The Actress in Wartime

The outbreak of the Great War had a significant impact on the theatrical professional in England and indeed Europe as a whole. As great numbers of men from all walks of life left for France to serve their country in the front line those in the theatrical profession soon found that their audiences had deserted them as even those left behind worked longer hours in support of the war effort. Furthermore, whilst theatrical entertainments did continue throughout the war, serious theatre took a back seat to variety and revue as those audiences that remained sought lighter forms of entertainment to distract them from the serious business of the war.

Many of those in the acting profession left Europe altogether for the duration of the hostilities to pursue their careers uniterrupted far from the fighting, in America, Australia or South Africa. Others remained to aid their country in whatever ways they could. Many actors, including some leading names, heeded the call duty and enlisted in the armed forces before heading off for France or Belgium to take part in the fighting. Others organised fund raising activities or took part in concert parties to entertain the troops. For actresses, fighting in the trenches was not an option, but despite this many did make themselves useful at or near the front lines serving as nurses or ambulance drivers, often subjecting themselves to great adversity and physical danger. French actress Anna Held was even captured, and subsequently released, by the Germans when her ambulance strayed behind enemy lines.

In London, The Woman's Theatre organisation, which had been founded in October 1913 to promote the cause of women's emancipation, immediately put aside its differences with the Government of the day and inaugurated a scheme of providing theatrical and variety entertainments for the troops in the various training camps throughout England. It's leader and president was Gertrude Elliott (Mrs. Forbes-Robertson), whose sister Maxine Elliot undertook even more immediate, and dangerous, war work rescuing refugees in Belgium (see separate article Our Lady of the Boats).

The Woman's Emergency Corps

Actresses Lena Ashwell, Gertrude Kingston and sisters Decima and Eva Moore reacted rapidly to the outbreak of war by forming the Women’s Emergency Corps, recruiting women for all kinds of war work and to replace the men who would soon be needed abroad. Notices were sent to all the daily newspapers calling women to a public meeting at the Shaftesbury Theatre at 3pm on August 7th, 1914. The corps stated aim was to compile a register of all women and their particular skills, who wished to help the war effort. Any woman volunteering would be required to state in specific terms what work she was capable of and what she was prepared to undertake. The register would then be made available to any authority requiring such services. On the first day, many hundreds volunteered, and within two months the number had reached six thousand. Within a year, the number had topped twenty thousand and the corps could boast amongst its officers the Duchess of Marlborough and Viscountess Castlereagh - who had taken over as Colonel-in-Chief.

The corps objective was to provide women to help in all sorts of emrgencies and to utilise the abilities and energies of their volunteers in the best possible way. With Christmas approaching, one of their first actions was to set up a toy factory in London's Baker Street - filling the gap in the toy imports that would normally have come from Nuremburg. Young women, who had been typists or domestics, were put to work with fret saws and paint pots making gaudy wooden toys to fill the childrens christmas stockings - many with the slogan proudly painted on the underside "NOT made in Germany".

Among the numbers enrolled were over one thousand interpreters, many with as many as four languages. Many of the volunteers could ride and look after their own horses, drive motor cars or even motorcycles, and do the running repairs, and so on. Many had knowledge of agriculture or husbandry and offered to cultivate waste pieces of land to grow vegetables or raise stock for food supplies. Many were nurses, and a few women doctors, who said that they were prepared to follow the troops to the front lines to care for the wounded. In addition, there were dispensers, caterers, cooks and secretaries.

Only the most efficient were accepted since it was the aim of the corp that it should only be made up of women who were capable of actively taking up the work they had promised themselves for. Consequently, the corps could boast of many success stories, one of the most celebrated being that of "Lieutenant" (honorary) Nellie Yates. Formerly employed by the Post Office Savings bank in West Kensington, Nellie pledged herself to the corps at the outbreak of war and was soon given a commission. The following year she was dressed in military uniform and driving a motor transport for the British troops at the Dardanelles. She was much respected and known as "Lieutenant" by all the tommies with the British expeditionary force on the Gallipoli peninsula, where she came under fire several times.

