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Les origines (1869-1896)

D'origine irlandaise, probablement, Elizabeth Alice Blanche Breslin perd ses parents (1878) alors qu'elle est âgée d'à peine 9 ans. Elle est adoptée par James Bell et son épouse Elizabeth Moorby. Elle aurait été élevée dans un couvent. Grâce à son frère, l'acteur "James Bell", qu'elle va, à son tour, faire ses débuts, semble-t-il, sur les planches au Princess Theatre de Blackburn:

Miss Ada Delroy, who'se picture appears on page 325, was born in Dublin, Ireland, September 25th, 1869, and was educated in a convent. Her brother having taken to the stage the magnet in the foot-lights proved too strong for her. She went into training for the dramatic stage, and made her debut at the Princess theatre, Blackburn, with great success.

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Queensland Figaro and Punch, Brisbane, samedi 2 mars 1889, p. 11.

À partir de 1882, tournent en Grande-Bretagne les "Bell's Minstrels", fondés par James Bell, où figure une certaine "Miss Ada".

PULLAN'S THEATRE OF VARIETIES.
[...]
Bell's Minstrels (five in number, whose performance is of the most amusing description), Jolly Little Lewis (a favourite vocal comedian, in new songs), Miss Nellie Scott (a good characteristic vocalist and dancer), Mr George Elliot (topical and comic vocalist), and Miss Ada (serio-comic).

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The Era, Londres, samedi 15 avril 1882, p. 9.

Pourrait-il s'agir déjà d'Ada Delroy ? En tout état de cause, ce nom apparaît, pour la première fois, dans la presse britannique, en décembre 1886 :

DUBLIN.-STAR THEATRE OF VARIETIES.-Proprietor, D. LOWREY.-Monday, Dec. 26th, Rehearsal, Twelve o'clock, for Christmas Sketch, Two Merry Macs, Bell's Minstrels, Professor Beaumont, E. L. Lyons, Rose Cherini, Lily Vose, Ada Delroy. Artistes engaged please write in Two Weeks before opening, and must produce at Rehearsal Assignments for all Songs and other Compositions they intend performing.
Silence a polite negative pro tem.

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The Era, Londres, samedi 24 décembre 1886, p. 21.

Elle est déjà une artiste polyvalente, burlesque : 

But the terpsichorean art seems to have had the greatest attraction for her, as we find that she soon passed all competitors on the light fantastic. Miss Ada Delroy, in addition to her dancing, is a pretty little burlesque artiste and vocalist.

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Queensland Figaro and Punch, Brisbane, samedi 2 mars 1889, p. 11.

En janvier 1888, Ada Delroy fait partie de la troupe de Variétés qui offre un spectacle au Moss's Theatre of Varieties d'Edinbourg., puis elle se produit au Gaiety Variety Theatre de Newcastle-upon-Tyne, en février... C'est à Londres qu'Harry Rickards va engager Ada Delroy pour une tournée en Australie. Peu après, la troupe quitte Plymouth et arrive à Adelaïde à bord de l'Oroya. En juillet, la troupe est à Sydney :

THE BARCOO.-The following passengers are booked to leave by the Barcoo, for Melbourne, leaving at midnight: Mesdames [...] Ada Delroy. [...] M. J. Bell.

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Evening News, Sydney, mardi 3 juillet 1888, p. 4.

La tournée se poursuit à Melbourne (juillet-septembre), Ballarat (septembre), Waga Waga (septembre), Brisbane (octobre)... Le succès du spectacle conduit l'impresario à renouveler le contrat d'Ada Delroy :

Mr. Harry Rickards, while in London, engaged her for his present Australian tour, and so great has been her success that he has re-engaged her for next season (with his new company), at double her present salary, after which she is engaged by Mr. Rickards to play principal soubrette parts for his new theatre, which is now in course of erection in Sydney, at a cost of ,£70,000.

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Queensland Figaro and Punch, Brisbane, samedi 2 mars 1889, p. 11.

Queensland Figaro and Punch, Brisbane, samedi 2 mars 1889, p. 11. 

