Audrey Carten

Audrey Hare Bicker-Caarten (1900–1977) was an actress and playwright who worked under the name of Audrey Carten.

Waveney Hare Bicker-Caarten and Audrey Carten

Biography

Audrey Hare Bicker-Caarten was born in 1900 into a middle-class family in Blomfield Road, Maida Vale, London, the daughter of Catherine and Edwin Hare Bicker-Caarten.[1] Among her siblings: Waveney Bicker Caarten (1902–1990) and Kenneth Bicker Caarten (1911–1980).[2]

She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Noel Streatfeild, attending the Academy in the same period, remember her as a brilliant and beautiful girl, the most gifted member of her class. They became friends, even if Streatfeild admitted she was second rate in comparison to her.[3] At the Academy her "sensitive, neurasthenic acting had been seen and admired by George Bernard Shaw".[4]

By 1920, Audrey Carten was trying to make a name as actress in Shakespearean's productions. In A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by J.B. Fagan, J.C. Trewin points out Carten in 1920 (and later Edith Evans in 1924) was the first to play the role of Helena as a comic rather than purely romantic role.[5][6]

In 1922, she is the heroine in Bulldog Drummond, produced, directed and performed by Gerald du Maurier. Critics said that Cartern "puts life and vivacity into the part of the somewhat commonplace heroine".[7] According to Du Maurier's daughter, Daphne Du Maurier, in this period, her father had an affair with Carten.[8][9] In 1923 she played Una Lowry in Du Maurier's The Dancers, at the Wyndham Theatre, cowritten by Du Marier and Viola Tree.[10] Critics praised her "delicate, eerie, sensitive" portrayal; she "was hard and tender and desperate with a convincting mastery of moods".[11] Tallulah Bankhead was playing the role of Maxine, and the two women became close friends. For the next ten years, it was common to see them together at parties, restaurants and various events.[12][2][13] After a party where they met Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova, apparently Bankhead said to Carten, "Imagine the poor darling [Valentino n.d.r.], having to fuck that. Is there any wonder he'd rather lick the other side of the stamp?"[14] Bankhead became a surrogate mother to Carten's brother, 11 years old Kenneth, who during the summer break from Eton College, went to live with them.[15]

Lady Caroline Paget remembered to have been introduced to Bankhead and her "friend and travelling companion" Carten in the 1930s.[2]

Another friend of the time was Gwen Farrar: in 1925 Carten and Farrar were arrested for assaulting a police officer who was giving them a parking ticket.[2] At Farrar's death in 1945, Carten was among the main beneficiaries, all women, of Farrar's estate, £361,000: Elizabeth Pollock received £72,000, Carten £52,000 (£2,260,609 in 2019 sterling), Joan Griffiths £12,000, and Norah Blaney £8,000.[16]

At the end of the 1920s, Carten moved to playwriting and together with her sister, Waveney, they wrote a number of successful plays[17] such as Happy Families (1929) (cowritten also with Jane Ross, produced by Gerald du Maurier, Carteen played the main role, Daphne Beresford),[18][19] Change of Heart (1929) (produced by Du Maurier),[20] Fame (1929),[21] Lady Kathleen (1931),[22] The Day After (1932) (produced by Harry C. Bannister),[23] Always Apologise (1932) (with Margaret Bannerman as lead actress),[24] Table Talk (1932) (produced by Harry C. Bannister),[25] The Day After (1932) (produced by Harry C. Bannister),[26] Late One Night, and Gay Love, this last adapted for the screen in 1934. The plays were produced on Broadway too, and Audrey and her siblings moved ofter between England and the United States. In 1936 Noël Coward produced their adaptation of Jacques Deval's Madamoiselle, with Greer Garson at her first appearance. The production ran for 147 performances.[2]

In 1930, Aubrey Carten appeared in Birds of Prey, a crime movie directed by Basil Dean.[2]

In the late 1930s, with her brother, Kenneth, she frequented the same circle of Elvira Mullens Barney.[2]

Audrey Carten died in Hastings in 1977.[2]

Legacy

The 1962 portrait of Audrey Carteen by Peter Shiel is at the Victoria & Albert Museum.[2]

References
  1. "Carten, Audrey (b. 1900)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. . Encyclopedia.com. 19 Jan. 2018
  2. "More on the Cartens". Cocktails With Elvira. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  3. Bull, Angela (1984). Noel Streatfeild: a biography. Collins. p. 70. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  4. The Shaw Review, Volumes 16–17. Pennsylvania State University Press. 1973. p. 143.
  5. Kehler, Dorothea (2012). A Midsummer Night's Dream: Critical Essays. Routledge. p. 471. ISBN 9781135886677.
  6. Sprague, Arthur Colby; Trewin, John Courtenay (1970). Shakespeare's plays today: some customs and conventions of the stage. Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 98. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  7. "Wyndham's Bulldog Drummond – 31 Dec 1922, Sun • Page 11". The Observer: 11. 1992.
  8. Cook, Judith (1992). Daphne: A Portrait of Daphne Du Maurier. Charnwood. p. 72.
  9. Forster, Margaret (2012). Daphne Du Maurier. Random House. p. 47. ISBN 9781446455609.
  10. "Actress Killed – 04 Dec 1953, Fri • Page 35". The Ottawa Journal: 35. 1953.
  11. "Miss Viola Tree as Dramatist – 16 Feb 1923, Fri • Page 16". The Guardian: 16. 1923.
  12. Ackland, Rodney; Grant, Elspeth (1954). The celluloid mistress; or, The custard pie of Dr. Caligari. A. Wingate. p. 22.
  13. Bankhead, Tallulah (1952). Tallulah: My Autobiography, Volume 1211. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 187. ISBN 9781604736786.
  14. Bret, David (2007). Valentino: A Dream of Desire. Carroll & Graff. p. 117. ISBN 9780786719488.
  15. Bret, David (1998). Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life. Robson Books. p. 46. ISBN 9781861051905.
  16. "London Woman Cellist Leaves £361,000 Estate – 05 Aug 1945, Sun • Page 20". Chicago Tribune: 20. 1945.
  17. Goodman, Lizbeth; de Gay, Jane (2002). The Routledge Reader in Gender and Performance. Routledge. p. 81. ISBN 9781134707607.
  18. "08 Sep 1929, Sun • Page 13". The Observer: 13. 1929.
  19. "Happy Families – 02 Oct 1929, Wed • Page 4". The Guardian: 4. 1929.
  20. "13 Jan 1929, Sun • Page 13". The Observer: 13. 1929.
  21. Gale, Maggie (2008). West End Women: Women and the London Stage 1918 – 1962. Routledge. p. 211. ISBN 9781134886722.
  22. Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 1. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1931. p. 226.
  23. "12 Dec 1932, Mon • Page 17". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: 17. 1932.
  24. "The Shilling Theatre – 05 Jan 1933, Thu • Page 8". The Guardian: 8. 1933.
  25. "05 Dec 1932, Mon • Page 6". Detroit Free Press: 6. 1932.
  26. "08 Dec 1932, Thu • Page 26". Oakland Tribune: 26. 1932.
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