This is the beginning of a series I want to put together with as much information as is recoverable about women working in British musical theatre in the 1930s. But I realised I also didn’t want to hoard this information – so I thought I’d start to share them as I write them, then collate it later.
Barbour, Kathleen (fl. 1920s-1930s)
Barbour was a producer, actor and lyricist in variety and musical theatre. She ran the English Repertory Company in 1932 with Gerard Neville (performances included Frederick Lonsdale’s Spring Cleaning (1932), and Hubert Henry Davies’s Outcast (1932)). The company had an apparent engagement for several seasons at the Little Theatre, Bath, a residency jointly run by Neville and Barbour. Her work with Neville seems to have overlapped with her performances with Ernie Lotinga, her husband from 1918 onwards. Lotinga was also a performer/producer, together they co-ran their touring company throughout the 1920s-1930s period. She performer in numerous variety revues including: August, 1914 (1927), My Wife’s Family (1937). She co-wrote the lyrics for Mrs Bluebird (1932) with Gavin Lee, the musical was described as a ‘crazy musical theatre burlesque’. The musical briefly went into the West End for a summer season at the Gaiety, before returning to variety theatre.
At the moment, no photos or further information about her work can be found – her wedding to Lotinga does appear on genealogy websites so this was likely her real name.
Sarah Whitfield 