Biography
Born on 23 May 1887 in London, England, and passing away there on 6 December 1958, José Collins—pronounced “Josie”—entered the profession at a young age as the daughter of the celebrated music-hall performer Lottie Collins, who had been born in 1865 and died in 1910. Her first West End appearance came in The Antelope in 1908; three years afterward she reached Broadway in Vera Violetta, returning the following year for The Merry Countess and The Whirl Of Society. Subsequent New York engagements included the 1913 edition of Ziegfeld Follies, The Passing Show in 1914, The Impostor(s) in 1915, and both A Woman’s Honor and The Light That Failed in 1916. Back in London she originated the role of Teresa in Frederick Lonsdale’s The Maid Of The Mountains, whose score was supplied by Harold Fraser-Simson; the production opened in 1917 and ran for 1,352 performances, during which Collins introduced the song “Love Will Find A Way.” Before the premiere, her mother’s third former husband, composer James W. Tate, supplied two additional numbers—“My Life Is Love” for Collins alone and the duet “A Paradise For Two” performed with Thorpe Bates.
After the First World War she worked extensively on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in the films Victory And Peace (1918) and Nobody’s Child (1919) as well as the stage productions The Sword Of Damocles and A Southern Maid (both 1920), Sybil (1921), a 1921 revival of The Maid Of The Mountains, and Last Waltz (1922). The sheer number of titles she accepted in 1923 alone—The Velvet Woman, Shadow Of Death, Secret Mission, The Last Stake, Catherine, The Courage Of Despair and The Battle Of Love—testifies both to her drawing power and to the variable quality of the vehicles offered her. Further work in that decade comprised Our Nell (1924) and Frasquita (1925). As her prominence declined she moved between revues, variety bills and straight plays, one of the last being Facing The Music in 1933. Mounting personal difficulties, together with deteriorating health and finances, marked her final years. A memorial plaque in a Covent Garden church bears lines by Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Sing again with your dear voice recalling a tone of some world far from ours. Where music and moonlight and feeling are one.”
After the First World War she worked extensively on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in the films Victory And Peace (1918) and Nobody’s Child (1919) as well as the stage productions The Sword Of Damocles and A Southern Maid (both 1920), Sybil (1921), a 1921 revival of The Maid Of The Mountains, and Last Waltz (1922). The sheer number of titles she accepted in 1923 alone—The Velvet Woman, Shadow Of Death, Secret Mission, The Last Stake, Catherine, The Courage Of Despair and The Battle Of Love—testifies both to her drawing power and to the variable quality of the vehicles offered her. Further work in that decade comprised Our Nell (1924) and Frasquita (1925). As her prominence declined she moved between revues, variety bills and straight plays, one of the last being Facing The Music in 1933. Mounting personal difficulties, together with deteriorating health and finances, marked her final years. A memorial plaque in a Covent Garden church bears lines by Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Sing again with your dear voice recalling a tone of some world far from ours. Where music and moonlight and feeling are one.”
Albums
