Avice Spitta Landone (1910-1976) During the party to celebrate the 21st birthday of the Ginner-Mawer School in 1934, Irene Mawer mentioned several former students who had gone on to do well for themselves. Among them was Avice Spitta, later known as Avice Landone. I got very excited because I discovered
Continue reading
Irene Mawer’s second husband, Mark Edward Perugini, was born in Chiswick, London. Through the kindness of researchers, I have learned that he came from an affluent and creative family. I don’t know if Mawer’s family background was creative, but she was certainly born into wealth in the same way that
Continue reading
Freedom of Amphissa/Red Cross In October 1948, Irene Mawer and Ruby Ginner were awarded the Freedom of the town of Amphissa, Greece, in grateful thanks for their fund-raising to help Greece after World War 2. Modern spellings are hampering my research into where exactly Amphissa (or Amfissa) is. The Ginner-Mawer
Continue reading
(Ada) Rosina Bassett/Baroness von Kuhne 1909-2002 During my Irene Mawer research, I came across one of Mawer’s books ‘Twelve Mime Plays’. Inside the flyleaf were written two names: Rosina Bassett 1934, and another name which looks something like Minnie A. S. Satchell, who was possibly Rosina’s “cousin ‘Minnie’ who had
Continue reading
Miss Melusine Wood In 1933 and 1934 we hear about a woman called Miss Melusine Wood. Melusine is not a name I have come across before and according to Wikipedia it is a French word from European folklore, meaning ‘a female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or
Continue reading
From an article in The Link, July 1934, p.6, we learn that there was to be a Summer School of the Central School of Speech Training at the Royal Albert Hall. It was to be attended by delegates of the Drama League. The inaugral lecture-demonstration in Mime was to be
Continue reading
Italian Marionettes The Link, July 1934, p.247 From time to time, Irene Mawer’s husband, Mark Edward Perugini, was editor of The Link, which was ‘The Journal of the Association of Teachers of the Revived Greek Dance; the Z Club; the Ginner-Mawer School; and of all who are interested
Continue reading
From The Link, July 1934, p.6 The Link was the newsletter associated with the Association of the Teachers of the Revived Greek Dance, and the Ginner-Mawer School of Speech and Dramatic Art. Although the Institute of Mime was not mentioned on the front cover in the same way that the
Continue reading
There is a very slight and very tenuous link between the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama and one of the world’s greatest ever ballerinas – Dame Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991). Born in England, Margot was called Peggy Hookham (Peggy being a common derivative of Margaret), only later taking her stage
Continue reading
Unless otherwise stated, the quotes in this blog post are from an article written by Irene Mawer in The Link, which contained the newsletter of the Ginner-Mawer School of Mime and Movement, Miss Mawer wrote an article about a group of French theatre people called the Cercle Funambulesque (1). From
Continue reading