ABSTRACT
Advance notices heralding Alice May’s arrival appeared in the theatrical gossip columns of several English publications. They were more like publicity paragraphs than news items and had almost certainly been sent out by Allen before the couple left India. A typical example, in the Illustrated London News of April 29, 1876, reported that Alice had “appeared with success at Madras and elsewhere” and was “about to return to London in order to make her début here.” However, Alice and Allen did not reach England until early summer, by which time it seemed more sensible to wait until the start of the new theatrical season before introducing her to the public.
