Lois Green (1914-c.2006) – An Australian Nanette

Above: Lois Green c1939. The photo was taken about the time she appeared in Ken Hall’s Gone to the Dogs. State Library of Victoria Collection.

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The Five Second Version
Lois Green left Australia in 1939 to try her luck on the London stage. Over the previous 10 years she had successfully built a reputation in musical comedy and had even starred in one of the few Australian feature films of the late 30s. These experiences established her reputation as an skilled actress, dancer and singer. But after only a year in London she left the country with a shadowy figure, an Australian-born commission agent, who she married while in South Africa. By 1944 she was no longer married and was working for ENSA in Egypt. By late 1945 she was back in London again, specialising in revues and pantomime. Nanette in No No Nanette became one of her signature roles, a musical she performed many times. She married a second time in 1947 and made a brief visit to perform in Australia. Her final roles in British pantomime occurred in the later 1950s. She and her second husband retired to the Isle of Man.

Lois’s 1947 comments about Australian men being “extremely tiresome” are unusual for the era.

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Growing up in Australia.1914-1939

Born in Tongue Street Footscray in December 1914, Mabel Lois Green was the only child of Beaumont Hamilton Green, a carriage-builder, and Mabel nee Thretheway, the daughter of a local grocer. The family moved to leafy Hotham Street, East Melbourne in 1925, coincidentally quite near the home of young Joan MacGillicuddy (who would one day become Joan Winfield in Hollywood).

Lois danced from a very young age, attending the school run by Mrs William Green (no relation) and her daughter Florrie in Fitzroy. By the mid 1920s, she was dancing under the tuition of the very well known Jeannie Brennan, who had a close association with JC Williamson’s, the Australian theatre monopoly. Years later, her mother elaborated – she had also studied singing with Mary Campbell and later with Carrie Cairnduff, and took elocution lessons from Victor Trotman.^[2]The Herald (Melb) 30 Jan 1947, p17

This training translated into exciting opportunities for a young person like Lois, who had her heart set on the stage. In 1929, she impressed visiting Mieczyslaw Pianowski, Anna Pavolva‘s partner, who reputedly told her mother: For a child of fourteen and a half years, your daughter is, in my opinion, the most remarkable example of dancing ability I have ever encountered. It would be a pity to keep so rare a talent in Australia.^[3]The Herald (Melb) 26 June 1929, p5 If this really was said to her mother, then the expectations of a successful future were high.

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Although only 16, her first role professionally appears to have been in the ballet pieces for a revival of the musical comedy The Maid of the Mountains, with Gladys Moncrieff.^[5]Sunday Times (Sydney) 1 June 1930, P2 From 1930 she was almost continually in employment for J.C Williamsons. The roles she featured in brought her prominence, and contact with emerging and established Australian actors. For example, in the early 1930s she was appearing with a young Robert Helpmann in Katinka, Sinbad and Happy and Glorious. ^[6]Ausstage database. Helpmann was six years her senior. She was in the cast of the original Australian musical Blue Mountain Melody, (which enjoyed a reasonable run in Sydney and Melbourne in 1934) with Cyril Ritchard, Madge Elliot, Agnes Doyle and Don Nicol. In time, she happily acknowledged the assistance and mentoring of many of these experienced performers had provided her.^[7]The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 April, 1939 p31

It was however, her leading role in No, No, Nanette in 1938 that brought her to national prominence – with Smith’s Weekly announcing that Lois’ place “as No. 1 musical comedy lead in Australia seems to be assured.”^[8]Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 10 Sep 1938, p24 She was still only 24 when it was announced she had a role in an upcoming Cinesound film, featuring comedian George Wallace.

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An Australian film and the London stage. 1939 – 1940

Despite its rather silly premise, Ken G Hall’s Gone to the Dogs proved to be a successful film. Cheerful, amusing and accompanied by some catchy songs, it made a clear profit in Australia and was exported for release in Britain.^[9]Pike & Cooper (1980) p242 Lois Green played the ingenue role (as Jean MacAllister) with a confidence and ability not found amongst many of her Australian contemporaries. She demonstrated she could sing, dance and act, and projected an attractive and confident persona on the screen.^[10]Reid 2007, p91-2 But even before filming began, her plan to try her luck in London had been announced.

