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Tait, Viola (1911 - 2002)

Lady, AM
Archival/Heritage ResourcesPublished Resources
Author, Philanthropist, Actor and Singer
Born: 1 November 1911  Pressburg, Austria-Hungary.  Died: 6 February 2002.

Born in Pressburg, Austria-Hungary where her father was the manager of a branch of J P Coats thread mills. The family returned to Paisley, in Scotland, with the outbreak of World War I.
She enrolled in the in the Scottish National Academy of Music in Glasgow, then studied singing under Francis Harford before joining the Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1935 and played at the London Lyceum Theatre and touring South Africa.
In 1937 she joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano, touring the English provinces and later America. In 1939 she was invited to join the Australian Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company as a principal for a year long tour of Australia and New Zealand.
She met and married Frank (later Sir Frank) Tait, the youngest of the five Tait brothers.
Her first book A Family of Brothers provides a history of the J C Williamson's theatre enterprise and the contribution of the Tait brothers to Australian theatre. This was followed by Dames, Principal Boys…and all That: A history of Pantomine in Australia in 2001.

(Source: Farewell to a grand dame of light opera by Elisabeth Kumm and Grand lady of the stage by Philip Jones)

Published Resources

Books

  • Tait, Viola, A family of brothers : the Taits and J.C. Williamson : a theatre history, Heinemann, Melbourne, 1971, 303 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Tait, Viola and Humphries, Barry (progue by), Dames, principal boys -- and all that : a history of pantomime in Australia, Macmillan, South Melbourne, 2001, 239 pp. [ Details... ]

Illustrations

  • Tait, Viola (introduction by), Tait theatre drawings : 8 May - 8 June 1979, University of Melbourne, University Gallery, Melbourne, 1979, [8] pp. [ Details... ]

Newspaper Articles

  • Jones, Philip, 'Grand lady of the stage', The Australian, Time & Tide, 18 February, p. 10. [ Details... ]
  • Kumm, Elisabeth, 'Farewell to a grand dame of light opera', The Age, The Culture, 19 February, p. 9. [ Details... ]

Online Resources


Google
Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Anne Heywood
Created: 27 February 2002
Modified: 7 April 2003

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 16 June 2006
http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0320b.htm

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