A Memorial to Lilian Baylis

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22521, 1 October 1938, Page 20

A Memorial to Lilian Baylis

“Vic-Wells” has been produced as a memorial to Miss Lilian Baylis, manager of the “Old Vic” from 1912 until her death at the end of last year. The book contains sketches about the “Old Vic” and its offshoot, Sadler’s Weils, by many >f those who worked there with Miss Baylis. Among the actors who have contributed are Dame Sybil Thorndike, Edith Evans, John Gielgud, and Lawrence Olivier. Lord Lytton writes as one of her directors and Sir Hugh Walpole and Dame Ethel Smyth' as old friends and enthusiastic members of the audience. But some of the most interesting comments We made by Miss Baylis’s secretary, the booking-office girl, the mistress of the wardrobe, and the programme seller who served her for very many years. From all these one gains a vivid and arresting picture of “the Lady,” as Miss Baylis was affectionately called in the theatre. She was “no

Vic-Wells. The Work of Lilian Baylis. Edited by Harconrt Williams. Cob-den-Sanderson Ltd. 106 pp. (10/6 net.)

plaster saint,” says Lord Lytton, but “a headstrong, large-hearted human being whose faults were as likeable as her merits.” It is true that she was homely in appearance, not welleducated, and had an accent that caused Sir Hugh Walpole to describe her as “a first-class Cockney from South .Africa.” Yet everyone agrees that she was a genius with a flair for her job. Her absolute faith in her work and the energy and enthusiasm with which she carried it out had amazing results. The small temperance music-hall started by her aunt became, under her direction, practically a national theatre, with which was associated a school of opera. From “Vic-Wells” one learns much of the inside history of these two theatres. The early days of poverty and inconvenience are vividly re-

called; then the discovery of the “Old i Vic” by leading actors and actresses who enjoyed doing the classical plays that could not be made a commercial success in the West End. Although their salaries were very small they found the robust but critical enthusiasm of these audiences a tonic after the sophistication of other London theatres.’ Nowadays the “Old Vic’ and Sadler’s Wells receive a State subsidy and are patronised by the intelligentsia. Yet, they still, thanks to Miss Baylis, retain a flavour of the early days. The contributors to “Vic-Wells” refer again and again to the friendliness, almost a family feeling, among all those who have worked and acted there, while the audience take the greatest pride in “their theatre.” Mention should also be made of the many excellent photographs which add greatly to the interest of the book, and of the fact that it is being sold in aid of the “Vic-Wells” completion fund.