Emily Soldene Actress, writer, rebel

“She attributed her success to picking the bestlooking women for the chorus and hiring a troop of cancan dancers”

mily Soldene started her improbably varied career in the music halls, where she became a leading lady, producer, director and impresario. She circled the globe many times, conquering Broadway, touring the Wild West and sailing to Australia and New Zealand. But it was her final reinvention – as a writer – that is perhaps her most heroic. When the theatrical world turned its back on her, Soldene kick-started her career once more, publishing two books and becoming a successful journalist. She had that rare thing for a Victorian working-class woman: a public voice, which she used to speak fearlessly about issues such as adultery and abortion. Though she despised the suffragette movement, she was the living embodiment of a practical feminism that