Jenny Golder (c1893 – 1928) From Kyneton to Paris

Above and below: Jenny Golder (Rosie Sloman) in a male impersonation act. National Portrait Gallery (UK) Collection. Bassano Ltd, Whole-plate glass negative, 30 October 1925, Creative Commons Licence.

The Five Second version
Jenny Golder, the stage name of Rosie Solomon or Sloman, was an acclaimed Parisian music hall performer in the 1920s. When she took her life in Paris on July 11 1928, her French and British audiences knew of her as Australian-born and indeed she was – the child of two Australians and born in the early 1890s. Like the celebrated dancer Saharet, who had taken the US and Europe by storm twenty-five years before, Jenny’s Australian roots seem to have added an exotic dimension to her public persona. But in reality she had spent only a year or two in Australia before her parents took their family to England, permanently. It is known that she started on stage in the 1910s, and that her breakthrough was appearing in Paris in the early 1920s – “a most versatile, artist, whose studies range from ragtime singing soubrettes to dramatic Italian song stories and male impersonations.“^[1]Daily News (London) 3 July 1924, p8

---

A tumultuous family life forgotten

Jenny Golder was born Rosie Solomon to John Henry Solomon (1846-1902) and Annie Louise Golder (1862-1931). The surname Sloman was adopted by the family in the mid 1890s, while the stage name Jenny Golder was taken from her mother’s surname. Both parents were Australian born. Unfortunately for historians, John and Annie failed to register Rosie’s birth, and most of their other children’s births, as the law required. There are several likely reasons for this, including John’s regular change of address and endless changes of employment. But the most important reason was that John Solomon was already married, to someone else. In 1867 he had married a woman called Kate Gainsborg, while living in Ballarat.^[2]Births Deaths & Marriages Victoria. Marriage record 2171/1867 But John Solomon went on to have at least eight children with Annie Golder, including Rosie, and it was most of these births that were unregistered, probably to avoid the stain of illegitimacy. [See also Note 1 below]

Kate Solomon finally sought a divorce from John Solomon in the Victorian Supreme Court in June 1900, when at least some of his double life was publicly revealed.^[3]See Herald (Melb) 14 August 1900, p4 The records of the divorce are intriguing – and reading them today it is almost impossible to believe Kate Solomon’s version of finding out about her husband’s long period of infidelity, including the eight children to Annie, whilst she was still in contact with his extended family, and living with one of them.^[4]Public Record Office Victoria, Supreme Court Records, Solomon v Solomon, File 1900/60

In the divorce documents and newspaper reports of the early 1890s, John Solomon was described as an auctioneer. In the only existing biography of Jenny Golder, written and published by Alan Black in 2000, he was also identified as a performer, magician and bookmaker, amongst other things, and sometimes known as Johnny Solomon.^[5]Black (2000) Pp6-15 Black also identifies him as the same John Solomon who built Sydney’s Criterion Theatre. Solomon also briefly operated a “Royal Museum and Palace of Amusement”, a sort of P.T. Barnum (1810-1891) museum, opposite the Sydney Town Hall in George St.^[6]The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 October 1889, p12. Solomon himself also liked the Barnum analogy, and sometimes called himself the “Barnum auctioneer.” See The Advertiser (Adelaide)13 Sep … Continue reading He adopted the surname Sloman about the time he moved to England, in the mid 1890s.

We might think of Solomon as a speculator or entrepreneur, even what Australians today like to call “a colourful character.” When he died in England in 1902, one Sydney paper recalled him as “a man of sanguine temper, and decidedly enterprising, though he was not fated to achieve any very extraordinary success.”^[7]Australasian Star (Syd) 9 December 1902, P4

The mystery of the birth of Rosie Sloman

Rosie Sloman’s French death record gives her place of birth as Kyneton, Australia ^[8]misspelled as Kighton and the date of birth as 14 January 1896. In 1925, Rosie had already told the British magazine Answers that she was born in Kyneton.^[9]cited in Black (2000) p6 And again, when she entered the US in June 1927, she listed Kyneton, Australia as her birthplace.^[10]Ship’s Manifest, Mauretania, June 1927. In this document she inferred a birth year of 1896

