Gwendoline "Gwen" Farrar (14 July 1897 – 25 December 1944)
was an English duettist, cellist, singer, actress and comedian. Partner Norah Blaney
Queer Places:
Chicheley Hall, Chicheley Rd, Newport Pagnell MK16 9JJ, Regno Unito
217 King's Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 5EH, Regno Unito
Grove Paddock, The Grove, Effingham, Leatherhead KT24 5AF
Gwendoline "Gwen" Farrar (14 July 1897 – 25 December 1944)
was an English duettist, cellist, singer, actress and comedian.
Gwendoline Farrar was born on 14 July 1897, the daughter of Sir George Farrar, a prominent figure in South African mining and politics, and Ella Mabel Waylen (c.1869–1922). She trained as a cellist.[1]
She became famous after the World War I in partnership with Norah Blaney. Between 1921 and 1924 they appeared at leading London and provincial variety theatres, as well as in the cabaret shows: Pot Luck! (1921), starring Jack Hulbert and Beatrice Lillie; Rats (1923), starring Alfred Lester and Gertrude Lawrence; Yes! (1923), starring A. W. Bascomb, Norah Blaney and Gwen Farrar, all of which were presented by André Charlot at the Vaudeville Theatre, Strand, London; The Punch Bowl (1924), at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, with Alfred Lester, Billy Leonard, Sonnie Hale, Ralph Coram, Hermione Baddeley and Marjorie Spiers.[1]
Alone, Farrar appeared in: the revue White Birds (His Majesty's Theatre, London, 1927), starring Maurice Chevalier, Anton Dolin, Billy Mayerl, José Collins and Maisie Gay; Wonder Bar (Savoy Theatre, London, 1930), a "musical play of night life"; After Dinner (Gaiety Theatre, London, 1932) which ran for only fifteen performances.[1]
Together again, Blaney and Farrar appeared in The House that Jack Built (originally produced at the Adelphi Theatre, London, 1929) with Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge upon its transferral to the Winter Garden in 1930.[1]
Farrar appeared also in three British films: She Shall Have Music (1935), with Jack Hylton; Beloved Imposter (1936), which featured the popular pianist Leslie Hutchinson; and Take a Chance (1937), with Binnie Hale, Claude Hulbert and Harry Tate.[1]
The death of her father left her a comfortable fortune which, in addition to her own earnings on stage, made her an independent woman. She owned a 17th-century mansion in Northamptonshire, Chicheley Hall, and a house at 217 King's Road, Chelsea.[1]
She was friends with Radclyffe Hall, Joe Carstairs and their circle.[2] She was romantically linked to actress Tallulah Bankhead when the latter was living in London.[1][3][4]
In the mid-1920s Radclyffe Hall and Una Vincenzo, Lady Troubridge met Tallulah Bankhead and her current lover Gwen Farrar; Bankhead invited them as special guests to her first night in The Green Hat at the Comedy Theatre.
She died after a short illness on 25 December 1944.[1]
My published books:
