above): “When I play a part for which I really care, I put the whole of myself into it. There isn't a sentence which I don't try a dozen different ways, until I've found the one which to my mind best fits with the personality of the character [italics mine]. The last seems an inspiration, telling me that so the real woman would have spoken—with such looks and gestures. … ” The shift is a crucial one, but the evidence seems to indicate that her earlier statement is closer to the way Wilton actually worked.

⁵⁴ Archer, William, Masks or Faces: A Study in the Psychology of Acting (London, 1888), pp. 52–53Google Scholar. Sections of this book first appeared as a series of articles entitled “The Anatomy of Acting” in Longman's Magazine, XI (01 1888, February 1888, March 1888)Google Scholar; Wilton refers to it and quotes this passage in On and Off, II, 52– 53.

⁵⁵ Scott, , Yesterday and Today, I, 525Google Scholar. Several reviews which confirm this point: Theatre, 1 February 1879; World, 15 January 1879; Era. 19 January 1879.

⁵⁶ Ibid. Some other reviews which emphasize sympathetic audience response: Era, 14 April 1867; Truth, 23 January 1879; Times, 18 January 1879.

⁵⁷ Sample references to her artistry: Theatre, 1 February 1879; Vanity Fair, 25 January 1879; Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 27 January 1883. Coquelin, and Pinero, quoted in Bancroft, Empty Chairs, pp. 162, 231Google Scholar. See also, Forbes-Robertson's comments, cited Ibid., pp. 233–234.

⁵⁸ Granville-Barker, Harley, “Exit Planche—Enter Gilbert,” The Eighteen-Sixties (Cambridge, 1932), pp. 138–139Google Scholar.

⁵⁹ Quotations concerning movement and diction from Forbes-Robertson, J. in Bancroft, Empty Chairs, 234Google Scholar; also, on Wilton's diction, see Bancroft, G., Stage and Bar, pp. 259–260Google Scholar.

⁶⁰ Laidlaw, F. Allan, “The New School of Acting,” Gentleman's Magazine, NS (January-June 1876), 471–475Google Scholar.

⁶¹ Fitzgerald, Percy, “Players of Our Day: XV, Comedy and Comedy Actresses,” Gentleman's Magazine, NS VIII (1872), 712–713Google Scholar. Mention should also be made in this connection of Wilton's sisters, Blanche and Augusta, who were members of her company and who, apparently, took her roles when she was indisposed (Figaro, 1 April 1874).

⁶² Ours was revived for the first time during the 1870–1871 season, while Robertson was still alive; it achieved a notably long run of 219 performances; subsequent revivals of Ours opened on Nov. 6, 1876, Nov. 22, 1879; Jan. 19, 1882 and April 25, 1885 (total, 238 performances). Caste was revived on Sept. 16, 1871, Jan. 11, 1879, and Jan. 20, 1883 (total, 390 performances). School was revived Sept. 20, 1873, May 1, 1880, reopening after a summer break on Nov. 27, 1881, and April 14, 1883 (total, 318 performances) (Mackie, 105–110).

⁶³ Vesey, Georgina, Money (1872)Google Scholar; Lundie, Blanche, Man and Wife (1873)Google Scholar; Teazle, Lady, The School for Scandal (1874)Google Scholar; Northcott, Jenny, Sweethearts (1874)Google Scholar; Franklin, Lady, Money (1875)Google Scholar; Woffington, Peg, Masks and Faces (1875)Google Scholar; Piper, Winifred, Wrinkles (1876)Google Scholar; MrsHaygarth, , The Vicarage and Pert, London Assurance (1877)Google Scholar; Grazebrook, Hester, An Unequal Match (1877)Google Scholar; Zicka, Countess, Diplomacy (1878)Google Scholar; Reeve, Kate, A Lesson (1881)Google Scholar; Walker, Lady, Odette (1882)Google Scholar; MrsSebright, , The Overland Route (1882)Google Scholar; Soukareff, Countess Olga, Fedora (1883)Google Scholar; Maplebeck, Miss, Lords and Commons (1884)Google Scholar. The two non-comic parts were Countess Zicka and Mrs. Haygarth.

⁶⁴ Man and Wife (Wilkie Collins); Sweethearts (W. S. Gilbert); Wrinkles (H. J. Byron); A Lesson (F. C. Burnand); Lords and Commons (A. W. Pinero).

⁶⁵ Revived: 5 February 1881 and 28 February 1885. Performed a total of 292 times under their management (Mackie, 103–110).