Nor was the rifle forgotten, with many of the women spening time on the firing ranges learning to handle rifles and other firearms. Some proved to be remarkably good shots, and all were prepared to defend their homeland if the Germans ever invaded.

Lena Ashwell

Having thrown herself wholeheartedly into the work of the Womens Emergency Corps, Miss Ashwell (who was at the time England's leading actress-manager) then became aware of a further need that was not as yet being fulfilled. Entertainments were being provided for the men at the various training camps in England, but not as yet at any of the base camps behind the front lines where men were returned for rest and recuperation after difficult periods of fighting. Consequently, Lena set about privately raising funds to cover the expenses of sending a concert party to France, and through her royal connection with the Princess Helena Victoria, gained the approval of the War Office to an experiment of sending recreational entertainment to the men at the fighting front. The first such party embarked for France in February, 1914, and gave it's first performance to troops in the Harfleur Valley on the 18th of that month.

The concerts immediately proved to be a great success, with officers and men attending in huge numbers and unanimously testifying to their importance as recreational and morale repairing influences. Concequently, Miss Ashwell, took charge of the long-term provisioning of entertainments for the troops, raising more concert parties and selecting the artists who would compose the Training Camps Touring Companies. Her aim was to provide the best quality entertainment whilst making the scheme self-supporting by charging reasonable admission fees. These parties followed the troops to France, Belgium or wherever ther was fighting, often providing entertainments at or near the front lines. By the end of the hostilities, she had organised over five thousand concerts for the benefit of the weary soldiers.

As testament to the value of these activities, the following are extracts from the diary of an actress taking part in one of Lena's concert parties:

At this place, we are two miles back of the advanced troops. Lots of the men have come straight from the trenches. I am simply amazed at the way they listen to the music. Our Y.M.C.A. hut is chockfull — two rows of officers in front and the rest Tommies as close as they can pack. Never heard such cheers as they gave us when it was over. We saw many star shells and artillery shells bursting as we sang and played.

Three shows in the neighborhood of B—. First in a sort of barn in the tunneling camp for the men who are mining. Very crowded and enthusiastic audience. Second concert at a clearing hospital; more enthusiasm. Third in Y.M.C.A. hut. Sacred concert in L— church during low mass. The church was very crowded and the effect of the music was beautiful. Our first to the Canadians — a splendid reception, packed house. So many couldn't get in that we promised to repeat the show tomorrow afternoon. Fighting going on near here; the Canadians go over the top tonight.

The troops showed their appreciation for Lena's work in all sorts of ways. As well as building scenery out of odds and ends of canvas and wood, many would forage for flowers in ruined landscapes where there were scarcely any blooms of any sort in order to prepare for her little old-fashioned bouquets as a symbol of their gratitude. Others pooled their resources to obtain for her some little trinket, but what she treasured most was a lucky bean. The young soldier who gave it to her explained that it was his good luck charm and had been all around the world with him. It was his most treasured possession far from home and his loved ones and he believed that it had kept him safe and unharmed through eleven months in trenches. Now he wanted her to have it. Touched by his gift, she had it set in the best of gold and wore it regularly.

A fine servant of her country in its time of adversity, she was also prominent in all manner of fund-raising activities and enlistment drives, as can be seen from the following open letter printed in numerous London Newspapers of the time:

We women have to stand aside and let the fighting be done for us, but oh! you men who let others fight and die for you, do you think the women whom you love and who perhaps are urging you not to leave your homes and not to join your comrades who are fighting for your country and for you - do you believe that in their hearts they respect or believe in you? There is a consciousness deeper than the personal one, and every heart that sees you linger in your personal comfort is, in that larger deeper consciousness, condemning you. Be strong, quit you like men, I have been in France and seen your comrades and know what they are doing for you. You cannot be deaf to the cry that they need your help.
Lena Ashwell - Call to Duty