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In April 1939, Lois departed Australia on the Matson liner Monterey, with her first stop being to “look in on Hollywood,” before going on to London. Also on board was fellow JC Williamson’s actor Enid Hollins, who was on the same journey. Although not close friends, both women seem to have matched up their travel plans, heading to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It was really just a “look in on Hollywood” as Lois had reached London only a few months later. She appears in the September 1939 English census, living at a boarding house in Chelsea. Her first stage work in London was in the chorus of All Clear, a “thoroughly mediocre” revue that had a run at Queen’s Theatre.^[11]The Spectator (London) 12 January 1940 cited in Wearing, 2014, p774 She understudied for Beatrice Lillie, the show’s lead.

Soon however, she had a job singing at the famous Cafe De Paris in Piccadilly, part of an act with comedian Fred Emney.^[12]Sunday Mirror (London) 31 March 1940, P23 She also appeared in at least one BBC radio broadcast – a selection of songs from All Clear – the first of many performances for the BBC.

South Africa, the war, a marriage and return to London. 1940-45

Despite her emerging career in Britain, during the later part of 1940 she disappeared completely from the London theatre scene. Records show that on 1st August 1940, she boarded the Llangibby Castle,(a Union Castle liner) for passage to South Africa, an unusual decision given that U-boat attacks on British shipping were already occurring. She had previously refused to discuss her personal life –“Lets leave my private life out of this” she bluntly told an Australian journalist on the eve of leaving Australia ^[13]Woman’s Weekly (Australia) 18 March 1939, P3, but this otherwise puzzling change of direction appears to have been for just that reason. Her journey to South Africa was undertaken with a 36 year old commission agent who went by the name William John Munden, and whom she had known since at least 1939. The couple married on 16 May 1942, at Johannesburg Anglican Cathedral.^[14]presumably St Mary’s Cathedral(Also see Note 1 below)

In later comments Lois mentioned work in pantomimes and another run of No, No, Nanette during her three and a half years in South Africa, but gave no other details, except to say that South Africa was a “very young country… a youthful Australia.”^[15]The Age (Melb)12 Feb 1947, p6 Of her four years with Munden, nothing was ever said to journalists.

Lois re-appeared in Cairo in mid 1944, now performing in ENSA productions, including No, No, Nanette, again.^[16]ENSA was the British Entertainments National Service Association At the war’s end she was back in London again as though nothing had happened – and soon in a good run of the pantomime Cinderella at the Adelphi Theatre, playing the title role and receiving very positive reviews.^[17]The Observer (London) 30 December, 1945 P3 She also made some appearances for the BBC – on radio and in the early days of live TV, after it re-started in June 1946. Desperate for material for the new medium, the BBC borrowed heavily from variety theatre.

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Follow the Girls in Australia. 1946-7

In late 1946 Lois was flown to Australia by JC Williamsons, to perform in the musical comedy Follow the Girls. Like some other Australians who had been unable to see family because of war, the chance to visit her parents in East Melbourne was probably also an important attraction. Her contract was a very generous £70 per week,^[18]about $AU5,100 in 2024 money doubtless negotiated for her by her London agent, Fosters. Follow the Girls was a lightweight story that involved some “US sailors, a strip-tease artist (Bubbles La Marr – played by Lois) and some espionage.” Melbourne’s Argus also reported that the feature of the production was “dainty Lois Green’s re-introduction to the Melbourne stage, who, during her absence, has undergone a startling metamorphosis from sweet ingenue to wisecracking, and slightly hardboiled, comedienne.”^[19]The Argus (Melb) 17 Feb 1947 p6 The newspaper reviewer felt Lois was playing well out of character. All the same, the play had a respectable run. It wrapped on 2 May 1947, when Lois departed for England.

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While in Australia, Lois was sought out for comment on her experiences and opinions, as were other Australian actors who returned post-war. Although her private life continued to be off limits in interviews, she ventured intriguing and some might argue, insightful comments about Australian men. “They are extremely tiresome both in their dressing and their manners… The Australian man is fundamentally a grand person. But he is so intent on playing the role of great open spaces, heart of gold beneath rough exterior, that one cannot be bothered searching for the alleged heart of gold.” ^[20]Undated Australian newspaper cutting c 1947, in the Bernard Woodruff Scrapbook, Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne She need not have worried about Australian men. Hugh Eagleton, a British businessman, followed her by plane to Australia and soon after her return to London in May 1947, the couple married at the Westminster registry office.^[21]Marriage Certificate, Hugh Falkener Eagleton and Lois Green otherwise Munden, 21 May 1947, UK General Register Office

British Career after 1947

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Lois was involved in a string of TV and radio programs after her return to London and again, these include televised live variety programs. The BBC Genome lists Floor Show (November 1947), The Passing Show (May 1948) and Mirth and Melody (Sept 1949). However, it was performing in Christmas season pantomimes, including some that toured Britain, that she became best known for.