Company Ada Delroy

Miss Ada Delroy.
Miss Delroy, who opens with her company in the School of Arts on next Tuesday evening, the 1st of October (regarding which an advertisment appears else where), was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. She came to Australia with her brother, Mr. James Bell, seven years ago, and made her first appearance upon the stage as a dancer at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide, being then sixteen years old. Her success from the first has been phenomenal ; she has visited nearly every part of the English speaking world, and performed before kings,. governors, maharajahs, princes, and other potentates. It was whilst Miss Delroy was in India that she originated her famous Cobra di Capello dance. The idea was given to her by seeing one of the Rajah of Pataiala's Nautch girls dance. This famous dance has been copied and attempted in every part of the world under the name of the serpentine dance. Miss Delroy when last in England played in two panto mimes at the Theatre Royal, Stockton on Tees, and at the Shakespeare Theatre, Liver · pool. At the latter theatre, we are informed, Miss Delroy received £50 per week, and so great was her success that the proprietor, Mr. Bramell, offered her £80 per week to play in his next pantomime production. Sir Agustus Harris, of Drury Lane Theatre, and Mr. George Edwards, of the Gaiety Theatre, both offered Miss Delroy engagements, the latter making her an offer of £40 a week for three years, to play " principal girl" at his theatre. In Australia t s season Mr. Williamson and other proprietors have offered her very good engagements, but Miss Delroy prefers to run her own company. In England, with a company of five people only, in a year and nine months she cleared over £16,000. In America she did nearly as well, and now in Australia we understand that she is playing in nearly every town to a record business. It may not be generally known that Miss Delroy is cousin to Cissie Loftus, the young lady who has caused such a sensation in the theatres in London for the last two or three years. Miss Delroy is an ardent cyclist, and seldom a day passes that she is not seen on her bike. The one she rides took first prize at the Stanley Exhibition, London, also at the Dublin Exhibition, and was then sent as a present to Miss Delroy by the maker, Mr. Foster, of Birmingham ; it is a Mosely. As she only stays in Ipswich two nights play-goers are advised to book seats in time, as the hall is sure to be packed.Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, jeudi 26 septembre 1895, p. 4.

 In late 1897 the company undertook a two and a half years world tour, returning to Australia in mid-1900. The company then remained in the Antipodes until around 1909, with its principals also appearing with Harry Rickards, James Brennan and the Conrad Power Company. Delroy and Bell also married in 1908 following the death of Alice Bell the previous year. Delroy's last known performance is believed to have been with Carroll's Vaudeville Entertainment in Melbourne in 1915. A keen cyclist, Delroy was often featured in cycling news during her Australian tours, and claimed to be the first lady cyclist in both Australia and Ireland. She also speculated in real estate in Perth in the mid to late-1890s, selling a parcel of land at Cottesloe known as the Ada Delroy Estate.

https://ozvta.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/delroy-ada.pdf

Afrique du sud (juin 1898):

One of these was the vaudeville company brought out to South Africa by the well-known music-hall artiste Ada Delroy in June 1898.
Joke on Sleeping Coachman
Westminster Bridge, London...

They were shown in South Africa not only by the Empire in Johannesburg but also by Ada Delroy when she returned to the country during 1899 with a second vaudeville company which included a “New London Bioscope”. In the interim, the dissemination of moving pictures had advanced very little though there had been a noticeable increase in the number of kinetoscopes and other instruments purveying Living Pictures at various amusement arcades and mechanical exhibitions. Ada Delroy’s presentation was the first reputable show for many months in most of the areas in which her company toured (notably the coast ports) and when it opened at the Opera House in Cape Town, its programme of films represented a distinct advance on what had heretofore been seen. Still faithful to what had become almost tradition, the “Bioscope” gave a faulty opening performance but subsequently successfully showed the latest topical films of the Soudanese campaign including Lord Kitchener (“the Sirdar”) landing at Calais; the launching of the Oceanic, the largest liner of the day (17,274 tons — she was sunk during the Great War) and several South African scenes including the Johannesburg Summer Handicap. The programme was also distinguished by the first official propaganda film shown in South Africa Brittania’s Bulwarks dealing with the Royal Navy°®. A further feature which was not shown in Cape Town but later in Durban was the famous Meliés film The Astronomer’s Dream*!. Such films, which were extremely popular, became the main feature of all subsequent cinema exhibitions and later Meliés produced full-length pantomimes and historical dramas, almost all with fantastic trick effects. Also in the programme was one of the first of a long series of films dealing with “The Passion Play”. Though ludicrous and verging on the blasphemous, it aroused no special comment beyond “there is incongruity in showing sacred scenes from the Passion Play after comic songs. Some members of the audience were much annoyed.”(22)

The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, lundi 19 septembre 1898, p. 8.

L'Ada Delroy Company voyage dans le monde: Manille (Zorilla Grand Opera House, juin 1899), Hong-Kong (avril 1900), Shanghai (mai 1900)...

Everyones. Incorporating Australian Variety and Show World, vol. 4, nº 249, Sydney, 10 décembre 1924, p. 78.

passager: Strahan (24/07/1903) (Kawatiri) → Melbourne

passager: Sydney (15 août 1903) (Chingty) → [Hong-Kong]

Sources

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Rider Haggard's She was the first film, Ada Delroy the strar: the cinema was in Racket Court, an open space where now the .... (Ceylan)

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