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Mavis Bennett Redditch Arts Council

May (Mavis) Bennett was Newsletter October
born in Redditch in 1900 and 1970
began singing in local
concerts at the tender age of ‘There were a certain

nine, and in amateur operatic number of what were
productions at 14. She next really circus acts,
went to Birmingham to study especially during the
singing, and subsequently winter months.....there
auditioned with the D'Oyly were two visits from a
Carte Opera Company. She lady who had a thick
joined the D'Oyly Carte rope hitched to the
Repertory Company chorus back of the circle. With
in March 1921. During the a parasol in her hand
1921-22 season she shared she walked up it from
the small roles of the Lady the stage,wearing, one
Ella in Patience (with Elsie noticed, special shoes
Griffin) and Kate in The with divided soles,
Yeomen of the Guard (with Elsie Griffin and Helene rather like pigs’
Francois). When she was still sharing Ella and Kate in trotters. Having
October 1922, she left the D'Oyly Carte. reached the top, she
turned, and with a cry,

She appeared on the concert stage and in several slid quickly back to the
London shows over the next few years, most notably in stage, standing up.’
opera at the Old Vic under the name of Mavis Bennett,
but she became an overnight sensation through the
medium of radio. She was chosen to appear as vocalist
with the Dutch violinist De Groot for his first BBC Colin Wheeler
broadcast in 1925, and her voice lit up the switchboards. Remembers......
Acclaimed as "The Nightingale of the Wireless," she
was soon appearing regularly on radio both in England “In the late 1930's,
and on the Continent, and became a frequent recording during the winter months
artist for HMV. circus acts would
frequently appear in the
The D'Oyly Carte belatedly recognized the talent that theatres and once, when
got away, and in 1927 she was invited to participate in I was present, a lion was
the Company's first electrical recording of The led onto the stage on a
Gondoliers. She accepted and sang the role of Casilda. lead and he ate a joint of
meat off a scantily clad
Mavis Bennett's radio and gramophone career ended in dressed girl's chest
1939 when an operation damaged her throat. She then whilst she was lying on
turned to vocal teaching, a career that brought her much the front of the stage.”
satisfaction. She died in Stalbridge, Dorset on the 28
January 1990.
1930s
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