Jane Freeman's time with the Osiris Players

[Marianna]

Has anyone delved into this? The surviving records and artifacts of the theater troupe seem to be in the V&A archives.

I came across this http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/a-woman-of-some-importance-1584964.html while looking for something else and got sidetracked into a completely different line of research. Also found a couple of photos. One is very small and the other is grainy, but I think I might be seeing Jane Freeman in each of them. If you think I'm seeing things, please feel free to say so.

The Osiris Players, 1940. Jane Freeman ??? second from left.

The Osiris Players, apparently loading up for departure from a venue. Jane Freeman ??? second from right.

They couldn't use either of their motor vehicles during the war because of petrol rationing, so both photos must be either pre- or post-war. I question the date on the first photo because they're grouped beside a large car, presumably theirs, so it's either before September 1939, when petrol was rationed, or possibly between then and July of '42, when petrol was made unavailable to all except the military and "official" users, such as emergency services, bus companies and farmers. The skirt lengths look pre-war to me, but since the actresses were paid very little, the clothes may be left over from then or may have been bought second-hand.

The second photo seems most likely to be post-war because as far as I know, it was very unusual for women to wear trousers pre-war. Also, the woman I'm hypothesizing is Jane Freeman is wearing a duffle coat. A lot of those coats were available very cheaply right after the war when the British military sold them as surplus. Just the kind of thing a poorly paid actress could afford.

Acting with this troupe must have been an awfully hard life — an actress's trial by fire.

 

[happyjack]

Hard to say Marianna. Would Jane have been that big then? but a possibility.

 

[captain clutterbuck]

Hello Marianna,


Thank you for the post , fascinating . I know there is some conjecture about the Date of Birth for Jane on Wikipedia which they have as 1921 . If that was correct, then if the photo was 1939 that would make her 18 or if 1942 she would be 21 in the photographs , please do not misconstrue this as in anyway unkind or ageist but the lady that you believe is Jane seems a little more mature than either of those ages . In the photograph of them loading up the truck the lady on the extreme right bending to pick something up seems younger and does look a little like Jane , however if we think that 1921 is the incorrect year of birth for Jane and she is indeed not that old, then if the dates are correct for the photographs it is difficult to believe that any of those ladies in the shot are Jane .

I am happy to be shot down in flames and to make an immediate appointment with Specsavers!

 

[Marianna]

Hello Marianna,


Thank you for the post , fascinating . I know there is some conjecture about the Date of Birth for Jane on Wikipedia which they have as 1921 . If that was correct, then if the photo was 1939 that would make her 18 or if 1942 she would be 21 in the photographs , please do not misconstrue this as in anyway unkind or ageist but the lady that you believe is Jane seems a little more mature than either of those ages . In the photograph of them loading up the truck the lady on the extreme right bending to pick something up seems younger and does look a little like Jane , however if we think that 1921 is the incorrect year of birth for Jane and she is indeed not that old, then if the dates are correct for the photographs it is difficult to believe that any of those ladies in the shot are Jane .

I am happy to be shot down in flames and to make an immediate appointment with Specsavers!

I don't know, that's why I tossed the conjecture out. Nearly all of the players in that troupe except for the director were quite young and trying to get a foot in the acting door. That's why they were willing to accept subsistence pay and often sleeping in barns or on an auditorium floor because they couldn't afford to pay for lodging. And very few people over 30 have the stamina to act more than one part in each of up to five different plays in a single day.

As you pointed out the woman on the far right in the larger photo could be her. I can't quickly lay hands on a photo of Ivy in full profile, but the closest I can find looks very similar. To address HappyJack's comment, I wouldn't be surprised if Jane was a fine figure of a girl, as well as of a woman. Several of the women in my family were as heavy in their early fifties as she was when Summer Wine started. I have photos of them as young women, and they weren't much smaller then, so yes, it's possible that she was heavy in her late teens and twenties.

 

[wstol]

I think you may be on the wrong track here.