Signed photographic portrait of the actress Lily Brayton, wife of Australian actor Oscar Asche.

A$50 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Signed

[London? : photographer unknown, circa 1905]. Hand coloured silver gelatin print, 135 x 83 mm, bearing Lily Brayton s full signature in ink, captioned in the negative Lily Brayton and Sole copyright (photographer s imprint not visible); laid down on an early twentieth century album page with the collector s manuscript label mounted below, Lily Brayton (Mrs. Oscar Asche), Actress ; a stunning signed portrait in fine condition. Australian-born actor Oscar Asche had achieved his first success on the London stage in the 1890s; in June 1898 he married English Shakespearian actress Lily Brayton. By 1907 Mr. and Mrs. Asche had become co-managers of His Majesty s Theatre, London. The couple made tours of Australia in 1909-10 and 1911-12. The signed portrait we offer here was probably obtained by an Australian collector on one of those Australian visits, although the photograph itself is likely to be from a few years earlier, as the actress seems to be in costume as Ophelia, the role she played in a famous 1905 London production of Hamlet . Oscar Asche is best remembered for his own 1916 play Chu Chin Chow , in which Lily starred alongside her husband in over 2,000 performances. This musical was immensely popular in England, the United States and Australia, where it toured in 1920. Asche made a final visit to Australia, under contract to the promoter J.C. Williamson, during 1922-24. Lily did not accompany him on this tour, but continued to act and produce plays through the 1930s. Afte

• Binding: Hardcover

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