Ella Airlie Explained

Ella Airlie
Notable Works:The Bunyip
Birth Name:Ella Palzer Ogilvey
Birth Place:Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

Ella Airlie (1882–1959), also known as Ella Palzier Campbell, was an Australian librettist, dramatist, songwriter and performer. She co-wrote the successful Australian musical, The Bunyip.

Life

Ella Airlie was born at Ballarat in 1882 as Ella Palzer Ogilvey to Frances Ellen (née Wattis) and William Henry Ogilvey.[1] She was educated at Grenville College in Ballarat.[2]

She was a "sprightly and pretty" Emily St. Evremond in The Ticket of Leave Man, produced to raise funds for an orphanage in Ballarat in 1900.[3] She performed successfully at the annual Musical and Elocutionary Competition in Geelong, including in 1903.[4] She toured to Albury with the English Pierrots in 1906.[5]

She composed both words and music for the song, "There's Sunshine My Side of the Street", which was well-received in J. C. Williamson's 1907 production of Mother Goose.[6] Airlie was also known for her ability to imitate children's voices, performing the song, "Mr. Crocodile" alongside her first husband, juggler George Campbell.[7]

In 1908 Airlie wrote a pantomime, The Bunyip, which she and Nat Phillips later adapted as the 1916 musical, The Bunyip. She also wrote two songs for the production.[8] After premiering at the Grand Opera House in Sydney, The Bunyip had opened at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne in April 1917, and later in Adelaide, Brisbane and Newcastle. The final performances were in Sydney at the Haymarket Hippodrome in 1924.[9]

Selected works

Musicals

Songs

Personal life

Airlie married English performer George Campbell in Melbourne in 1908. He sued her for divorce in 1924 on the grounds of desertion. She had written from New Zealand in 1920, suggesting he divorce her and had sold the family home.[21]

She died in 1959.

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: OGILVEY, Ella Palzer . 2024-04-18 . Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria.
  2. News: 12 December 1896 . Advertising . 21 April 2024 . . Victoria, Australia . 3 . National Library of Australia . 12696.
  3. News: 26 October 1900 . NAZARETH HOUSE BENEFIT ENTERTAINMENT. . 21 April 2024 . . Victoria, Australia . 6 . National Library of Australia . 13885.
  4. News: 24 June 1903 . The Musical and Elocutionary Competitions . 21 April 2024 . Geelong Advertiser . Victoria, Australia . 3 . National Library of Australia . 17,549.
  5. News: 14 September 1906 . THE ENGLISH PIERROTS. . 21 April 2024 . The Border Morning Mail and Riverina Times . New South Wales, Australia . 2 . National Library of Australia . III . 887.
  6. News: 17 January 1907 . HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE. . 21 April 2024 . Table Talk . Victoria, Australia . 16 . National Library of Australia .
  7. News: 26 November 1908 . AMUSEMENTS. VAUDEVILLE ENTERTAINMENT. . 21 April 2024 . . Victoria, Australia . 3 . National Library of Australia . 19,233.
  8. Web site: Ella Airlie . 2024-04-18 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  9. Web site: Ella Airlie . 2024-04-18 . AusStage.
  10. Web site: Airlie . Ella . The Bunyip : A Pantomime in Two Acts. . 2024-04-18 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  11. Web site: Airlie . Ella . Phillips . Nat . 1916 . The Bunyip, Or, The Enchantment of Fairy Princess Wattle Blossom . 2024-04-20 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  12. Web site: Airlie . Ella . 1918 . Sinbad the Sailor . 2024-04-20 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  13. Web site: Airlie . Ella . Martin . Archie . 1919 . Red Riding Hood . 2024-04-20 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  14. Web site: There's Sunshine My Side of the Street . 2024-04-18 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  15. Web site: Bottle-O . 2024-04-18 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  16. Web site: Airlie . Ella . Bottle-O [music] ]. 2024-04-20 . Trove . Allan & Co. . en.
  17. Web site: Back to Kosciusko . 2024-04-18 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  18. Web site: Airlie . Ella . Back to Kosciusko [music] ]. 2024-04-20 . Trove . W. H. Paling & Co. . en.
  19. Web site: Mean Old Moon . 2024-04-20 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . The University of Queensland.
  20. Web site: Airlie . Ella . Mean old moon [music] ]. 2024-04-20 . Trove . W. H. Paling & Co. . en.
  21. News: 15 September 1924 . Theatrical Suit . 19 April 2024 . The Sun . New South Wales, Australia . 14 (FINAL EXTRA) . National Library of Australia . 4327.

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