Page 9 - L&T Mavis Bennett

Mavis Bennett Redditch Heritage

Mavis Bennett from Redditch in the Newspapers

Information about Mavis Bennett

Mavis started singing in local concerts at the age of nine and in amateur operatic
productions at the age of 14. She went to Birmingham to study singing and subsequently
auditioned with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and joined the D’Oyly Carte Repertory
Company chorus in March 1921.

During the 1921-22 season she shared the small roles of the Lady Ella in ‘Patience’ (with
Elsie Griffin) and Kate in ‘The Yeoman of the Guard’ (with Elsie Griffin and Helene
Francois). She left D’Oyly Carte in October 1922.

She appeared on the concert stage and in several London shows over the next few years,
most notably in opera at the Old Vic under the name of Mavis Bennett, but 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 broadcast in 1925 and her voice lit up
the switchboards. Acclaimed as “The Nightingale of the Wireless,” she was soon
appearing regularly on radio both in England and on the Continent and became a frequent
recording artist for HMV.

The D’Oyly Carte belatedly recognised the talent that got away and in 1927 she was
invited to participate in the Company’s first electrical recording of the ‘Gondoliers.’ She
accepted and sang the role of Casilda.

Mavis Bennett’s radio and gramophone career ended in 1939 when an operation damaged
her throat. She then turned to vocal teaching, a career that brought her much
satisfaction. She died in Stalbridge, Dorset on the 28th January 1990.

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