Decima Moore

Another prominent actress, Decima Moore, the wife of Frederick Gordon Guggisberg, a brigadier general of the Royal Engineers, established a military forces club and home for British soldiers on leave in Paris. The Baron d'Erlanger donated to the cause one wing of the 'Hotel Moderne' situated in the Place de la Republique, not far from the 'Gare du Nord.' Public subscriptions were raised to fund the activities, including a dining room that served an average of 200 men are at a sitting. Provision was made for the soldiers physical, mental and moral welfare, with trips being arranged to historical places and neighboring towns. Concerts, impromptu dances, cinema and other entertainments were provided to fill up the evening hours. A leaflet, given to every soldier on arrival, conveyed the spirit of the club, "Don't forget that, as British soldiers in a foreign country, you have the honor of the uniform to maintain."

Lena Ashwell was awarded an OBE and Decima Moore a CBE for their contributions to the War effort.

Following is a contemporary newspaper account of the contributions made by certain leading actresses to the war effort.

The Washington Post: Sunday, January 31st, 1915
EUROPE's HIGHEST PAID STAGE FAVOURITES AMUSING SOLDIERS
How Many Well-Known Footlight Stars Devote Themselves to Nursing the Wounded and Entertaining Men in the Trenches.

"Piou-Piou," as the French common soldier is called, and Tommy Atkins, as the English private is nicknamed, though much of the time half-frozen in the trenches of the allies — and frequently food for German powder — nevertheless are having in one way a very enjoyable and unusual time. These common soldiers of the French and English armies find themselves being nursed and entertained by the most famous and highest-paid actresses, singers, dancers, and beauties of Europe.

Noble duchesses visit them at the front with gifts of pipes, cigarettes and tobacco. Famous headliners in vaudeville warble music hall ditties to them in trenches. And When they are wounded and sent to the hospital they have the joy of being nursed by grand opera prima donnas, ladies of the celebrated Russian ballet, and prize beauties of the Paris stage.

Turn Tables On Fortune's Darlings

Literally "Piou-Piou" and Tommy have turned the tables on fortune's darlings of the opposite sex. Those pipes and cigarettes and tobacco, and warm socks knitted by fair hands, and songs heard in the trenches which they never would have heard otherwise, and tender nursing in the hospital, exalt them in the name way that applause in the theater and offerings of flowers, jewels, pet dogs of pedigree, and limousines formerly exalted the givers. "Piou-Piou" and Tommy have been transformed into prima donnas, and great singers and dancers whose notes and pirouettes have a market value of a dollar or so apiece are the first to do them honor.

Calve a Red Cross Nurse

Mme Calve, the idolized Carmen of New York Metropolitan Opera audiences, is a Red Cross nurse in the French hospitals at Toulon. It is reported that Calve is an excellent nurse, shirking none of the disagreeable duties of that profession. Her greatest reward comes with "Piou-Piou's" amazement and delight on learning that it is the great Calve herself who has just sung to him at his bedside the "Cigarette Song" from Carma. Calve enjoys it as much as Piou-Piou" does. She writes about it to her friends: "I sing ditties to the wounded to soothe them and lull them to sleep when they are getting better — sweet songs of France that make them shed tears of joy and war songs for those who, after the healing of their wounds, are going back to defend poor France

Ida Rubenstein's Work

Ida Rubenstein, most famous of all Russian dancers, whom D'Annunzio loved and for whom he wrote his drama Saint Sebastien, presented to France in Paris a fully equipped hospital including her own services as nurse. It is said that she devotes not less than sixteen hours out of each twenty-four to these duties. Ida Rubenstein, who up to the beginning of the war was probably the most luxurious petted and spoiled stage beauty in Europe.

