The Western Australian Soprano- Celia Ghiloni
Born Victoria 1879 Died Perth 1955
Celia Ghiloni
was a star for J C Williamson for over a decade. She was born in Victoria in
1879, the daughter of an Italian immigrant from Tuscany, Rafallo Ghiloni and
his Australian born wife Isabelle. Celia was born Rosabelle Ethel Celia Ghiloni
but was known throughout her life as Celia.
She grew up in
Western Australia and as a girl was a singing student of Herr Dvorak. When she
was 16 she began singing in public at recitals around Fremantle and Perth and
one of her early appearances was at the Western Australian Agricultural show.
She continued
performing as an amateur until 1898 when she started a regular concert series
at the Fremantle Town Hall on Sundays. Celia was soon the manager of a small
group of performers who regularly appeared at the Town Hall and she quickly
gained a reputation as a singer in the area.
Soon she was
making odd appearances in professional companies in Perth. Then she did a short
tour of Australia with a company called the Elite Vaudeville Company.
Also in 1898,
Celia married. Her husband was Barnett Breslau who was a tailor’s cutter from
Western Australia. Barnett was not thrilled with Celia’s profession, but he was
happy to move with her to Melbourne when J C Williamson offered her a contract.
She was working
in vaudeville at the Cremorne Theatre in Perth when Wiliamson recruited her.
Soon she was performing for his number 2 company and touring Australia.
Williamson capitalized on her local renown by having her play prominent
supporting roles when the company toured Western Australia. For example, in
1901 she performed in Florodora at the Cremorne Theatre and was well received
by a local crowd. Later that year she was in Adelaide with the company.
By 1902 Celia
had joined Williamson’s premier company, the Royal Comic Opera Company. As a
member of this elite group Celia toured Australia and New Zealand incessantly,
performing in musical comedies and operas such as The Runaway Girl, Robin Hood
and Gilbert and Sullivan productions. Celia had a wonderful soprano voice and
was well trained, but she was always a supporting player to the Williamson
divas such as Florence Young who was the most popular performer in the country.
However, Celia was happy and loved theatrical life, she coped well with the
frantic schedule that often stressed other performers and thrived on the
demands placed upon her.
However, her
home life was not as happy. Her husband, Barnett, lived at Albert Park in Melbourne
during her early touring years and he rarely saw his wife due to her hectic
schedule. This led to arguments between the couple when he begged her to leave
the stage to spend more time at home. In
1903 he moved to Sydney to be closer to his wife but after a few months of
cohabitation marked by further arguments, she left for Melbourne with the
company. Around this time she wrote a letter to him saying, ‘Apart from our
incompatibility of temper, my professional demands quite preclude the idea of my
living with you again.’It was clear that Celia was committed to the stage to
the detriment of her marriage.
Perhaps her
most important achievement with Williamson was her participation in a Gilbert
and Sullivan season in 1905-1906. This season included such stars as Howard
Vernon, Charles Kenningham and Vinia De Liotte. Gilbert and Sullivan suited
Celia’s talents perfectly and she was praised by critics and loved by audiences
in roles such as Iolanthe and Ruth in Pirates of Penzance. So popular was she
in this season that Williamson renewed her contract in 1905 so she could
continue in the Gilbert and Sullivan roles.
By 1908 Celia
had been working for Williamson continuously for six years and had reached the
pinnacle of her profession. That year she joined a Hugh Ward company to perform
in London. She was so popular with her
peers that before she left she was presented with a memento and a farewell tea
was organized in her honour.
Whilst she was
in London, her husband finally sued for divorce. He cited her constant
travelling and was granted a decree nisi based on desertion. Celia was finally
free to persue her theatrical career.
But she was not
free for long. She stayed in London for short season and the company stopped in
India on the way home. Whilst there she remarried a man named Rowan McPherson.
He was a military man who had fought with Baden Powell. He was also described
as an adventurer and it was perhaps his adventurous spirit which appealed to
Celia. He returned with her to Australia.
Marriage did not
prevent her from continuing her theatrical career and she commenced a long tour
with the Hugh Ward company. This lasted for about a year and then she returned
to the firm.By 1911 she was under contract to Williamson after a three year
break. However she was confined to roles which suited her now plump figure. She
had always been described as ‘voluputous’ or imposing, but changing fashions
now favoured a skinnier frame and her weight was posing a significant handicap
to her career.
She could not
fit into modern dress and this caused distress especially the problem of
typecasting. She wrote to Williamson protesting her lot and quoted Gilbert and
Sullivan.
“ As I have not
renounced mankind and don’t intend to renounce mankind I won’t have it, so
there.’ Williamson responded in kind quoting Patience.“The coming by and by has
visited you early in life and you must have it, so there.’Celia soon grew
philosophical about her fate, at least publically,“When my corsetiere says I am
a little too plump for the present modes I answer that I am paid for being
plump.”
However her
weight remained an issue and in 1913 she took steps to control it. She started
a diet which omitted all her favorite foods. She was so popular with the
company that many of her fellow performers joined her in dieting with the
result that the newspapers reported ‘a marked falling off in the principals.’
Celia remained
with Williamson for most of the war years. She was supporting a new generation
of stars such as Dorothy Brunton, Jack Cannot and later Gladys Moncrieff. She
performed in drama with Julius Knight, musical comedy and light opera and
participated in patriotic displays being a very imposing Britannia in one
tableau.
In 1916 her
husband enlisted and went to the front, Celia continued performing and in 1918
broke with Williamson to sign with vaudeville entrepreneur Hugh McIntosh. She
began performing in Tivoli revues that year and was a popular addition to the
circuit.
Around this
time she also became publically supportive of the actors union, possibly
because of her association with Jack Cannot who was an active unionist. In 1917
she was elected as a councilor for the actors association and in 1919 she
signed an application for Commonwealth registration of the union. Ceilia was
devoted to her profession both on and off stage.
After the war
her husband wrote saying it was impossible for him to live with her again. In
1920 she divorced him and was once again a free woman.
Her career was
slowing down and it seemed she was preparing to give up the stage. Her single
life was short and later in 1920 she married for the third time. The groom was
Alfred James Mellor and the couple moved to Perth, Celia’s home town.
She spent the
rest of her life there as a devoted wife travelling overseas on occasion and
supporting her husband’s endeavours. Alfred died in 1950 and in 1955 Celia
followed him.
Celia was one
of the most famous Edwardian actresses to originate in Western Australia and
she had an incredible career which encompassed musical comedy, drama, light
opera and vaudeville. A talented, loyal and adventurous woman her smile still
glows with warmth in faded postcards of her theatrical triumphs.
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