---

The present writer contends there is a strong likelihood that Rosie was born in 1893, although other years have been suggested. Following the family’s move to Britain, the 1901 English census listed Rosie Sloman as an 8 year old, Australian-born student, indicating she was born in 1893.^[12]This is the oldest existing official document with her name on it In addition, John Solomon can be traced as working as an auctioneer in Kyneton in early 1893.^[13]And there is no evidence he was working in Kyneton in January 1894 or 1896 Following his bankruptcy in Sydney in April 1890 ^[14]NSW Government Gazette, 18 April 1890, Issue 216, p3248 and subsequent appearance in court for organising Sunday dancing ^[15]See references to Walker v Solomon at Ausstage and New South Wales Law Reports, he moved to Melbourne. Between March 1892 and February 1893 Solomon was active as an auctioneer, moving the family around as he worked at the larger and more prosperous Victorian country towns not too far from Melbourne – Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Castlemaine and finally Kyneton. In the later part of 1893 he moved on to South Australia – and another period as a roving auctioneer. His modus operandi was to import goods or arrange to sell up goods from debtor’s estates, for well-advertised auctions. Rosie’s time spent in Kyneton was therefore quite short – she was born there because her mother was there, while John was working as an auctioneer for a few months.

---

On stage in Jenny and Joe

Unfortunately we do not know when and why the family moved to Britain. We might assume the move was necessary because of something that had happened in Australia – perhaps the state of John Solomon’s financial affairs. However, so far there is no definitive evidence of this. The use of the surname Sloman appears to date from the time they moved to England, but even this may be an assumption, as the family seem not to have used the surnames Solomon or Sloman to travel.^[17]There is no record of a family of that name arriving in Britain in the late 1890s Perhaps they travelled as the Salmon family – who arrived in England via Cape Town on the Union line ship SS Scot in May 1894. Unfortunately we have no way of confirming this today, and thus, no confirmation of the date they arrived in England.

---

Alan Black has found that by 1897, directories indicate John Sloman was living and working in Brighton, East Sussex, while the 1901 UK census shows the family living, at least for a time, in Reigate, Surrey. After a lifetime of moving around, the Slomans finally settled in North London – first Kentish Town and then Highbury. This is where Rosie Sloman grew up, and learned to dance and sing. John Sloman died in London in 1902, a year after finally marrying Annie Golder.^[20]UK General Registry Office, Marriage Certificate John Sloman and Annie Golder, 16 May, 1901

Unfortunately much of Rosie Sloman’s early career remains a mystery and even Alan Black’s access to scrap books kept by Rosie’s younger, English-born sister Miriam (later a ‘transformational” or quick change dancer, known professionally as Muriel Glen), sheds little light on the sequence of events in her life. The common use of stage names in preference to birth names merely compounds the challenge of researching her professional life. However newspaper reports show one of her earliest appearances on stage – as “Rosina Sloman” – was a variety act called The Ascot Girls, in 1911. The song and dance act toured, and at Dublin’s Tivoli Theatre “brought down the house.”^[21]Music Hall and Theatre Review,16 February 1911, p13

Yet, before this appearance in 1911, there is evidence she may have already begun a stage career with “Joe Bowden”, a comedian, dancer and singer, in the later part of 1910. The act was called Jenny and Joe. The Jenny and Joe act toured South Africa’s Grand Theatre circuit for five months in mid-1912^[22]The Music Hall and Theatre Review, 20 June 1912, p394 and the November 1912 manifest for RMS Saxon lists a group of Music Hall artistes returning to Southampton from Natal, including Joe Bowden and a “Jenny Bowden.” Rosie did marry Joe Bowden, but not until she was touring with him in Lancashire in 1914.^[23]UK General Registry Office, Marriage certificate Joseph William Bowden and Rosie Sloman, 5 December 1914 Of course, it is not possible to be certain whether Rosie Sloman was always the Jenny part of the Jenny and Joe act.

---

That Rosie Sloman appeared in another act called The Rag Time Six in late 1912 is well established. Led by US vaudevillians Frank A Vardon (1877-1950), Harry H Perry (1882-1961) and a third team member called “Wilber,” the act captured the British fascination with rag time, but seems to have involved a continuously changing lineup. Gregg Miner has established that over the life of the act, “Wilber” was more than one performer and the women in the group were also changed.^[25]See Miner (2020) Chapters 5 & 6 However, Rosie Sloman can be identified with confidence in the photo above.

In 1913, Rosie appeared in several of the Selsior company’s “dancing films”, performing with Harry Perry. These dancing shorts were designed to be screened as part of a variety bill, accompanied by a live orchestra, who followed the direction of a filmed conductor, visible in the lower corner of the screen. Sadly neither of these films survive.^[26]The Cowboy Twist and
The Spanish-American Quickstep. See Miner (2020) p72 for a rare surviving still from one of the films, featuring Rosie. See also Bottomore in Brown and Davison, (2013) P163-182