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Even at the time, pantomime was not to everyone’s taste. In January 1950, one London theatre critic complained that “every year… [the panto season] is the occasion for the worst singing and acting and the most puerile humour that we ever have to sit through.” Puss in Boots, then playing at the Palladium and starring Tommy Trinder, Zoe Gail and Lois, was acknowledged as a spectacular, but not much more. Lois (as Princess Sonia) and Betty Frankiss (as Colin) did “their best with the scanty romantics… [while] Tommy Trinder… appeared to be satisfied with a range of jokes which would have reduced even a radio studio audience to numbness.”^[24]Truth (London) 6 January 1950, p12 But pantomime always had an audience and remains an important part of the British theatre tradition today.

Lois’s performances in Cinderella, Dick Whittington and Puss in Boots were all televised in the late 1940s and early 1950s, although none of these early TV versions seem to have survived into the 21st century. She was also a regular in revues, and travelled with a Tommy Trinder troupe to South Africa to perform panto, including Cinderella in early 1951. The Stage reported Lois Green made “the ideal Cinderella, bringing out the charm and piquancy of the character, and at times displaying a pleasant sense of comedy.”^[25]The Stage (London) 15 February 1951, p4 Cinderella was amongst her last roles. She appeared in it again with Harry Seacombe, touring Britain in the mid 1950s.

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Her postwar career included Noël Coward’s musical After the Ball. Based on Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan; it was directed by fellow Australian Robert Helpmann. Lois had a supporting role as Lady Plymdale. Although reviews varied, it had a decent season of 188 performances at the Globe from June -November 1954.^[27]Wearing, 2014, p310-311

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Unfortunately, of Lois’ later life we know little. Her last performances were in a Glasgow run of Cinderella in 1956, by which time she was aged 42, and perhaps less likely to be offered principal girl roles in panto. Regrettably, she was never interviewed about her 25 years of performance – the Australian tradition of quickly forgetting about those who have departed seems to have occurred, yet again. Lois and Hugh Eagleton lived for many years in South Kensington, but later in life moved to the Isle of Man. According to several online sources, Lois died there in 2006, although no confirmation could be found for this account.

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Note 1 – The intriguing William John Munden
On his 1942 South African marriage certificate, William John Munden claimed to be of Australian birth, but he does not appear in any of the available Australian state birth databases, electoral rolls, or directories. He does appear in a few UK and US passenger documents of 1939-40, where he gave his birthplace as Orange in New South Wales, and his date of birth as 27 August 1903. He also appeared in the 1939 British census, living in the same Chelsea boarding house as Lois. When he visited New York in April 1939, he was able to demonstrate to US customs that he had the extraordinary amount of $US3000 available (about $US65,000 in 2024 money). Most visitors to the US at the time were content to show they had the required $US50. Munden disappeared from the historical record following the marriage in Johannesburg. Lois’s marriage certificate stated that she had divorced Munden.

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Nick Murphy
May 2024

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References

Thanks

• Claudia Funder at the Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne.

Text

• Ken G Hall (1980) Australian Film, The Inside Story. Summit Books, Australia
• Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper (1980) Australian Film 1900-1977. Oxford University Press/AFI
• John Howard Reid (2007) Hollywood’s Classic Comedies. Lulu.com
• J. P. Wearing (2014) The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performances and Personnel. Lanham, Maryland. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers
• J. P. Wearing (1991) The London Stage 1940-1949: A Calendar of Plays and Players. 2 Vols. The Scarecrow Press Inc. Metuchen, N.J and London.
• J. P. Wearing (2014) The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performances and Personnel. Lanham, Maryland. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers

Film

• Gone to the Dogs (1939) Australian Screen. National Film & Sound Archive (3 clips available Online)
• Gone to the Dogs (1939) Trekxx Channel @ Youtube (Online)
• History of Australian Cinema 1896-1940. Episode 3. Now You’re Talking 1930-1940. Film Australia (2011)

Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University

• Janet McCalman, ‘Brenan, Jennie Frances (1877–1964)’, published first in hardcopy 1979, accessed online 2 May 2024.

• Stuart Sayers, ‘Wallace, George Stevenson (1895–1960)’, published first in hardcopy 1990, accessed online 8 May 2024.

Australian Theatre Heritage – On Stage

• Peter Pinne Charles Zwar: A maestro and master of revue. December 2020.

Online databases

• British Universities Film & Video Council.
• BBC Genome
• Panto Archive