Jeanette Rutherston
{{Short description|British dancer and television critic}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jeanette Rutherston
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| other_names = Jeanette Powell (after marriage)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1902
| birth_place = Bradford, Yorkshire
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| occupation = Dancer, writer, editor television critic
| years_active =
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| notable_works =
| relatives = William Rothenstein (uncle)
Albert Rutherston (uncle)
Michael Rothenstein (cousin)
John Rothenstein (cousin)
}}
Jeanette Rutherston (1902–1988), later Jeanette Powell, was a British dancer and television critic. She was a writer and assistant editor on the Dancing Times magazine in the 1930s.
Early life
Jeanette Bertha Rothenstein was born on 10 March 1902 in Bradford, Yorkshire, the daughter of textile manufacturer, art collector and philanthropist Charles Lambert Rothenstein,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48736669/splendid-gift-to-manchester/|title=Splendid Gift to Manchester|date=1925-09-18|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-04-15|pages=9|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48737132/death-of-charles-rutherston/|title=Death of Charles Rutherston|date=1927-12-30|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-04-15|pages=4|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48737422/in-manchester/|title=In Manchester|date=1938-02-04|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-04-15|pages=13|via=Newspapers.com}} who changed his German surname in 1916 to make clear his allegiance to the British during World War I.{{Cite book|last=Morris|first=Edward|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sks583w0MXkC&dq=Rutherston%20Bradford&pg=PA121|title=Public Art Collections in North-west England: A History and Guide|date=2001|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-0-85323-527-9|pages=120–121|language=en}} The Rothensteins were Jewish.{{Cite book|last1=Landman|first1=Isaac|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZ4YAAAAIAAJ&dq=Rutherston%20Bradford&pg=PA234|title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia ...: An Authoritative and Popular Presentation of Jews and Judaism Since the Earliest Times|last2=Cohen|first2=Simon|date=1943|publisher=Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Incorporated|pages=234–235|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Rubinstein|first1=W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spOxzrifZjcC&dq=Rutherston%20Bradford&pg=PT1595|title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History|last2=Jolles|first2=Michael A.|date=2011-01-27|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-30466-6|language=en}} Her uncles were artist William Rothenstein and stage designer Albert Rutherston.{{Cite journal|last=Davis|first=Janet Rowson|date=1982|title=Ballet on British Television, 1933-1939|journal=Dance Chronicle|volume=5|issue=3|pages=245–304|doi=10.1080/01472528108568840|jstor=1567403|issn=0147-2526}} Artist Michael Rothenstein and art historian John Rothenstein were her first cousins.{{Cite news|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/14/obituaries/michael-rothenstein-artist-is-dead-at-85.html|title=Michael Rothenstein, Artist, Is Dead at 85|date=1993-07-14|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-04-15|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gore-dancing-in-the-street-n05307|title='Dancing in the Street', Spencer Gore, c.1904|website=Tate|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-15}}
Jeanette Rothenstein studied ballet as a girl, and after completing studies at Bedford Physical Training College, she pursued further dance training in Vienna, with Gertrud Bodenwieser.
Career
Rutherston toured with the Margaret Morris Dancers as a young woman, and danced on the London stage with fellow Bodenwieser student Trudl Dubsky. Dubsky and Rutherston opened a dance school together in London's Great Ormond Street in 1932; Bodenwieser taught at the school as a guest instructor in 1934. The school closed when Dubsky had health issues, married, and moved away from England.{{Cite book|last1=Vernon-Warren|first1=Bettina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqJlAgAAQBAJ&dq=Jeanette%20Rutherston&pg=PA91|title=Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna's Contribution to Ausdruckstanz|last2=Warren|first2=Charles|date=2013-12-19|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-42366-8|pages=91–92|language=en}}
Rutherston was writer and assistant to editor Philip J. S. Richardson, at the Dancing Times magazine, by 1934.{{Cite book|last1=Carter|first1=Alexandra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jYaMAQAAQBAJ&dq=Jeanette+Rutherston&pg=PA119|title=Rethinking Dance History: A Reader|last2=Nicholas|first2=Larraine|last3=Morris|first3=Geraldine|date=2013-10-18|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-48500-8|pages=119|language=en}} She was a very early television critic, assigned to review ballet broadcasts for the magazine's "Television Notes" column in the 1930s. Because she did not initially have a television set at home, she went to use a set at the Alexandra Palace, and was later allowed to watch at Broadcasting House. She suggested that ballets be made especially for the television format, so different from a theatre setting; but she also noted when well-planned camera work, costumes, and set design improved the viewer's experience of the performance.
Personal life
Jeanette Rutherston married Christopher Cecil Powell. She died on 1 August 1988.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.artnet.fr/artistes/eric-henri-kennington/portrait-of-jeanette-rutherston-99t7Bzqf5m9ApdsaFWqQ3Q2 A chalk portrait of Jeanette Rutherston] as a young woman, by Eric Kennington; at ArtNet.
- The Manchester Art Gallery owns [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/jeanette-powell-256237 a portrait bust of Jeanette Powell] as a young woman, made by sculptor Frank Dobson.
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Category:Year of death missing
Category:Writers from Bradford
Category:English female dancers
Category:English women writers
Category:British television critics
Category:British women critics