Busy Bees

The Busy Bees were an amateur theatre society set up in the 1880s in London.

The paper programmes for the Busy Bees have a cover design which includes three hives representing 'Drama', 'Music', and 'Recitations'. The society's President was Hermann Vezin, the American who had success on the British stage as an actor but became better known as a teacher of elocution.

On 10 November 1885 the society performed School by T. W. Robertson. Robertson's plays were popular with amateur societies. The performance took place at St George's Hall, Langham Place, which was a popular venue with amateur groups.

A newspaper article on 12 May 1888, discussing their latest production, Moths, explains how the society 'has given to the stage several of our most promising young actors and actresses'. They referred to their gatherings as 'swarms'. For this event the society had secured the services of a professional actress, Miss Houlison, and 'everything had been done by Mrs. Lennox Browne, the popular president, to show the earnestness, the industry, and the good taste of the association'. This female presidency is significant, as many other societies and clubs of the period had their leadership dominated by men. Her husband, Lennox Browne, was a voice expert and wrote books including Science and Singing (1884) and Voice, Song and Speech: A Practical Guide for Singers and Speakers from the Combined View of Vocal Surgeon and Voice Trainer (1887).

An article in The Queen; The Lady's Newspaper in 1889 explains how by this time the Busy Bees had been disbanded and Hilda Abinger, who had been a member, instead joined the Strolling Players. Hilda went on to become a professional actress. The article also tells us that 'Miss Maude Millett, Miss Edith Chester, and Miss Olga Nethersole all emerged from the kindly shelter of the hive to take distinguished places on the London boards'.