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Elizabeth Robins ELIZABETH ROBINS: STAGING A LIFE Elizabeth Robins as Britain’s first Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder (1893) (The Fales Library, New York University) ELIZABETH ROBINS: STAGING A LIFE 1862–1952 Angela V.John London and New York First published 1995 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1995 Angela V.John All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data John, Angela V. Elizabeth Robins: staging a life, 1862–1952/Angela V.John. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. 1. Robins, Elizabeth, 1962–1952—Biography. 2. Women novelists, American—19th century—Biography. 3. Actors and actresses—United States—Biography. 4. Actors and actresses—England—Biography. 5. Feminists—United States—Biography. I. Title. PS2719.R4Z73 1995 813’.4–dc20 94–21064 [B] ISBN 0-203-41319-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-72143-8 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-06112-1 (Print Edition) For she had a great variety of selves to call upon, far more than we have been able to find room for, since a biography is considered complete if it merely accounts for six or seven selves, whereas a person may well have as many thousand. (From Virginia Woolf, Orlando, A Biography, London, Hogarth Press, 1928) To posterity the biography is indeed the life. (Elizabeth Robins, Ancilla’s Share, London, Hutchinson, 1924) FOR LLOYD who had the idea… CONTENTS List of illustrations xi Acknowledgements xii INTRODUCTION 1 Part I Bessie Robins 1 WHITHER & HOW? 15 2 THE OPEN QUESTION 30 Part II Lisa of the blue eyes 3 IBSEN & THE ACTRESS 49 4 THEATRE AND FRIENDSHIP 75 Part III C.E.Raimond and I 5 COME AND FIND ME 101 6 THE MAGNETIC NORTH 121 Part IV Elizabeth Robins 7 THE CONVERT 141 8 WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO…? 173 Part V From E.R. to Anonymous 9 ANCILLA’S SHARE 195 10 TIME IS WHISPERING 215 ix CONTENTS Appendices 238 1 Plays in which Elizabeth Robins acted in Great Britain, 1888–1902 238 2 Elizabeth Robins’s major publications 243 3 Elizabeth Robins’s writings on women’s suffrage 246 Notes 248 Index 276 x ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES Frontispiece Elizabeth Robins as Britain’s first Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder (1893) 1 The Old Stone House, Zanesville, Ohio 2 Elizabeth aged eight 3 Jane Hussey Robins 4 As Clare Raimond in America 5 George Parks 6 Ole Bull’s summer home in Norway 7 Elizabeth the actress in London, 1891 8 William Archer in 1891 9 The Edwardian Elizabeth 10 Florence Bell 11 Chinsegut, Florida today 12 Mary Dreier, Raymond Robins and Margaret Dreier Robins 13 Backsettown, Henfield, Sussex 14 Elizabeth in 1907 15 Elizabeth as an older woman 16 Elizabeth and Octavia Wilberforce hay-making at Backsettown FIGURES 1 William Archer writes to Elizabeth in the 1890s 81 2 Map of Alaska and Yukon 125 3 Robins-Crow family tree 252 xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book was largely conceived, researched and written in south-east London, New York City and west Wales. I owe a great debt to friends and colleagues and students who helped sustain me through discussing ideas, whether in the University of Greenwich, the Violet Caffè, Washington Square or in the less frenetic atmosphere of Upper St Mary Street, Newport, Pembs. I must, however, single out one person without whom my inchoate plans could not have been transformed into book form: Mabel Smith, trustee of Backsettown. I thank her for her faith in me, for her generosity in sharing her knowledge of Elizabeth and Octavia and for becoming a firm friend. My fond memories of my sabbatical and summer vacations in New York are largely shaped by the reception I received at the Fales Library in the Elmer Homes Bobst Library of New York University where the Elizabeth Robins Papers are housed. Frank Walker who was the librarian could not have been more supportive. I thank him and Sherlyn Abdoo, Alan Mark and, most recently, Maxime La Fantasie for their generous assistance. I am also immensely grateful to the Pioneer and Historical Society of Muskingum County, Ohio and to Gary Felumlee and Wendell Litt in particular. Amongst the many helpful archivists and librarians I must mention Lesley Gordon in Special Collections, the Robinson Library, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her knowledge of the Gertrude Bell and C.P.Trevelyan Papers has aided me considerably. Thanks also to the staff at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin for their help and to the librarians at the Berg Collection, New York Public Library where I spent many sweltering Saturdays. I am also grateful to staff at the following: Boston Public Library; BBC Written Archives, Caversham; British Library (Reading Room, Manuscripts, Colindale and India Office Library); Churchill Archives Centre, University of Cambridge; University of Greenwich Library; The Fawcett Library, London Guildhall