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Treasure 26: Sweet Red Riding Hood, His Majesty's Theatre, 1906
199 Monday 3 December 1906, 7.30pm. His Majesty's Theatre opens its doors to a brilliant audience and a grand production of the pantomime "Red Riding Hood". Our month's treasure features the pantomime's "Book of Words" printed to promote the event. Few things have been more intimately associated with Christmas than the popular family entertainment known by the name of pantomime.
The word, borrowing of Latin pantomimus (mime, dancer) and coming from the Greek pantóminos ("imitator of all") took the meaning of a drama or play performed without words at the beginning of the 18th Century. Later traditionally performed at Christmas, it incorporates colourful costumes, slapstick comedy, songs and audience participation...
Plots of pantomimes include a number of stock character types: the "principal boy" (the central young male figure, who is sometimes played by a female actor), the "pantomime dame" (always played by a male actor in drag), the villain and other comic characters. In "Sweet Red Riding Hood" at His Majesty's Theatre in 1906, loud calls were directed at the players; Miss Lyuba Lova, a reportedly fascinating Red Riding Hood, Miss Winifried Harbord as Boy Blue and Mr Willie Garvey who made a most amusing Mother Hubbard.
By selecting "Red Riding Hood" for the opening pantomime, the director of His Majesty Theatre, Mr Robert Arthur, made a happy hit as the traditional children's story attracted many people, young and old. Because it was a pantomime, the legend got almost lost in the musical and operatic melange but the performance was well applauded by both the public and the press. The pantomime, written by Frank Dix and composed by Jullien H. Wilson, was divided into two acts - the first in four scenes and the second in five scenes. The "Book of Words" contains the script, photographs of the actors and some local adverts.
For the first two nights of the pantomime, bookings were reserved for Debenture and Preference shareholders only, of which there were a considerable number, as nearly all the money for the new building has been raised locally. The pantomime, which ran till the end of the year, was greeted with whole-hearted applause from start to finish.
Treasure 41: Mary Garden Record Collection
210 We hold a number of original vinyl records in our collections, including those of Mary Garden, a local girl who found global fame as an opera singer in the early 20th Century.
Born at 35 Charlotte Street on 20 February 1874, Mary Garden left her native Aberdeen around the age of nine when the family moved to America in search of better opportunities and a new life.
After a period of uncertainty and several moves, a young Mary accepted a role as a childminder in Chicago, with payment taking the form of singing lessons to further her obvious interest. By 1896, Mary had shown sufficient progress that she accompanied her tutor to Paris in a quest to pursue a career in opera.
Mary's first big break came in 1900, when she performed in the new opera, Louise after the main star became unwell. A series of leading roles followed in 1901, including Thaïs, Manon and Madame Chrysanthème. For the next decade, Mary courted both limelight and controversy as she portrayed leading characters on stage, while being romantically linked to various composers and directors off-stage. Adding fuel to these fires of speculation, Claude Debussy chose Garden to create the title role of his new play, Mélisande, overruling the preference of his own librettist.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Mary attempted to enlist in the French army - but with her identity discovered, she instead turned to nursing at a hospital in Versailles. When she returned to America, she continued to raise funds for the French Red Cross. Her efforts during both war and peacetime generated awards from Serbia and France.
Mary appeared in two silent films - the first released in 1918 - but she found difficulty adapting to the new medium and this separate career never took off. She returned to her first passion and continued to perform in opera until the mid-1930s.
In 1921, Mary was offered the role of director of the Chicago Opera Association, and as she was still performing - undertook both roles with fervour. Under her tenure, the Association took on many new and exciting artists and works.
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Mary chose to remain in Paris, until the German invasion forced her to escape, leaving all of her possessions behind. In June 1940, she returned to Aberdeen but the lure of teaching the next operatic generation proved too strong and she once again travelled to America to coach young stars and give lectures in 1949-1950.
By this time, it appears that Mary's memory had started to suffer - evidenced by the 1951 autobiographical publication Mary Garden's Story which was riddled with factual errors. The book received disastrous reviews and possibly led to her decision to reside permanently in Aberdeen from 1954.
Mary died in 1967 in the House of Daviot, a country hospital near Inverurie, aged 92. Fifty friends attended a small ceremony. A small commemorative plaque is located at 41 Dee Street where the Garden family lived, and a small garden is dedicated to her memory in Craigie Loanings.
Although she remains relatively little known in her native Aberdeen, Mary's legacy is considerable in the United States - particularly in Chicago where her stewardship of the Opera Association is still remembered fondly.
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