THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Eva Mills as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore

Eva Mills (1880)

[Born Washington, D.C. c.1952]

Eva S. Mills (nee Howell) was New York's first Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, appearing in that role when the nautical comic opera was produced for the first time at the Standard Theatre on January 15, 1879. Following the hundredth performance in April, she went on tour in the part with what was billed as the Standard Opera Company. By October 1879 she was back at the Standard Theatre in her familiar role.

Miss Mills' only engagement with the D'Oyly Carte organization came the following year. Carte's Second American Pirates of Penzance Company gave what appears to have been its last performance of Pirates in Philadelphia on April 24, 1880. The next week (April 26-May 1), however, they appeared in Baltimore in H.M.S. Pinafore, with Eva Mills once more as the gallant Captain's daughter.

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