*Victorian Costumer & Wig Maker Willy Clarkson: W H Berry Autograph Letter*

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Seller: authorjbsa ✉️ (6,825) 100%, Location: New York, New York, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 124677017240 *VICTORIAN COSTUMER & WIG MAKER WILLY CLARKSON: W H BERRY AUTOGRAPH LETTER* .

An extraordinary of tribute from the eminent Victorian and Edwardian comic actor W. H. Berry to the eminent Victorian and Edwardian costumer and wig maker Willy Clarkson, who provided costumes and wigs for Lillie Langtry, the plays of Oscar Wilde, and many more. Dimensions eight and a quarter by five and a quarter inches. Light wear otherwise good. See Willly Clarkson and W. H. Berry's extraordinary biographies below.

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From Wikipedia:

William Berry "Willy" Clarkson  (1861 - 12 October 1934) [1]  was a  British  theatrical  costume designer  and wigmaker.

Career

Clarkson's father had been making wigs since 1833 and Willy Clarkson took over his father's business in 1878.[2]  In an 1898 court case Clarkson was fined for the offence of employing women in a factory on a Sunday.[2]

The business became prominent and very successful. A 1900 article in the theatrical newspaper The Era  stated that "Not to know Willy Clarkson and his doings is to be out of the theatrical world, for Willy Clarkson, with the bright and easy (though sometimes anxious) manner is ever hovering 'before and behind.' Scarcely any big production in London is undertaken without the aid of the owner of the Wellington-street wiggeries."[2]

Clarkson's company supplied costumes and wigs used in the amateur dramatic  productions of Queen Victoria's family and circle.[3]  In the 1920's, he was the owner of the Duchess Theatre  in Catherin Street.[4]  In 1936, Adrian Stephen  recalled that Clarkson had helped disguise the members of Horace de Vere Cole 's Dreadnought hoax  in 1910. Among the hoaxers was a young Virginia Woolf , disguised as a member of an Abyssinian royal delegation.[5]

Clarkson was claimed to have created disguises for murderers Hawley Harvey Crippen  and Jack the Ripper .[6]  Clarkson would also make disguises for detectives from Scotland Yard .[2]

During his life, there were widespread rumours of Clarkson's homosexuality, at that time a crime under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 . A public lavatory in Soho's Dansey Place was known locally as Clarkson's Cottage .[4]

Death

Grave of William Berry Clarkson in Brookwood Cemetery  (2016)

Clarkson died on 12 October 1934. The circumstances of his death were considered sufficiently suspicions that an autopsy on his body was performed by the prominent pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury , although he found no conclusive evidence of foul play.[4]  Clarkson was buried in a modest grave in the Actors' Acre in Brookwood Cemetery  in Surrey , England.

Clarkson's will, dated 1929, left the bulk of his estate to William Cooper Hobbs, previously a solicitor's clerk, but a convicted blackmailer. The two had had a long association; in 1922 Clerkson had helped Hobbs attempt to flee the country when he was facing serious criminal charges. But the attempt failed and Hobbs was arrested at Gravesend  while attempting to board a ferry to Rotterdam [7]  Hobbes was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison for attempting the blackmaail Hari Singh  for £150,000

However the will was contested by Max Brezinski and his daughter who possessed a 1931 will in which Clarkson left his estate to them. Brezinski was a stage magician who performed under the name of Fred Brezin.[8]  The Probate court  decided in their favour in July 1935.[4] [8]  In March 1938, Hobbs and a former solicitor, Edmond O'Connor went on trial, accused of together forging Clarkson's will. Both were convicted; Hobbes was later sentenced to five years in prison and O'Connor to seven.[9]

In 1937, insurance companies filed suits against Clarkson's estate for the recovery of money paid to him when alive. Investigation showed he had made nine claims for fire damage over the course of 40 years. A 1931 fire insurance claim was proved fraudulent and a 1933 claim was refused. This led to the trial of another man, Leopald Harris. Harris was an insurance assessor and a former associate of Clarkson, who had organised a gang that carried out arson  for the purpose of insurance fraud .[4]

