Vivien Talleur

(b.**/**/1886 - d. **/**/****). British-born dancer and choreographer. Before she came to South Africa for the impresario J.C. Williamson in 1917, Vivien Talleur (also Vivienne Tailleur) trained at the ballet school of Alexander Genée. She had performed with George Edwardes' theatrical company in such shows as The Merveilleuses and The Merry Widow and had also toured with Diaghilev. By 1914 she was in Australia, appeared in many shows and became well known for demonstrating the then somewhat risqué tango, as well as other new dances, such as the turkey trot. She and Fred Reade performed at the popular Tivoli Theatre Tango Teas and their demonstrations were often followed by young women modelling new evening gowns and lingerie. In South Africa she was employed by the African Theatres Trust and was not only in charge of the corps de ballet, but staged many of the musical numbers for their revues. She frequently performed in these shows, including Let's Go and The Pink Lady, and apparently opened a studio of her own, first in a tearoom attached to His Majesty’s Theatre, but later in the ballroom of the Carlton Hotel. She also organised an annual Christmas pantomime. For African Film Productions she seems to have appeared in the film Bond and Word (Dick Cruikshanks/1918) in an unidentified role, as well as in H. Lisle Lucoque’s version of King Solomon’s Mines (1918), in which she played the witch, Gagool. In July 1922, Variety reported that after six years in South Africa, she was leaving for England, but presumably she changed her mind, for between 1926 and 1935 she was responsible for the choreography of 17 productions staged by the Johannesburg Operatic and Dramatic Society. She was married to the American operatic baritone (William) Talleur Andrews (b. 1876), who often appeared in the same shows as she did – at least in Great Britain and Australia. She presumably took his second name as her stage name. (FO)

Sources

The Advertiser, Adelaide, 3 March 1914

The Daily News, Perth, 17 April 1914

Variety, 14 July 1922

Dommisse, Hermien - Long journey of the heart: a memoir

Grut, Marina - The history of ballet in South Africa

Le Roux, André I. & Fourie, Lilla – Filmverlede: geskiedenis van die Suid-Afrikaanse speelfilm

Racster, Olga - Curtain up!

Woolfson, Malcolm - But the melody lingers on

http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/sta/search/detailp.cfm?NID=60691&EID=21795&DID=&AID=

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