Gelatin silver print

This photo album contains 36 large black and white photographs of the musical comedy star Gertie Millar (1879-1952). Comparison with photographs in other collections has shown the that the images were made by the photographer Rita Martin.

After assisting her sister Lallie Charles for several years, Rita Martin set up her own studio in 1906, focusing on the portraits of actresses and children. Cecil Beaton and Gail Buckland wrote that 'Rita Martin was the theatrical photographer of the family, and all the musical-comedy stars, and less promising subjects, became beautiful when seen through her lense' (The Magic Image, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1975).

The photographs in the album were taken from around that period until 1918, when Gertie Millar last appeared on the stage. They show the actress in a variety of stage outfits. The photos are pasted onto slightly larger cardboard inserts, some of which carry the name of the production faintly written in pencil. Rita Martin seems to have used a numerical identification system and all the boards bear a number.

We do not know at present how the album came to the museum, its original owner and purpose.