ARCHIVE NO. 025 · Music hall and early film
Ella Retford
Music hall performer and actress
Sunderland-born Ella Retford combined singing, dancing and comedy in music hall and pantomime, and also appeared in films. She performed at three Royal Variety shows, in 1912, 1921 and 1938, and made an early recording of Ship Ahoy! in 1910.
She regularly played principal boy in pantomime. Theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope singled out her Aladdin as “probably the best” he had seen, part of a warm tribute to her dancing, charm and stage talent.