Lilian Braithwaite (1873-1948)

"Nobody's Daughter"
By George Paston.
Produced at Wyndham's Theatre, on 3rd September, 1910.

Messrs. Gerald du Maurier, Sydney Valentine, Ronald Squire, Leon Quartermaine, Marsh Allen, Misses Lilian Braithwaite, Henrietta Watson, Rosalie Toller, Mary Rorke, and Dorothy Bell.

"Nobody's Daughter" first attracted play­goers out of sheer curiosity. They wanted to see Mr. Gerald du Maurier in a part where theft was not the principal motive. Later they went to see it because it was a good play, and they are still going to see it. Yes it is a good play, but there are thousands better. Coin­cidence and improbability out of the way, it would be excellent, but these features are in the way-very much. Again, there was a striving after unconventionality that was very conventional, and which displeased me much. Here is the story, however. Mr. and Mrs. Frampton and Colonel and Mrs. Torrens are fast friends. But before either couple married, Mrs. Frampton and Colonel Torrens were still faster friends, so "fast," indeed, that Honora May was born. As luck would have it, Honora, who was being bred up in a country cottage by an old nurse, fell in love with a mechanic, and Mrs. Frampton, in an endeavour to stop the affair, took the girl into her own house. Why she did such a thing I cannot say, but she did. So here we have Honora living as the ward of Mr. and Mrs. Frampton. The Torrenses come along; Frampton discovers, by inquiries, the truth of the child's origin, and then fireworks begin to go off. It's a bit of a let-down for a man to learn that his wife had an illegiti­mate child, even if it did happen nineteen years ago!

Mrs. Torrens looks at the matter from a different stand­point. The Colonel and Mrs. Frampton have ceased to love each other long ago, and, after all, it's human nature. (I'm putting things bluntly, because I haven't enough space for the language she uses.) Poor Framp­ton gives way. In fact, he is in a state of collapse. When his health is restored he resolves to forgive and forget, adopting his wife's child as his own and helping her in her love affair with her mechanic. Mr. du Maurier was, of course, excellent as Mr. Frampton. He is one of the few actors who are capable of carrying a play on his own shoulders. In "Nobody's Daughter" he had healthy assistance from Miss Lilian Braithwaite as Mrs. Frampton, Miss Rosalie Toller as Honora May, Mr. Sydney Valentine as Colonel Torrens, and Miss Henrietta Watson as Mrs. Torrens.

The play was tastefully mounted and dressed. Miss Braithwaite's costumes were particularly charming. Miss Watson's simple, yet perfectly-made, dresses were as noticeable as the wonderful creations and hats worn by Miss Dorothy Bell and Miss Rosalie Toller. So many plays are over-dressed nowadays that it is quite a pleasure to see our stage favourites robed and hatted without extravagance in design.

Playgoer and Society Illustrated, Vol III No 14, November 1910.