On the 28th of May 1852 the Victorian and Edwardian era actor Lottie Venne was born. Miss Venne made her stage debut in 1867, at the age of 15, in a burlesque called 'A Dream in Venice' by T W Robertson at the Gallery of Illustration a semi professional theatre space. Venne would cut her teeth as a performer with two years of provincial touring before returning to the London stage in 1870. Lottie would go on to carry on her career in Victorian burlesques, essentially spoof performances of Operas and Ballets, working in the odd play at theatres such as The Alhambra, The Court, The Haymarket and in 1874 she joined the company at The Strand theatre. With the death of Victorian Burlesque in the 1880s Lottie, who had made her name in that genre, quickly bounced back by getting stuck into the emerging genre that would become known as Edwardian Musicals. The Edwardian Musical Comedy took ideas from the popular burlesques, the opera's of the Savoy, the catchy songs of Music Hall and the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan but presented them in a contemporary and family friendly way. The genre was hugely popular and spawned the most popular musical of the early 20th century with 'Chu Chin Chow' which opened in 1916 and ran for 5 years, it held onto its record for longest running show until 'Salad Days' opened in 1954. Without the genre it can be argued that the American musical would never have truly taken off as the Father of American Musicals, George M Cohan, took the ideas developed here and changed Broadway forever. However its time to get back to Lottie, she worked hard in the new genre and gained even more success. Her fame continued to grow and when she reached retirement age she still continued working just as hard but was so well respected that in 1925 a Jubilee super matinee was put on in honour of her career. Her last performance was in 1927 and she sadly passed away in 1928 aged 76, obviously unforgettable her obituaries referred to how well loved she was by the theatre audiences.
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