Jenny Golder, Actress

Jenny Golder (Rosie Solomon alias Sloman) (* 14 January 1896 Kyneton, St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia + 11 July 1928 in Paris, France), Stage & Film Actress

Rosie Solomon was born at Kyneton, St. Kilda, Australia in 1896. With her parents and siblings, she moved to England as a young girl. Her sister, Muriel M. Sloman, a quick-change artist known on the music hall stage as Myra Glen, was married in 1944 to Joseph H. Black and died in October 1971. In 1914 Rosie Sloman married Joseph Bowden in Lancaster, Lancashire. In a fit of depression after receiving a letter, the contents of which are unknown, she shot herself through her heart in her apartment, 12, rue Desaix, near the Eifel Tower in Paris on 11 July 1928. The letter is believed to have been from her lover, the Parisian shoe manufacturer Andre Perugia.

The burials register of St. George's Anglican Church, 7 rue Auguste-Vacquerie, 75116 Paris, records Jenny (Golder-stage name) Bowman. There was an Office of Requiem 16th July 1928 taken by Father Cardew and the burial took place on 26th July 1928. Her grave in the cimetière des Fauvelles in Courbevoie [https://www.ville-courbevoie.fr/1479/cimetieres.htm] was maintained until 1982, then re-used.

Career

In 1913, under her own name, she appeared as a dancer in two short films:

The Cowboy Twist and The Spanish-American Quickstep; in the latter she was accompanied by Harry Perry. Miss Golder’s career began to flourish in the early 1920s when she went to Paris, where she made several recordings.

‘Jenny Golder, an English girl, with a French reputation, looks a good bet for America. But when an artiste can do low comedy a la Marie Lloyd; step dance like [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0149486/] Ida May Chadwick, and give Ella Shields and Hetty King a run for their money as a male impersonator, she is not to be blamed for looking forward to starring with Harry Pilcer at the Palace, Paris, in August.’ (The Vaudeville News and New York Star, New York, Friday, 2 July 1926, p. 8a)

Links

Portraits: See https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp64276/jenny-golder

Musical recordings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=JClJPfWuBWY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAFngFoTJjM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLT8cWfIls and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCojYRj1-s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXQNOU_KOzY "Lucien Lejal " Eléonore " de Chantrier-Nazelles-Lemarchand création Jenny Golder- avec orchestre disque 80 tours Olympia saphir n°1001 de 1922

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLT8cWfIls

Story and music recording: https://footlightnotes.wordpress.com/tag/jenny-golder/

[https://fynesharteharrington.wordpress.com/tag/jenny-golder/]

We leave and pop over to the Grand Teddy or The So Different at 24 Rue Caumartin. Monty tells me that it is partly owned by the society party fixer Elsa Maxwell. Here, Jenny Golder from the Folies Bergere is the star turn. Her performance well timed to follow Miss Meller across the street! “She is English you know although born in Australia. For some reason everyone is confused about her origins” Monty tells me “probably because she swears in Italian, sings in English, gossips in German, drinks in Russian, behaves in French and explains it all in Spanish.” She is an all round entertainer with a vibrant personality who can sing and dance, give impersonations and mingles a wonderful sense of humour with sex appeal. She is very clever and very funny.

Press coverage

MISS JENNY GOLDER. DEATH IN PARIS. PARIS, July 12 The death has occurred of Miss Jenny Golder, an Australian music hall actress. She was found with a revolver bullet in her heart, and the circumstances indicated suicide. Miss Golder returned to her rooms last night smiling and joking, and received a letter, the contents of which have not been disclosed. Subsequently revolver shots were heard. She died instantly. She was subject to fits, depression, and neurasthenia. (Source: The Chronicle, Adelaide, Australia)

Jenny Golder at the Apollo music hall, Rome, April 21, 2014

Programme cover for the Apollo music hall, Rome, undated, circa 1924, when Jenny Golder (1893?-1928), Australian-born English variety theatre dancer and singer, headed the bill with her song, ‘Éléonore!’ following her appearances at the Folies Bérgère, Paris. The popular Apollo music hall in Rome suffered a catastrophic fire caused by an electrical short circuit in December 1926. Four actresses were caught in their dressing rooms and burnt to death. Jenny Golder‘s real name was Rosie Sloman. According to information given for the 1901 United Kingdom Census (36 Claremont Road, Tunbridge Wells, where she was boarding at a school), she was then 8 (actually 5) years old and born in Australia. In 1910/11 she and Joseph Bowden (whom she married in 1914) toured United Kingdom music halls with a song and dance scene. In 1913, under her own name, she appeared as a dancer in two short films: The Cowboy Twist and The Spanish-American Quickstep; in the latter she was accompanied by Harry Perry. Miss Golder’s career began to flourish in the early 1920s when she went to Paris, where she made several recordings.

‘Jenny Golder, an English girl, with a French reputation, looks a good bet for America. But when an artiste can do low comedy a la Marie Lloyd; step dance like Ida May Chadwick, and give Ella Shields and Hetty King a run for their money as a male impersonator, she is not to be blamed for looking forward to starring with Harry Pilcer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Pilcer] at the Palace, Paris, in August.’ (The Vaudeville News and New York Star, New York, Friday, 2 July 1926, p. 8a) Jenny Golder committed suicide at her flat in the Rue Desaix, Paris, on 11 July 1928, by shooting herself through the heart. Jenny Golder’s sister, Muriel M. Sloman, a quick-change artist known on the music hall stage as Myra Glen, was married in 1944 to Joseph H. Black and died in October 1971.