The crowd have settled, the hammer has fallen and the performer moves into the limelight. A song, a dance, a novelty act, a wink and a smile transported women from the Music Hall into the lives of their audiences and sometimes into their hearts. Who were these women? How did they live their lives? Let’s visit their world.

Early male impersonators like Nelly Power, pictured here, wore a man’s hat or jacket with tights.

A popular figure on the Music hall stage was the male impersonator.

Vesta Tilley was the highest paid music hall performer of her time. She started out aged four in 1868 and retired in 1920 .

There were many of them, famous names such as Nelly Power, Vesta Tilley, Hetty King and Ella Shields. Some were not so famous but known to the audiences of the time, among them Bessie Bonehill, Emma Don, Pauline Travis and Louie Tracy ‘the dapper dandy boy.’

Louie Tracy, the dapper dandy boy.