---

The Jenny and Joe act can be found in British music hall bookings consistently through to the end of 1916, with their last appearance in 1917. Dancing, singing, comedy patter were the duo’s routine, although reports of their final appearance together – in a piece entitled Chess So, suggests a musical farce.^[29]Merthyr Express (Wales) 7 July 1917, p6 The couple had also performed on tour in South Africa in early 1915, presumably as Jenny and Joe, and they quite possibly toured internationally again at the end of the decade.^[30]Ship’s manifest Dunvegan Castle, returning to Southampton in May 1915

---

Becoming Jenny Golder

---

Rosie Sloman appeared on stage as Jenny Golder in Brussels, in early 1920. She was no longer in partnership with Joe Bowden, but whether this means something had happened to her marriage, we no longer know. Her first performances at the Alhambra theatre in Brussels have been confirmed by several sources, including the memoirs of theatre producer Jacques Charles (1882-1971), De Gaby Deslys à Mistinguett, published in about 1930.^[31]From Gaby Deslys to Mistinguett. Cited in Black, 2000, p13-15 By October 1920, she was in several acts in the Jacques Charles revue Paris qui Jazz, at the Casino de Paris. This featured popular stars Harry Pilcer(1885-1961) and Mistinguett (1875-1956), with whom Jenny would be increasingly associated over the next eight years. Oo-La-La! Oui Oui!, a popular American piece, may have made its appearance in her act at this time. Jenny was introduced in this first Paris outing as the famous Australian “eccentric” – which could mean many things – but often meant a dancer with moves that were highly individualistic, sensational and daring. And indeed, over the next six years, she steadily built her reputation in Paris revues and music hall as a comedian and dancer.^[32]Black (2000) Chapter 2, pps16-25

---

In late 1921, London’s Tatler magazine’s Paris correspondent reported on Jenny Golder, the emerging Parisian star, who was then performing in La Belle De Paris at the Apollo. The journalist was apparently unaware that Jenny Golder had already been on stage – for ten years:

“There’s an excessively entertaining show at the Apollo, in which a charming looking young creature with legs, eyes and teeth of the first water, named Jenny Golder, hails from Australia, murders French, dances ‘squisitely, and had a success that would have been greater still if she dropped a few exaggerated vulgarities and could remain more than three minutes at a stretch without winking.”^[34]The Tatler, (UK), 9 Nov 1921, p190

In June 1924 Jenny Golder returned to England to perform again – first stop being the Holborn Empire. The Era introduced her to readers as the “chic” Jenny Golder from the Folies Bergère.^[35]The Era, 4 June 1924, p13 The Stage also reported on Jenny Golder, “apparently an English girl, who…is described as the “international fantasy artist from the Folies Bergère“:

She gives most infectiously gay interpretations of bright and breezy items that stamp her as a comedienne of much ability, while her agile dances, some of a burlesque character, are very effectively performed, and make one wish for an extension of this branch of her work. Miss Golder makes her changes so that they can be seen in silhouette on a white backcloth, but this feature of her act is the only thing that is cheap and unnecessary.^[36]The Stage, 5 June 1924, p12

As Alan Black has shown, the two revues at the Théâtre le Palace that ran between 1926 and 1928 were the great triumphs of Jenny Golder’s career. “Her anglicised French was part of her charm. Parisians loved it. There was a comic scene in the first of these revues where an Australian girl (Jenny) and an American man (Harry Pilcer) fail to understand one another, and have to be helped out by an Italian (Odoardo Spadaro)”^[37]Black, 2000, p23 It is also at this time that Jenny and Harry Pilcer introduced the Black Bottom dance to audiences. Surviving footage of the couple dancing this successor to the Charleston can be seen here.

---

Rosie Sloman’s death

Rosie Sloman shot herself on the evening of 11 July 1928, in her Paris apartment. There was extraordinary press speculation at the time about why she suicided, much of it not very accurate. Australian newspapers also “discovered her” at this time and speculated that she had been about to accept a contract for the country’s Tivoli circuit. Perhaps this was true. ^[39]But Australian news reports were amongst the most inaccurate. Consider The Daily News (Perth)14 Jul 1928, p7 or The Sun (Syd) 16 Jul 1928, p1

Much was made of a letter she received just before her suicide. It has been speculated that this may have been a letter from her lover, Andre Perugia (1893-1977). That Perugia was a lover seems to have been well known by journalists at the time.^[40]Also verified by his accompanying Rosie on a holiday to the US in June 1927, as the manifest for the RMS Mauretania shows. They stayed at the iconic Plaza Hotel in New York It is true that in December 1927 she underwent a knee operation and some accounts attributed the suicide to despondency over this. However, Alan Black’s conclusion, written after considering the many accounts written in French and English and much original material, still remains the most plausible. Rosie Sloman was ill, perhaps clinically depressed.

