Ada Reeve

Ada Reeve (born Adelaide Mary Reeves; 3 March 1874 – 5 October 1966) was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s.

Reeve found considerable success on tour in Australia, South Africa, America and other places in pantomime, variety and vaudeville in the new century. At the age of 70 she began a film career, which she pursued for over a dozen years.

Early career Adelaide Mary Reeves was born in London on 3 March 1874. Her father was Samuel Isaacs, an actor who changed his name to Charles Reeves, and her mother was Harriet Reeves (née Seaman), a dancer. She was of Jewish descent. She made her first appearance on the stage at the age of four in the pantomime Red Riding Hood on Boxing Day 1878 at the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel and continued to play in pantomimes. As a young child, she toured for several years with the Frederick Wright Dramatic Company, performing with the young Huntley Wright and his family. Her first role with them was "Little Willie" in East Lynne. A series of pantomime and dramatic roles followed, many at the Pavilion. The touring company the family worked for went bankrupt in 1888 and the large family was reduced to singing on the beach to keep the family fed. When she was 14 years old, Reeve's father's health failed, and she was left to support her family, so she began working as a music hall performer, finding immediate success. Once in England, the couple separated, and the divorce was finalised in 1900. Ada settled in London with her two daughters, Bessie Adelaide Hazlewood (b. 28 March 1895 in Wolverhampton) and Lillian Mary "Goodie" Hazlewood (b. Jan 1897 in London).

Still in 1898, Reeve played the role of "Madame Celeste" in Milord, Sir Smith, followed by the role of Cleopatra in The Great Caesar in 1899. Later that year, she created the role of Lady Holyrood in the musical comedy Florodora at the Lyric Theatre. She reprised her role as principal boy in Aladdin at the Prince's Theatre, Bristol, over Christmas 1899–1900. In 1900–01, she again toured Australia, returning to Britain to tour in Florodora. Reeve joined the cast of the hit musical San Toy, in 1901, playing Dudley and later taking over the title role from Marie Tempest. The music was transcribed down for Reeve's lower voice. Late in the year, she succeeded Evie Greene in the title role of "Kitty Grey", followed by Ada Branscombe in Three Little Maids, in 1902. In between these engagements, she continued to play in pantomime, which she enjoyed very much, often as Aladdin. The film's central premise is a reversal of traditional gender roles, in which Reeve plays a domineering wife who smokes a cigar and departs for her club while her husband sits at home embroidering. Both of Reeve's daughters, Bessie and Goody, had settled in Australia, where both married and had children, Goody becoming a well known radio personality. Bessie died of an illness in 1954. Upon Ada's return to England, she appeared in cabarets, revues and variety. Her next dramatic role was in 1940 in the musical Black Velvet.

After a few more years on stage, in 1944 Reeve began appearing in films as Mrs. Barley in They Came to a City. She appeared in a total of nine movies and continued her stage work in the 1940s and 1950s. At the age of 80, she retired from the stage but made two more films, the last of which was at the age of 83 in The Passionate Stranger in 1957.

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1956 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, London.

Ada Reeve died in 1966 at the age of 92.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1919 Comradeship Betty Mortimore 1932In the FutureMay1944 They Came to a City Mrs. Batley 1947 Meet Me at Dawn Concierge 1947 When the Bough Breaks 2nd Landlady 1949 Dear Mr. Prohack Mrs. Griggs 1950 Night and the City Molly 1952 I Believe in You Mrs. Crockett 1953 Time Bomb Old Lady Uncredited1956 Eyewitness Mrs. Hudson 1957 The Passionate Stranger Old Woman