Mme Lina Cavalier, probably the most celebrated opera singer and beauty in the world is devoting all her time to the care of wounded soldiers in French hospitals. Although not a robust woman, she performs all the duties of a nurse and when her grateful soldiers are convalescent she delights in astonishing them with such singing as they never dreamed of hearing and never would have been able to hear without first serving as a target for a German bullet.

Anna Held at the Front

During holiday week Tommy Atkins, at the battlefront in Flanders, enjoyed a perfect riot of English plum pudding and English music hall entertainment. Seymour Hicks and his London theatrical company, together with half a hundred vaudeville artists crossed the channel and motored to the firing line in Belgium. Their arrival threw a whole armycorps of Tommies into spasms of joy.

Among stage people well Known in this country who are devoting themselves to making French and English soldiers contented in the trenches is Anna Held. She frequently visits different points along the battle front with gifts for the soldiers. From Paris, she sends the following account of some of her exciting experiences.

Miss Held Held as a Spy

"I have always had to move about the roads warily when making these trips because of Joffre s veto on women, for if the wrong kind of officer meets you he sends you back to Paris. On this occasion I passed through the French lines without knowing it — this war is so unspectacular — and almost before I was aware of what was happening my car was surrounded by a squad of Uhlans.

"I explained to the lieutenant who I was and my mission pointing to the heap of tobacco and cigarettes in the car, but he replied in perfect English 'Oh. that's an old trick. It won't work again. You are not the first woman spy we have caught. You must come and see the major'.

A Tango Officer Appears

"There was nothing for it but to comply. I was caught near Albert, and very soon I was in the German camp near Peronne. Terribly frightened I was too, the Uhlans were so big and strong and stern. The major turned out to be a short, stout man with a grizled gray mustache. I showed him my passport, but he didn't seem to understand and summoned a junior officer.

"A tall, slender young man with an ideal tango figure appeared, glanced at the document and in perfect English with just a slight Yankee twang that made me thrill with hope said "Why yes Herr Major. It's all right. This is Miss Held. Don't you know her. She Is of the theatrical world."

"After that all went well. I was treated with great courtesy and was cheered enthusiastically when I distributed my tobacco and cigarettes in one of the trenches. In return I received several spiked helmets as souvenirs and was escorted safely out of the lines.

Unbelievable Contrasts

"All my women friends are asking me what is the chief impression I have received from my visits to the front. It is the extreme unbelievable contrast between the carnage and gaiety in the trenches. Both the Germans and the allies have turned their trenches into veritable vaudeville halls, and often the troops spend the evening singing, dancing, and reciting.

"Sometimes the Germans sing to the French and vice versa, each song being applauded. The trenches in places are so near one another that it is quite easy to hear. This gayety follows the grim business of death-dealing. Imagine men who spend the day hacking one another with bayonets and pouring lead out by the ton and then afterward singing songs to one another.

"It only shows that men can make the best of fighting just as they can of everything.

Women Face Ordeal Magnificently

"Another impression I have is one of intense admiration for the women nurses, especially those at the base hospitals. Nobody who has not seen the thing can imagine the horrors of a base hospital. It is there that you realize what a frightful thing, a wicked thing, a basely inhuman thing is war.

"I am no suffragette, but let me say here and now that the women are facing the ordeal magnificently."

Maxine Elliott at the Front

Maxine Elliott, the famous American actress and stage beauty, who, with the official recognition of the Belgian government and the American relief commission, is going to distribute food in that part of Belgium where the opposing fronts face each other and no relief organizations are operating, left London Monday tor Calais, where her barge is being loaded. Miss Elliott will proceed immediately with her helpers upon this barge for the stricken districts. When seen by a correspondent before leaving London, she said:

"No comment on the war has impressed me as much as Bishop Gaylor's, who, upon being asked which side would win, asked, 'Who won the San Francisco earthquake?' The impoverished districts of Belgium remind me of San Francisco after the earthquake."

Miss Elliott has thus far financed her own expedition, but she concluded her brief interview with an appeal to "her sister in America" to help.