Charlene and Charlene, Charles and Lily, a drawing room
juggling act visited Australia three times between 1907 and 1918. Charles was
an expert juggler and Lily a virtuoso musician. The act was known for its
comedy, energy and flamboyance.
Charles was born Charles Mayol Jee in London in 1875. The
Jee family was prominent in vaudeville and circus circles, and he performed
from a young age. His father James was a circus equestrian.
In 1882 the Jee family, including several children, were performing for Hengler’s circus. In 1883 Charles joined the family act which included his siblings, Virginia, Amalia and James jnr. Children at the time were trained early to be circus performers, and in Charles’ case it paid off, because 10 years later he juggled on horseback for Hengler’s circus in England, and was reviewed as’ much smarter than the ordinary performer in this particular line.’ He later discussed his time as a horseback juggler with Variety magazine. ( This could be an early photo of Charles in this article by David Cain, juggling historian)
In 1893, the Jee family consisted of ‘equestrians, jugglers
and equilibrists.’ Seven years later Charles branched out on his own and performed with the
Imperial Circus in South Africa as a juggler.
Later, he told Australian reporters that he had been in South Africa
during the Boer War.
Charles returned to England in 1901 and changed his name to
Charlene. As Charlene ‘ his marvellous manipulation with a lighted cigar and a
tall hat elicited continuous applause.’
He continued to juggle as an individual until around 1904,
and it was at this time that Fred Priest, later known as Mozetto and Rupert
Ingalese, saw his solo act.
At an early age I had
the good fortune to witness an exhibition by Charlene, a really marvellous
juggler, who manipulated a great number of balls; did astonishing tricks with
hats, cigars, plates and bottles; and concluded by dexterously juggling with
lighted torches….the fiery brands about him and around him mingled and
intermingled with each other until nothing could be seen of the performer who had
gradually disappeared from view. A restless mass of fire circled in his place.
Charles was obviously a skilled juggler but did not become a tremendously popular one until he teamed up with his wife, Lily.
Born in Liverpool in 1879, a date she rarely used, Fannie
Lily Jee was the daughter of Henry and Fannie Jee , another branch of the
extended Jee family. Her father was Charles’ cousin.
Almost always referred to as Lily, she was part of the
famous Musical Jees group. Her father, better known as Harry, led the group for
many years. A description of the act in 1889 shows some influence on her later
work with Charles.
The curtain rises on a
drawing room and after the pantomimic fooling that accompanies the introduction
of various musical properties we are treated to…some clever xylophone playing…
Lily spent a large part of her childhood influenced by the
troupe and when she was 17 she took ship with her father and accompanied them
for a two week tour of the United States.
She was small, just over 5 feet tall, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Lily and Charles
married in Lambeth in 1901. Lily was a talented musician, and they developed a
duo act that took them around the world.
In 1904 as Charlene and Charlene they performed a drawing
room turn where the expert juggling of Charles was complemented by a musical
performance by Lily. Described as ‘remarkable entertainers’, in December that
year they were performing specialties in pantomime.
In 1905 they were a
‘refined and pleasing entertainment’ .Charles juggled plates, champagne
bottles, umbrellas and hats, whilst Lily, dressed in a sparkly dress
accompanied him on a xylophone. The act had a surprising finale when Charles
juggled torches to the sound of Lily’s music in a spectacular crescendo.
Lily Charlene in one of her famous dresses
This was the act they took to Australia two years later. It
combined the act that Fred Priest described with musical accompaniment by
Lily.
In 1907 after a tour of Europe, Lily and Charles headed to Australia.
They arrived in Adelaide in early January and later that month appeared for
Harry Rickards at the Opera House in Melbourne.
Both appeared in evening dress to the backdrop of a drawing
room. Charles began by juggling his top hat, coat and an umbrella and then
started to juggle other items in the room. He then borrowed a violin from the
band, much to the dismay of its owner, juggled it, the bow and a hat and then
after catching all three, the hat on his head, played a tune on the violin.
Afterwards Lily played the xylophone. Her dexterity on the
instrument was described as brilliant, and her costume, a blue dress sprinkled
with sparkling sequins, was a highlight. The finale was Charles juggling
torches as Lily accompanied the feat with music. The whole turn was rapturously
welcomed by the Melbourne audience.
The pair stayed in Melbourne until March, when they
travelled to Sydney. Whilst there they performed the same act, they then
travelled to New Zealand, where a photo of Lily adorned a major newspaper. Lily was very popular with photographers and
the local Melbourne photography studio Talma, issued a postcard of her.
They left New Zealand in September and travelled to the
United States. Both used the name Charlene on their travel documents. They
stayed about two years alternating between the American and British music halls
and then returned to Australia in 1910.
By this time, they had changed their act and the critics
considered it improved. They toured Sydney and Melbourne and added Adelaide to
their agenda.
Firstly, Charles had changed his costume. He no longer
dressed in evening clothes and his new motorist costume was ‘loud’ and ‘Yankee’.
The turn began when Charles entered the stage accompanied by a chauffeur, a new
addition. Charles juggled everyday objects such as plates and eggs and
umbrellas whilst the chauffeur reacted with wry commentary. Charles also joked
as he juggled. He repeated the act with the violin and added revolvers. Lily
played the xylophone and performed a step dance, an addition to her repertoire.
Reviewers were enthusiastic about her musical skill.
The reaction was warm in each city. Lily’s dresses were the
subject of much admiration, and she was dubbed the best dressed performer on
the stage.
They stayed in Australia from June to October that year.
Then travelled back to the Northern Hemisphere where they continued to perform
in the US, Europe, including the
Alhambra in Paris, and England.
The First World War did not stop their constant touring.
Charles was too old to serve so they continued their grueling pace. They
travelled everywhere and before they returned to the southern hemisphere in
1917, they had completed a tour of the US, Mexico and Argentina.
They began in New
Zealand, spending September and October there. In November they arrived in
Australia and visited Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney, finally landing in
Melbourne in December where they joined the cast of Australia’s most popular
pantomime, Bunyip. The act was the same
as the one they presented seven years earlier. Their new assistant was a showstopper
and amused audiences and reviewers with his antics as Charles juggled. They were
a popular couple, labelled ‘travel whales’,
and seemed well regarded by the press and public.
They departed Melbourne in 1918 and returned to America for
a short tour. From that time their popularity waned. By 1924 they had retired
to South Africa and were the proprietors of a hotel. In 1927, they, with other
members of the Jee family, inherited a portion of the estate of Amy Howes the
widow of a millionaire who was the owner of the Howes and Cushing circus. The
Jees according to several articles at the time, had a habit of using different
surnames. Included in the will were the families of the Egberts, Bert Jee of
the Burnell’s, Fred Jee of the Maples, Harry Jee of the musical Smithy act, and
Charles and Lily Jee known as Charlene and Charlene, jugglers.
The pair remained in South Africa until Charles’ death in
February 1948. At his bedside was his friend J V Cooke. In May that year, 63-year-old Fanny Lily Jee
(born Jee as stated on the certificate) married Jesse Vince Cooke. Lily died 12
years later, in 1960, in South Africa.