Wendy Selover turns 100

WENDY Lee Jacobs was born in Randwick NSW on August 20, 1924, the only child of musical director Henry Osborne Jacobs and dancer Violet Lucie Maud Bishop.
Given her parents’ occupations, her life was spent in and around theatres and theatrical people, and due to their evening work hours and travel, her grandmother M’liss Martha Charlotte Kelly played a significant role in her early life.

Her early schooling was in Elwood, Victoria, firstly at a small private school followed by Elwood Central and finally Melbourne Girls’ Grammar. Ice skating interrupted her education and she left school at the end of year 10, having ‘wagged’ much of that year to go to the ice rink.

Her real schooling was in ballet, not academia. She had first performed on stage at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda at the tender age of two, followed by regular performances by the age of four.

A visit to the Glaciarium Ice Skating Rink with a friend put paid to any thought of a career in ballet as she was immediately enchanted by the freedom of moving across the ice.

As a teenager she was employed as a professional at St Moritz in St Kilda, teaching, choreographing and directing ice shows, and working towards her skating qualifications. She passed the tests for a Gold Medal in 1952 but never competed in competitions.

Ice skating also led her to meet dashing RAN Sub Lieutenant, Linley Selover, when he asked her to have a drink with him after her teaching duties finished. They were married in 1945 when he returned from service in World War II. There were…

by Louise Flowers