University; the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; Museet Lysøen, Norway; Museum of London; Department of Special Collections, University of Florida Libraries, Gainesville; Manchester Central Library, Local Studies Unit; National Council of Women, National Library of Wales; Newcastle Public Library (Reference xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Department); Manuscripts Section, University of Sussex Library; Tamiment Institute Library, New York University; Theatre Museum, Covent Garden; Special Collections UCLA Library and Woolwich Public Library (Reference Department). I must record my especial gratitude to: Lisa von Borowsky for her memories and an unforgettable day at Chinsegut; Ted Dreier for his valuable recollections; Peter Whitebrook, author of a fine biography of William Archer, for his illuminating conversations and correspondence; Joanne Gates, author of a forthcoming biography of Elizabeth, who generously shared her knowledge with me; Jane Marcus who began researching the subject before I even knew who Elizabeth Robins was and gave me a much appreciated welcome in Texas; Neil Salzman, author of the authoritative biography of Raymond Robins who enlivened brunch with his ideas; Liz Staff, intrepid travelling companion in Florida; Jane Lewis for the Backsettown experience; Sue Thomas for her bibliographical expertise; Margrethe Aaby of the Press Office, Ibsen Festival 1992, Oslo for her help; Kali Israel for stimulating discussions about writing biography and Kirsten Wang for sharing her understanding of Florence Bell. Thanks also to May Morey, Lady Plowden, Patricia Jennings, Susannah Richmond, Olea Karland, Geoffrey Trevelyan and Mrs Vester for their recollections. The other individuals who have helped me are too numerous to cite here but the following must be mentioned: Diane Atkinson, Ron Ayres, Jo Baylen, Joanne Cayford, Elizabeth Crawford, Elin Diamond, Joy Dixon, David Doughan, Iris Dove, Imogen Forster, Carmen Russell Hurff, Philippa Levine, Gail Malmgreen, Bentley Mathias, Eddie Money, Kerry Powell, Peter Searby, Harold Smith, Marcus Staff, Anne Summers, Claire Tylee, Linda Walker, Judith Zinsser. I am grateful to the following for permission to reproduce material: The Henry W. and Albert A.Berg Collection, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; The British Library; the Master and Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge; The Fales Library, New York University; The Fawcett Library, London Guildhall University; Department of Special Collections University of Florida Libraries, Gainesville; Alexander R.James for the Estate of Henry James; Manchester Central Library, Local Studies Unit; Middlesbrough Public Library; Museet Lysøen, Norway; Richard Pankhurst; Lady Plowden; Special Collections, The Robinson Library, University of Newcastle upon Tyne; Mabel Smith for the Backsettown Trust; The Society of Authors as the literary representative of the Estate of John Masefield and of the Bernard Shaw Estate for quotations from the works of Bernard Shaw; Manuscripts Section, University of Sussex Library; The Trevelyan Family Trustees; A.P.Watt on behalf of the Literary Executors of the Estate of H.G.Wells. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders. xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks also to the individuals and institutions where I tried out my ideas in lectures, seminars and conferences: the University of Greenwich, the Universities of Birmingham, East Anglia and Wolverhampton, the Women’s History Network, Friends of the Fawcett Library, Museum of London, Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities, Pioneer and Historical Society of Muskingum County, Ohio and University of Ohio. My research was facilitated by grants from the Twenty Seven Foundation and the Nuffield Foundation to which I am extremely grateful. I much appreciate the support I have received from the University of Greenwich. I was delighted to have Claire L’Enfant as my editor at Routledge and I thank her, Sue Bilton, Jenny Overton, Heather McCallum, Catherine Turnbull, and also Cecilia Cancellaro in New York, for their support. Finally, a big thank you to those who read and commented on all or parts of the manuscript, Paul Stigant, Lloyd Trott and Mabel Smith. I am especially grateful to Norma Clarke for her wise comments. Angela V.John, December 1993 xiv INTRODUCTION One fine November afternoon in 1960, about forty people gathered in the garden of Backsettown, a pretty, fifteenth-century house in the Sussex village of Henfield. They had come to witness the unveiling of a blue plaque which declared that ‘Elizabeth Robins 1862–1952 Actress-Writer lived here’.1 The ceremony was performed by Dame Sybil Thorndike who talked of that ‘selfless, bright-eyed actress who was a pioneer of Ibsen in this country, a fine novelist, a good playwright, a powerful supporter of women’s suffrage, a sociologist, a humanitarian generally’.
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