Editing Isabel Jay

{{Short description|English opera singer and actress (1879–1927)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
[[Image:Isabel Jay.jpg|thumb|250px|1901 publicity photo for ''[[The Emerald Isle]]'']]
'''Isabel Emily Jay''' (17 October 1879 – 26 February 1927) was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in [[soprano]] roles of the [[Savoy Operas]] with the [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company]] and in [[Edwardian musical comedy|Edwardian musical comedies]].  During Jay's career, picture postcards were immensely popular, and Jay was photographed for over 400 different postcards.

After studying at the [[Royal Academy of Music]], Jay  joined the [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company]] in 1897, with whom she began singing principal roles immediately, becoming the company's leading soprano in 1899, where she played leading roles in comic operas including ''[[The Rose of Persia]], [[The Pirates of Penzance]], [[Patience (opera)|Patience]], [[The Emerald Isle]]'' and ''[[Iolanthe]]''. She married and left the company in 1902. She returned to the [[West End theatre|West End]] stage in 1903 and starred in eleven musicals over the ensuing years, including ''[[A Country Girl]], [[The Cingalee]], [[Véronique (operetta)|Véronique]], [[The White Chrysanthemum]], [[The Girl Behind the Counter]], [[Miss Hook of Holland]], [[King of Cadonia]]'' and ''[[The Balkan Princess]]''. She retired in 1911 at age 31.

==Life and career==

===Early life and D'Oyly Carte years===
Jay was born in [[Wandsworth]], London, the youngest child of John Wimburn Jay, an insurance officer, and his wife Isabelle Clara (Wicks). She was the great-granddaughter of John George Henry Jay (1770–1849), a musician and composer connected with the [[Royal Academy of Music]]. She began to sing in public at the age of twelve. She entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1895, where she studied piano and voice. In 1897, she was the first winner of the [[Gilbert Betjemann Prize|Gilbert R. Betjemann gold medal]] for operatic singing. While still at the Academy, she drew the attention of [[Helen Carte]].<ref name=GSNews>Cannon, John. "Isabel Jay", ''Gilbert and Sullivan News'', The Gilbert and Sullivan Society (London), Vol. V, No. 10, Spring 2016, pp. 14–17</ref>

[[Image:Jay as Mabel.jpg|right|thumb|upright|as Mabel in ''Pirates'']]
On leaving the Academy, in 1897, she joined the [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company]] with a week-long trial at the [[Savoy Theatre]], singing the part of Elsie Maynard in the first London revival of ''[[The Yeomen of the Guard]]''. She immediately became principal [[soprano]] in a D'Oyly Carte touring company, playing the roles of Elsie, Phyllis in ''[[Iolanthe]]'', Yum-Yum in ''[[The Mikado]]'', Princess Lucilla Chloris in ''[[His Majesty (comic opera)|His Majesty]]'', and later adding the roles of Aline in ''[[The Sorcerer]]'', and Mabel in ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]''.<ref name=WhoWasWho>Stone, David. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160920193314/http://www.gilbertandsullivanarchive.org/whowaswho/I-J/JayIsabel.htm "Isabel Jay"]}}, Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 28 January 2002, accessed 29 August 2016</ref> A reviewer for ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'' wrote of her Mabel: "Miss Isabel Jay's bright, alert acting and fascinating personality would have condoned many deficiencies. But in addition to winning all hearts by her freshness and earnestness, Miss Jay gave us a delightfully easy and accomplished rendering of her share of the score, and the way in which she used a very valuable voice told of sound training and keen intelligence."<ref name=Higgins>Higgins, Sydney. [http://www.the-camerino-players.com/britishtheatre/IsabelJay.html "Isabel Jay"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004094614/http://the-camerino-players.com/britishtheatre/IsabelJay.html |date=4 October 2009 }}, ''The Golden Age of British Theatre (1880–1920)'', TheCamerinoPlayers.com, 2009, 29 August 2016</ref>

Jay rejoined the main D'Oyly Carte company at the Savoy in 1898, briefly playing Gianetta and then Casilda in ''[[The Gondoliers]]'', and soon took over the role of The Plaintiff in ''[[Trial by Jury]]'', winning a favourable review in ''The Sunday Times''. In early 1899, she created the small role of Aloës in ''[[The Lucky Star]]'', and she then filled in for [[Ruth Vincent]] for 21 performances as Josephine in ''[[H.M.S. Pinafore]]'', as well as performing again as The Plaintiff.<ref name=WhoWasWho/>

===Principal soprano===
Late in 1899, Vincent left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, turning down the secondary role in ''[[The Rose of Persia]]'' when she was passed over to sing the lead, Sultana Zubeydah, which was given to [[Ellen Beach Yaw]]. Jay was initially given the small role of Blush-of-Morning. Less than two weeks later, when Yaw was dismissed, Jay was promoted to the demanding lead role and received favourable notices as the Sultana.<ref>Cannon, John. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160920203224/http://www.gilbertandsullivanarchive.org/sullivan/rose/two_sultanas.html "The Suppressed Saga of Two Savoy Sultanas"]}}, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 15 July 2007, accessed 29 August 2016</ref>

