Courtneidge, Dame (Esmeralda) Cicely

Courtneidge, Dame (Esmeralda) Cicely (1893–1980), British comedienne of tremendous vitality, born in Sydney, who made her first appearance on the stage in Manchester at the age of 8 playing Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. After touring Australia with her father, the actor, manager, and producer Robert Courtneidge (1859–1939), she made her first appearance in London in 1907 and was seen in a variety of musical plays, including The Arcadians (1909) and The Mousmé (1911). She then went on the variety stage and into pantomime and revue, scoring a success in the revue By-the-Way (London and NY, 1925). It was directed by her husband Jack Hulbert (1892–1978) who also appeared in it. They were together in many subsequent productions including the revue The House That Jack Built (1929) and the musicals Under Your Hat (1938), Full Swing (1942), and Something in the Air (1943). She starred without her husband in musicals such as Her Excellency (1949) and Novello's Gay's the Word (1951). She also appeared in Ronald Millar's comedy The Bride and the Bachelor (1956) and its sequel The Bride Comes Back (1960), and played another straight comic part in Move Over, Mrs Markham (1971) by Ray Cooney and John Chapman—her last appearance in the West End.