Dainty Diva

The accoutrements of a gypsy life on the stage lay jumbled inside an old, battered suitcase - makeup, mirror and powder, autographed photographs of famous performers, theatre contracts, shipboard menus, newspaper clippings, dried flowers, a piece of toast, letters, rare programs and the diary of a Far East theatrical tour. What was the story behind these possessions which had belonged to Australian soprano and popular theatre artist Dorothy Rudder - a performer unheralded today but...
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The accoutrements of a gypsy life on the stage lay jumbled inside an old, battered suitcase - makeup, mirror and powder, autographed photographs of famous performers, theatre contracts, shipboard menus, newspaper clippings, dried flowers, a piece of toast, letters, rare programs and the diary of a Far East theatrical tour. What was the story behind these possessions which had belonged to Australian soprano and popular theatre artist Dorothy Rudder - a performer unheralded today but well-known in the 1920s and 30s? I slowly put the materials in date order and fleshed out Dorothy's remarkable story. The result is Dainty Diva which covers her fascinating life, on and off the stage. The possessor of a lovely lyric soprano voice and dainty in appearance, Dorothy Rudder was a survivor. Sometimes she was celebrated, many times not. Dorothy had lifelong ties to Sydney and Woolgoolga in NSW. Dorothy's early training was with Madame Christian, Nellie Melba's first teacher, at the Garcia School of Music. She kept a diary of a tour to the East with the Vanity Fair vaudeville company in 1918/19, and toured New Zealand in 1922 with the Sunshine Players. She often worked for major theatrical firms JC Williamson and Fullers Ltd and was the first soprano to sing on Australian radio. In 1924 Dorothy married a mining engineer from the Malay States, resulting in sensational and very public restitution of conjugal rights and divorce cases and her most 'diva-like' performance. She was a friend of artist Ethel Phillips Fox, members of the British peerage and was the lover of the married head of Columbia Pictures in Australia. She bravely tried her luck on the London stage in her early forties, performing in the chorus at Covent Garden alongside two of the great singers of the 1930s, Richard Tauber and Beniamino Gigli until the outbreak of war forced her to return home. She died suddenly soon afterwards from complications after an operation. Dorothy Rudder's drive to perform endured, no matter what obstacles life threw her way. Like her ancestors, she had great courage and took great risks.