Author Archives: Monomania

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About Monomania

Avid, if haphazard, collector of postcards and information about women in the Music Hall. Easily diverted by new themes. Today male impersonators, tomorrow long boot dancers.

The show goes on

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Madame Bairewe is billed as the inimitable Tyrolean on her postcard. I found a mention of her in a newspaper from the Charleroi region in Belgium, dated 31st December 1916. Among the war reports there is an advert for a variety show. We are told the performance starts at 7.30 precisely and ends at 10 ‘very precisely’. The audience will have one hour to get to their homes. Artistes include American eccentrics, comic jugglers, dancers, acrobats and Madame Bairewe, described here as the celebrated Tyrolean. Another newspaper advert from around the same time describes her as a comic.

Madame Bairewe the inimitable Tyrolean

Madame Bairewe
the inimitable Tyrolean

Ivy Kidd

Ivy Kidd

Performers travelled in Europe for work during the First World War. There are two postcards of Ivy Kydd sent in 1915 and 1916. The first is sent to her by her ‘old pal’ Mabel, also a performer, who writes that she is sending the photo as promised. She goes on to say ‘we had fine success best on bill.’ The card has French stamps (postmark too faint to read) and is sent to Ivy in Puteaux, also in France. Ivy herself has written on the card saying, ‘Mr Maurice did this photo, but developed it in Toulouse, so Mabel sent it to me.’

I wonder if she sent this card on to her mother, who lived in London. In December 1916 Ivy sent her a card from Milan of herself in the Buffalo Belles, a Wild West show. She writes, ‘ Mr M says I look like a real Indian.’ Hard to work out which one is Ivy. She asks Mrs Kydd to keep all the postcards she sends and put them in an album ‘when you get it.’

The Buffalo Belles Wild West Show

The Buffalo Belles
Wild West Show

Who were they?

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Unknown faces look out at us from the postcards, we sometimes have a name but it doesn’t always help in finding out about their lives. These women and young girls took up eccentric dancing, boxing, diving, mimicry to make a living on the halls. It was hard, travelling round the country, often appearing in dingy rooms at the back of drinking establishments where the audience were not shy of expressing their opinion of the artiste. It was a bad idea to appear just before a popular performer if you had a weak voice or your comic turn was not funny. The audience just wanted to see their favourite.

I have a postcard of the Sisters Romney sent to Mrs Johnings in Canterbury on 28th October 1914, not long after the start of the First World War.

Sisters Romney

Sisters Romney

The sender, Bert, writes that he saw the Sisters at Ramsgate Marina Hall at a Smoking Concert held by the town for the soldiers before they departed. He describes them as ‘lovely dancers and singers’ and as sisters, although they could have adopted this as part of their act. The back of the card is a poignant reminder of ordinary lives. Click on the card to read the message.Sisters Romney back

Pleasures of Past Times

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On Saturday I visited David Drummond’s shop, PLEASURES OF PAST TIMES, in Cecil Court near Leicester Square underground station in London. It’s packed with memorabilia, including postcards, books, posters and sheet music. I found sheet music with a wonderful picture of Alice Harvey on the front.

'The neat and natty' Alice Harvey

‘The neat and natty’ Alice Harvey

She was an early male impersonator and the song is entitled  ‘Say you love me Nellie.’ This dates from 1882 and she’s dressed as a masher, a man about town careful of his appearance. She is reported in The Era, a newspaper of the time, as having great success and being re-engaged everywhere. She is advertised as performing in three halls every evening which was the norm for music hall performers. They would rush to the next engagement in a horse-drawn cab, often changing costume as they went.

Marie Loftus

Marie Loftus, the Sarah Bernhardt of the halls

My other find was a postcard of Marie Loftus, billed as ‘The Sarah Bernhardt of the Halls.’ She was a serio-comic singer, very popular in pantomime and was a hit in America as well as here. When appearing in Brighton she travelled along the coast to Shoreham-by-Sea and took the ferry over to Shoreham Beach. She liked it so much she built a bungalow there and was the first of many music hall stars to settle on the beach. It became known as Bungalow Town with houses built from wood and old railway carriages which were pulled across the river by horses when the tide was low. I’ll be writing more about Bungalow Town and women from the Music Hall who lived there.

Male Impersonators

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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 tights and a curly brimmed bowler hat.

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 at the age of fifty-six.

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.

Louie Tracy, the dapper dandy boy.