Legacy

A London County Council  blue plaque  unveiled in 1966 commemorates Clarkson at 41-43 Wardour Street  in Soho .[10]  The foundation stone  of Clarkson's Wardour Street premises (then Wellington Street) was laid by the actress Sarah Bernhardt  and the coping stone  by actor Henry Irving .[11]  Clarkson's occupied the building from 1905 to 1940.[12]  The building retains a clock above the entrance, advertising it is the business premises of a Costumer and Perruquier  - one who makes and sells perukes  (wigs or hair pieces). The building is currently occupied by the well-known Wong Kei  Chinese restaurant.

Clarkson's ability at creating disguises is referenced in novels by Sax Rohmer  (The Golden Scorpion , 1919) and Graham Seton Hutchison  (Colonel Grant's To-morrow , 1931).[13] [14]

Jack the Ripper Suspect

Clarkson has been named as a potential suspect in the 1888 White Chapel Murders attributed to "Jack the Ripper."[15]  This theory was first introduced and explored in the award-winning 2019 short film "The Wigmaker of Wellington Street."[16]

William Henry Berry  (23 March 1870 – 2 May 1951), always billed as W. H. Berry , was an English comic actor. After learning his craft in pierrot  and concert entertainments, he was spotted by the actor-manager George Grossmith Jr. , and appeared in a series of musical comedies  in comic character roles. His greatest success was as Mr. Meebles, the hapless magistrate in The Boy  in 1917.

Berry was a pioneer broadcaster, making radio appearances within months of the launch of the BBC. He was still broadcasting in the late 1930s. He also appeared in variety.

Biography  

Berry was born in London.[1]  At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to the theatre booking-agency Keith, Prowse and Co., through which he had access to free seats for West End  plays and musical shows. He became fascinated with the theatre, and got a job as assistant business manager to the actor-manager Wilson Barrett  at the old Globe Theatre . In 1898, Barrett gave up the Globe, and left England to tour Australia, leaving Berry unemployed.[1]  He took a job in a factory, where his colleagues found him so entertaining that he was quickly in demand at local dinners and concerts, and was able to give up the factory job. While still at the factory, he met Kitty Hanson, a typist, whom he married.[1]   Berry developed his professional skills performing as a concert artist in the winter and a pierrot with seaside concert parties in the summer. His wife abandoned typing and went into the theatrical profession with him.[1]  At one of his concert engagements George Grossmith Jr.  and Ivan Caryll  saw him and were impressed enough to invite Berry and his wife to join the cast of a forthcoming musical comedy  to be presented by George Edwardes .[1]  Berry appeared with Lily Elsie  in The Merry Widow , in 1907; his burlesque dance with Gabrielle Ray  was one of the hits of the show.[2]   After this, Berry was seen in a string of shows including Havana  (1908), A Waltz Dream  (1908), The Dollar Princess  (1909), The Count of Luxembourg  (1911), Gipsy Love  (1912), High Jinks  (1916), and his greatest success, The Boy  (1917), in which he played Mr. Meebles, the respectable magistrate who finds himself at the centre of farcical uproar.[1]  In 1920, he starred in The Naughty Princess  and as Dipper Twigg in The Golden Moth  at the Adelphi Theatre , London.[3]  He played Christian Velt in Lilac Time  in several revivals in the 1920s and 1930s.[4]  He appeared in Princess Charming  in 1926. As one of the earliest broadcasters, Berry first appeared on radio in 1922 in the BBC's first months. Among his radio achievements, The Times  singled out his later broadcast as Mr. Micawber  in 1938.[1]  He also appeared in variety .[5]

Kitty Berry died in 1947. At the age of 77, Berry married Agnes Lyndon, who had nursed him through a serious illness. Berry died at his home in Herne Bay  on the coast of Kent , at the age of 81.

Gall ery

  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Original/Reproduction: Original
  • Signed by: W H Berry
  • Object Type: Autograph
  • Signed: Yes
  • Industry: Theater

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