First Night Design | Remembrance of Times Past

Remembrance of Times Past © First Night Design

I created this collage with a postcard of actress Pauline Chase [1885-1962] from my theatre collection. When I was in my early teens, if not younger, I was obsessed with spending my pocket money on vintage theatrical postcards and used to spend hours browsing round a magical second-hand bookshop on Richmond Hill in Richmond, Surrey, where I was brought up. The old gentleman who ran the shop was quite fierce or, perhaps, simply wary of children like me ruining his stock. For some reason, he had more postcards of Miss Chase than anyone else.

Pauline Chase was actually an American, born in Washington DC in 1885, but having begun as a child actress in her homeland, she ultimately settled in the UK. If she is known at all these days, it would be for her association with Peter Pan, in which she started in a lesser role for the first production in 1904, graduating to the title role in 1906 when that year’s Peter, Cissie Loftus, was taken ill. J M Barrie was so taken with her performance that she then played Peter until she retired from the stage in 1913. A contemporary review (Daily Mail) for the 1907 productions states that ‘Miss Pauline Chase has improved greatly in her acting…’!

The French script background is from 2 Lil’ Owls.

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Take care and keep laughing!