Mrs. Madeleine Ryley is a delightful and interesting woman, and the writer of over forty plays, which include those delightful productions "Jedbury Junior" and " Mice and Men.". The story of her career is a veritable romance of the stage. Until she was fourteen she acted as nurse to several brothers and sisters. But even at that early age the theatre fascinated her, and after her fourteenth birthday she succeeded in securing an engagement in the chorus of a musical play. Three years later she went to America, where for eighteen years she sang in operatic companies and played in comedy. Then, to while away the time on the long, tedious American railway journeys, she began to write lyrics and songs for the operas in which she was engaged, and magazine stories. Then she tried her hand at a play. The result was " Jedbury Junior," which was successfully produced at Terry's in 1896, after it had taken Mrs. Ryley three years to get it read, and four years to get it produced. In 1890 she married an American comedian, Mr. J. H. Ryley. Her leisure time she devotes to horse-riding and golf.

Mrs. Madeleine Ryley Bassano