File talk:Jay as Mabel.jpg

Mabel?

This photograph is an indoor shot, with a lamp and a desk. Nothing like that in that wholly al fresco opera, The Pirates of Penzance. Are we sure it's Mabel that Jay is portrayed as? - Tim riley (talk) 17:57, 1 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The "Memories" of the DOC site could have misidentified the photo. Isabel Jay looks very young in the photo, and I think it is highly probably that the the "Memories" site must have gotten the photo from something DOC-related, so let's inquire into this, looking at her early roles:

Yeomen and Iolanthe. No.
Yum-Yum . Not much of a scholar, I think.
Princess Lucilla Chloris in His Majesty ?
The Sorcerer. No.
Pirates. Beginning of Act II ? She does seem to be wearing a sort of night gown, but I agree that it seems rather strange for her to be shown "indoors".
Gianetta and Casilda. No.
Trial. I don't see how we could "bring it in"
Aloës in The Lucky Star ?
Josephine. Maybe - Josephine is presumably an educated and thoughtful girl....
Blush-of-Morning. No
Sultana. Hmmm. Seems unlikely.
Patience. No.
Lady Rose Pippin in The Emerald Isle ?
Gipsy Woman in Ib and Little Christina (1901). I think not. -- Ssilvers (talk) 19:01, 1 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Bravo! A capital plan. I see the original photo is here too, in what looks prima facie to be a well-researched and authoritative site: Perhaps she is got up as Mabel, but posed indoors by some photographer's whim. Be that as it may, do you think we should retain this pic in the main Pirates article? - Tim riley (talk) 21:19, 1 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think you hit it right: the photographer may simply have posed her, wearing the Mabel costume, in front of his usual photo backdrop and said, "Miss Jay, why don't you appear to be reading this book - that will look nice". I would leave the photo for now on the "Pirates" article: Since at least two sites attribute this photo as being of Jay as Mabel, we have a reasonable basis for using the photo there. And, Jay certainly did play Mabel, so it does show a photo of an early DOC Mabel, even if not in the Mabel costume. Of course, if we have too many photos of Mabels, it could get squeezed out. -- Ssilvers (talk) 20:08, 2 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My good sir, I don't go about prepared to squeeze Mabels at a moment's notice. I don't know how it's done. And I'm not going to take lessons. But I think, given the comments about Sir Garnett, we need a pic of Grossmith as the Major-General. But that is for another talk page. - Tim riley (talk) 22:29, 2 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]