Baby Benson
Baby Benson (fl. 1870s) was a celebrated child performer.
Contents
Biography
A product of the 19th interest in child actors, she was a "child phenomenon" from the USA, who made a name for herself, inter alia performing to some acclaim at the Adelphi Theatre in London in about 1877.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
Having apparently gone on an international tour, she appeared in a production of Beauty and the Beast in The Athenaeum Theatre, Cape Town for a short season (22 April to 4 May 1878. Billed as the Baby Benson Pantomime, it was directed by Monsieur Frigerio, using a libretto in part written by St John Knight. The production was done in association with the local Dramatic Recital Society.
Sources
Dennis Denisoff (ed). 2016. The Nineteenth-Century Child and Consumer Culture, Routledge[1]
F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 367
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