Amongst the journalists and writers in attendance at her funeral were many of the stars of French revue and music hall – including Mistinguett, Maurice Chevalier and Harry Pilcer. Pearl White, the US movie star and a friend was also there, as was Joe Bowden, her estranged husband.^[41]The Daily News (Perth) 17 Jul 1928, p7. For a full account of the funeral see Black (2000) Chapter 5 p33-41

---

That Australian newspapers were slow to identify who Rosie Sloman/Jenny Golder was, is not hard to understand. Her Australian-born parents had clearly gone to some effort to re-start their lives in England. But more importantly, Rosie Sloman almost certainly thought of herself as a Briton, as so many Australians of her generation did. In fact, this was the case legally as well as emotionally. The Australian colonies did not federate until 1901, so Rosie had been born in the colony of Victoria, not the Commonwealth of Australia.^[44]And it was only in the 1920s that the member nations of the British Empire that had been granted self-government; the Irish Free State, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, were defined … Continue reading

Despite the legalities, the term “Australian” was still used quite freely, as a casual identifier for someone born in one of the Australian colonies. Thus Rosie Sloman/Jenny Golder could be so described, when Australian journalists discovered her.

There is little doubt that for years Australian newspapers were stretched in keeping up with public figures, who had moved overseas, who had been born in an Australian colony, or not born in one at all. Errol Flynn the Tasmanian could be described as Irish-born, a fiction from studios that some Australian journalists unwittingly went along with, while Anglo-Indian Merle Oberon could successfully claim all her life to be Tasmanian.

---

Note 1 – John and Annie and those missing birth certificates

John Solomon and Annie Golder registered the birth of at least one child, but only because they had to. The circumstances were tragic. 6 month old Ruby Solomon died of influenza on 18 March 1892, while the family lived in Vale Street, St. Kilda – a southern suburb of Melbourne.^[45]Births Deaths & Marriages Victoria. Death record 4262/1892 Quite clearly, John and Annie were forced to register the child’s birth – which had taken place on 16 September 1891^[46]Births Deaths & Marriages Victoria. Birth record 8315/1892 – in order for a death certificate to be issued and a burial at St. Kilda cemetery to take place. The birth and death documents were registered on the same day. On both documents, an official had written “Illegitimate,” which at the time was a social stain that families were desperate to avoid. However, as noted, John Sloman and Annie Louise Golder finally married in England in 1901.

---

Nick Murphy
June 2024

---

References

Thanks

• Special thanks to Alan Black, who reached out to the author in 2026, and also shared his additional research on Joe Bowden. His monograph on Jenny Golder is recommended to interested readers. It also contains a number of photos of Jenny at different times of her life.

Primary Sources

• National Portrait Gallery (UK)
• Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica
• National Library of Australia, Trove
• British Newspaper Archive
• Ancestry.com
• Victoria, Births Deaths & Marriages
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers
• Newspapers.com
• Hathitrust.com
• The Internet Archive

Film

• Jenny Golder and Harry Pilcer demonstrate The Black Bottom c1927 StephendelRoser channel on Youtube (While accurate for the era and performance, the soundtrack has been added)

Text

• Alan Black (2000) The Life of Jenny Golder. Paris and London in the 1920s. RPM Reprographics.
  _{[Note – unfortunately Alan Black’s monograph is out of print. However it is held in four national libraries – The State Library of Victoria in Melbourne Australia, Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, The British Library and National Art Library at the V&A Museum in London]}
  
  
• Stephen Bottomore: “Selsior dancing Films 1912-1917” in Julie Brown & Annette Davison (Eds) (2013) The Sound of the Silents. Oxford University Press.
  
• Jeffrey H. Jackson: “Music-Halls and the Assimilation of Jazz in 1920s Paris” in Journal of Popular Culture, Vol 34, Issue 2, fall 2005. Oxford.
  
• Gregg Miner (2020) The Curious Career of Vardon, Perry and Wilber(s)? A Vaudevillian Mystery. Harp Guitar Music
  
• J.P. Wearing (2013) The London Stage 1920-1929. A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel, Second Edition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
  

Other online Sources

• Australian Jewish Historical Society John Solomon & Kate Gainsborg
• Law Reports, New South Wales Walker v Solomon [1890] (22 May 1890)
• Footlight Notes: Jenny Golder at the Apollo Music Hall, Rome
• Société d’Histoire du Vésinet – Miss Jenny Golder [French]
• Paul Dubé & Jacques Marchioro: Du temps descerises aux feuilles mortes [From the time of cherries to dead leaves – Jenny Golder [French]
• Gregg Miner Harpguitars.net – Wilbur Wanted (The Ragtime Six)