⁶⁶ Truth, 17 February 1881. See also, Academy, 12 02 1881 and Knight, Joseph, Theatrical Notes (London, 1893), pp. 74–75Google Scholar, for a comparison of her work with that of Mrs. Stirling.

⁶⁷ Times, 8 February 1881; Figaro, 13 November 1875. Wilton described her reaction to this aspect of her part in detail in her memoirs: “I soon felt that one who could utter such sentiments and make so great a sacrifice must be more than an ordinary woman, and possessing a nature far above her surroundings, capable of good deeds and noble inspirations” (On and Off, II, 48); this passage contains analyses of particular speeches as well.

⁶⁸ Fitzgerald, Percy, “Actors' Faces,” Theatre (1 December 1878), 741;Google ScholarEra, 28 June 1879.

⁶⁹ Theatre, 21 June 1879; Athenaeum, 7 June 1879; Baker, , London Stage, II, 322–323Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ Archer, Masks or Faces, 87.

⁷¹ Secondary parts: Lady Franklin, Blanche Lundie, Pert, Countess Zicka, Lady Henry Fairfax, Lady Walker, Countess Olga Soukareff. One-acts: Nan (revival of Good for Nothing), Mrs Haygarth, Kate Reeve.

⁷² In her memoirs, Wilton admits that she “ran riot” with the part of Pert in “the desire to augment its value”: “Pert is a smart lady's-maid who has but a very short scene, but which in the course of a few nights played double the time intended by the author. …” (On and Off, II, 95). See also: Black and White, cited above, and “The Clock at Berne: Five Notes of Mrs. Bancroft's Famous Speech in ‘Diplomacy’,” Westminister Budget (2 March 1893).

⁷³ See, for instance, Henry James' remarks on her performance in Sardou's Odette, James, 165–166. Also the following on her rendition of Countess Soukareff in Fedora: Academy, 12 May 1883; Filon, 121–122; Era, 14 October 1882; Saturday Review, 12 May, 1883; Theatre, 1 June 1883; St. James's Gazette, 10 May 1883.

⁷⁴ Pall Mall Gazette, 5 October 1877, for one, urged Wilton to move beyond comedy.

⁷⁵ As Juliet, , the Orchestra, 30 April 1864Google Scholar, found that she was “pretty … and artistic, and shows a delicacy of study and refinement of mind.”

⁷⁶ Figaro, 11 April 1874. See also, Academy, 11 April 1874; Illustrated Review, 15 April 1874. For photographs of Wilton as Lady Teazle, see Recollections opp. p. 136.

⁷⁷ Scott, , Yesterday and Today, I, 602Google Scholar. See also: John Bull, 18 April 1874; Academy, 11 April 1874.

⁷⁸ West, 261. West holds a brief for something he calls “real” as opposed to “realistic” acting; his argument is set forth fully in his largely unpublished dissertation, “Histrionic Methods and Acting Traditions on the London Stage from 1870 to 1890,” (Yale University, 1940).

⁷⁹ Mrs. Stirling played with Wilton in Caste (1883, as Marquise de Saint Maur) and Lords and Commons (as Countess of Caryl); Mrs. John Wood, in Overland Route (as Mrs. Lovibond). Two reviews which pointed out the compatability of their styles: Saturday Review, 14 October 1882; Theatre, 1 November 1882. Clement Scott commented on the breadth of her style in Money at the Haymarket: “ … no stage or house is too large for the free and admirable style of this inimitable artist,” (Theatre, 1 March 1880).

⁸⁰ On and Off, II, 132. Wilton's reception was not unanimously unfavorable; see, for instance: Saturday Review, 19 January 1878; World, 16 January 1878; Knight, Notes, 201.

⁸¹ On and Off, I, 19–20.

⁸² Ibid., II, 414–415. See also: London Illustrated News, 14 October 1882.

⁸³ At the Garrick Theatre in John Hare's revivals of Diplomacy (1893) and Money (1894), and at the Haymarket with Tree in a revival of Fedora (1895).

⁸⁴ On and Off, I, 7–8.

⁸⁵ “Queen of Comedy” from Waller, W. F., “A First Night and a Last,” Theatre, NS VI (08 1, 1885), 75Google Scholar. See. T. P. O'Connor's tribute (cited above).

⁸⁶ See Theatre, 1 January 1897, for a typical tribute: “No two actors have contributed more than the Bancrofts to estabish the stage in the position it now occupies among the associated arts, to keep its associations sweet, and its mission high.”

⁸⁷ Recollections, 320–321. Marie Effie Wilton, Lady Bancroft, lived to be eighty-one years old; she died on May 22, 1921 (Times, 24 May 1921).