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Delaney's Donkey
William Hargreaves (1880–1941) was a British composer, mainly of songs for the music hall. His most famous composition was '" Burlington Bertie from Bow" in 1916 but he also wrote "Delaney's Donkey", "I Know Where the Flies Go", "PC 49", "We All Went Marching Home Again", "They Built Piccadilly For Me" and "Give My Regards to Leicester Square". Hargreaves is also sometimes credited with several songs for Billy Williams, including "Postcards" (1908); and "I Must Go Home Tonight" (1909). His "It's The Old Army Game" was added to the originally American musical ''Poppy'' when it was performed in London stage in 1924. He was married to the American singer and male impersonator Ella Shields from 1906 to 1923, when she was granted a divorce. