Biography
Phyllis Constance Haddie Dones entered the world on 15 August 1890 in London, England, and departed on 27 April 1975 in Brighton, East Sussex, England. While still children she teamed with her older sister Zena Dare, born Zena Dones on 4 February 1887 in London and deceased there on 11 March 1975, to create a joint stage act. Her first professional appearance arrived in Babes In The Wood during 1899, after which she accumulated further credits in both straight plays and pantomimes before reaching the West End in Seymour Hicks’ Bluebell In Fairyland in 1901. Subsequent parts continued to exploit her understated appeal, notably when she assumed the role of Angela in the 1905 production The Catch Of The Season from Ellaline Terris, who herself had replaced Zena Dare, and again when she inherited the principal part in The Belle Of Mayfair the following year from Edna May. Additional pre-war musical-comedy engagements included The Dairymaids in 1906, The Arcadians in 1909, Peggy in 1911, a Paris mounting of The Quaker Girl also in 1911, The Sunshine Girl in 1912, The Girl From Utah in 1913, the 1914 revival of Miss Hook Of Holland, and Tina in 1915. She headed the casts of the last two titles, both authored by Paul Rubens, the same composer responsible for the scores of The Sunshine Girl and The Dairymaids; the pair grew close and contemplated marriage until his death in 1917. After the war she appeared in Kissing Time in 1919, Ring Up in 1921, The Lady Of The Rose in 1922, The Street Singer in 1924—which she also produced—and Lido Lady in 1926, while still accepting pantomime engagements. From this juncture onward she figured more regularly in straight drama than in musical comedy. During the 1930s her credits encompassed Cheated in 1930, Words And Music in 1932, Music In The Air in 1934, The Fugitives in 1936, and both And The Music Stopped and Call It A Day in 1937. In 1940 she shared a brief stage reunion with her sister in Ivor Novello’s Full House. The decade that followed brought further assignments in Other People’s Houses in 1941, June Mad in 1945, Day After Tomorrow and Lady Frederick in 1946, and Sit Down A Minute in 1948. Another collaboration with Zena Dare occurred in Novello’s King’s Rhapsody, which opened in 1949 and cast Phyllis as Marta; the production continued for several months after Novello’s death in 1951 until its closure in October of that year, at which point she withdrew to England’s south coast. Her own passing followed only weeks after her sister’s.
Singles
