The sister of comedians Joe and Alf Verne, Priscilla Verne married fellow Australian minstrel showman Charles Hugo in 1882 and quickly established herself as one of the country's leading soubrettes of the period. She toured with Hugo's Buffalo Minstrels throughout Australia and New Zealand for ten years, ending this association in 1892 prior to divorcing her husband that same year.
Verne's early solo career saw her engaged by Dan Tracey, the Empire Minstrels and Harry Barrington before she secured a Tivoli contract. Apart from an extended period spent in Perth between late 1896 and early 1898, she was associated with Harry Rickards for the rest of the 1890s. In 1899 she briefly toured her own Burlesque and Comedy Company and after spending much of 1900 and 1901 with Rickards and Percy St John she took her variety troupe to the East (including Manila). She returned to Australia briefly in 1902/03 via the USA and New Zealand, before heading back overseas for another four years (incl. the USA and England).
After another return to Australia in 1907 she went back to the USA and where she met up with ex-patriot comedian Tommy Armstrong. The pair came back home in 1909 with an act billed as Armstrong and Verne, continuing through until 1912, at which time Verne retired from the stage an married an as yet unidentified politician. She was lured back to the stage in 1940 to perform with a series of "stars of the past" shows on the Tivoli circuit, and continued with these productions up until at least 1943.
[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive]
2253958598471949083.jpg
