Mabel Love was a talented British actress and dancer. She was considered one of the most incredible stage beauties of her era, and her career spanned the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. Winston Churchill wrote to her in 1894 asking for a signed photograph.
In 1887, Mabel Love played one of the triplet children in Masks and Faces at London’s Opera Comique, and that same year she performed in the Christmas pantomime at Covent Garden. At the tender age of 14, Love performed as Totchen, the vixen (camp follower) in a production of Faust Up To Date (1888-89). She starred in burlesques, pantomimes, and musical comedies for the next 30 years. Her successes included Francoise in ‘La Cigale’ and Pepita in Ivan Caryll’s ‘Little Christopher Columbus.’ Later, she appeared at the Folies Bergère in Paris and Broadway in ‘Man and Superman.’ After retiring from the stage in 1918, Mable Love opened a dance school in London in 1926. The only time she returned to the stage was in 1938 as Mary Goss in Profit and Loss at the Embassy Theatre.
Love died at the age of 78 in Weybridge, Surrey, England. She left an illegitimate daughter, Mary Loraine, and £2,600 in government bonds. Her daughter died of a house fire at her Brighton home on 5 September 1973, in apparent poverty and unaware of her legacy. While Mary was about to be evicted for owing £55 in rent at the time of her death, the bonds remained intact.
Below are some beautiful photos of Mable Love from the early 20th century.