[[Image:Isabel Jay 2.jpg|left|thumb|upright|in ''[[The White Chrysanthemum]]'']]
Now the company's leading soprano, Jay played Mabel in ''Pirates'' (1900), again earning good notices, and the title role in the first London revival of ''[[Patience (opera)|Patience]]'' (1901). During the run, she was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.  She then created the roles of Lady Rose Pippin in ''[[The Emerald Isle]]'' (1901) and the Gipsy Woman in ''[[Ib and Little Christina]]'' (1901). She played Phyllis in the first London revival of ''[[Iolanthe]]'' (1901&ndash;1902). She left the company in 1902 to marry the African explorer Henry Shepherd Cavendish, who was later the 6th [[Baron Waterpark]].<ref name=GSNews/><ref name=WhoWasWho/>

===West End career===
After the birth of her first daughter, Celia Mitchell Anderson (1903–1997), Jay returned to the stage, taking over the role of Marjory Joy in a hit production of ''[[A Country Girl]]''. She then starred in one West End theatre production after another – eleven in all – over a period of seven-and-a-half years. The first was the hit musical ''[[The Cingalee]]'' (1904, with [[Rutland Barrington]] and [[Hayden Coffin]]), in which she created the role of Lady Patricia Vane.<ref name=WhoWasWho/> In 1905 she was invited to sing before [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|King Edward VII]] and [[Alexandra of Denmark|Queen Alexandra]] at [[Chatsworth House]], where the Queen presented her with a brooch. She was also a replacement for a pregnant Ruth Vincent in the title role of ''[[Véronique (operetta)|Véronique]]''.<ref name=GSNews/><ref name=Higgins/>

Later that year she was hired by [[Frank Curzon]], a successful theatre manager, who became her mentor. Her first role with Curzon was Sybil Cunningham in ''[[The White Chrysanthemum]]'' at the [[Criterion Theatre|Criterion]] in 1905 (starring with [[Rutland Barrington]] and [[Henry Lytton]]) and then on tour. In early 1906, Jay separated from her husband. Her next role was Winnie Willoughby in ''[[The Girl Behind the Counter]]'' (1906, with [[Hayden Coffin]]). For the next four years, she starred regularly in Curzon's West End productions, often at [[The Prince of Wales Theatre]] and often in a show written by [[Paul Rubens (composer)|Paul Rubens]]. These were intended to be spectacular shows, with exotic sets, elaborate costumes and beautiful chorus girls. Her roles during these years included Olivia in [[Liza Lehmann]]'s ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1906, based on the [[The Vicar of Wakefield|novel of the same name]]), Sally in ''[[Miss Hook of Holland]]'' (1906, running for a very successful 462 performances), Paulette in ''My Mimosa Maid'' (1908), Princess Marie in ''[[King of Cadonia]]'' (1908), Christina in ''Dear Little Denmark'' (1909), and Princess Stephanie in ''[[The Balkan Princess]]'' (1910).<ref name=GSNews/><ref name=Higgins/>

[[Image:Isabel Jay 3.jpg|right|thumb|upright|in ''[[Miss Hook of Holland]]'']] 
Jay and Curzon married on 28 July 1910. After the end of the run of ''[[The Balkan Princess]]'' in 1911, Jay retired from the stage at only 31 years of age, and she had a second child, Pamela Stephanie Curzon, in 1915. In 1923 in her only return to the stage, Jay created the role of Anne West, with Curzon as suitor James Hathaway and daughter Celia in her stage debut as Angela West, in a play of Jay's own authorship, ''The Inevitable''. The play toured Hastings, Eastbourne, Littlehampton and Brighton, before opening for a short run at the [[St. James Theatre]].<ref>Frank Curzon Obituary, ''[[The Times]]'', 4 July 1927, p. 16</ref> During her career, more than 400 different postcards with Jay's image were issued.<ref name=GSNews/>

===Early death===
Jay's health began to deteriorate due to the effects of [[scarlet fever]] as a child, and she died at age 47 in [[Monte Carlo]], having been on a cruise with her husband. In recognition of her achievements, the Royal Academy of Music two years later instituted the Isabel Jay Memorial Prize.<ref name=WhoWasWho/>

==Recordings==
Jay made 19 recordings between 1900 and 1906, mostly of pieces from her early musical comedies.<ref name=GSNews/> She also recorded "Poor Wand'ring One" from ''Pirates'' in 1900 and twice more in 1904. One of the latter recordings is heard on the Pearl recording "The Art of the Savoyard."<ref name=WhoWasWho/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Cannon, John. "Old Favourites: Isabel Jay" in ''The Savoyard'', the magazine of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Trust, Vol. XVII No.1, May 1978.
*{{cite book|last=Ayre|first=Leslie|year=1972|title=The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion|location=London|publisher=W.H. Allen & Co Ltd}} Introduction by [[Martyn Green]].
* {{cite book|last=Rollins|first=Cyril|author2=R. John Witts|year=1961|title=The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas|location=London|publisher=Michael Joseph, Inc}}  (and four supplements published in 1966, 1971, 1976, and 1983)

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://pinafore.www3.50megs.com/i-jay-p.html Photographs]
*[http://library.kent.ac.uk/library/special/icons/playbills/playdat1.htm Cast lists of many of Jay's West End plays]
*[http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/stage2/produce/th-rvw014.html Review of ''The Balkan Princess''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083836/http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/stage2/produce/th-rvw014.html |date=4 March 2016 }}
*[http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-main.html Photographs and profile]
*[https://gsarchive.net/iolanthe/carte/1901-8/jay.jpg Photo of Jay in ''Iolanthe'']

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Isabel}}
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1927 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century British women opera singers]]
[[Category:Actors from the London Borough of Wandsworth]]
[[Category:Actresses from Surrey]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music]]
[[Category:English operatic sopranos]]
[[Category:Singers from the London Borough of Wandsworth]]