Early years Blanche was born in
Brixton, London, the daughter of the singer and actress
Cicely Nott and her husband, Sam Adams, a theatre manager. The couple had five children, all of whom were later professionally associated with the theatre, including Rosaline, known professionally as Rosie Nott, who married the impresario
Robert Courtneidge and was the mother of
Cicely Courtneidge. At the age of fourteen Blanche made her stage debut in London's
Adelphi Theatre Christmas show,
Little Goody Two Shoes. In the same year she appeared in her first
breeches role in
pantomime, playing Dandini in
Cinderella at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For the same company she appeared in
As You Like It in 1880. In 1882 Ada played the soprano role of Fiametta, to her mother's Peronella, in
Emily Soldene's touring production of
Suppé's operetta
Boccaccio.
The Manchester Guardian commented, "Miss Cecily Nott has a nice voice, which she would do well not to force too much. Miss Ada Blanche was pleasant and ingenuous, if not very finished." The theatre historian
Kurt Gänzl writes that Blanche left this engagement "to fulfil the kind of substantial pantomime principal boy engagement which would be the backbone of her early career".
Touring and burlesque; pantomime stardom ,
Dan Leno,
Marie Lloyd and
Herbert Campbell In 1883–84 Blanche toured with Lila Clay's all-women operetta company; in 1885 she went to the US, joining the Holmes
Burlesque Company on tour. Returning to Britain she joined
Dion Boucicault's touring company, together with her mother and another sister, Edith Blanche. In
Dick Whittington, a reporter for
The Era thought she "sang well, danced well and acted well", going onto say: "she was the life and soul of the evening. When the entertainment was flagging, on she came with her relentless spirit and energy."
Later career in
The Medal and the Maid, 1903 As the 1890s went on, Blanche was given a few starring roles in
musical comedy. Harris presented an English version of
La demoiselle du téléphone, an operette by
Maurice Desvallières and
Gaston Serpette. With an English text by Harris and
F. C. Burnand,
The Telephone Girl debuted in 1896 and toured the provinces off and on until 1900, with Blanche in the title role.
The Manchester Guardian observed: Outside the pantomime season, Blanche's West End seasons during the late 1890s and early 1900s were few. In 1898 she co-starred with
Courtice Pounds and
Lottie Venne in
The Royal Star, which ran only briefly; In 1903 she was in another musical comedy,
The Medal and the Maid, which ran for six months. She played in Robert Courteidge's pantomimes in 1903 to 1905 and toured in a
farce,
What the Butler Saw, from 1906 to 1908. Despite a starry cast in which Blanche's co-stars included
Walter Passmore and
C. Hayden Coffin,
The Rebel Maid ran for only four months. When it closed, Blanche retired, first to
Yorkshire and later to west London. Blanche never married. She died at St. Mary's Convent in
Chiswick on 1 January 1953 at the age of 90. ==References==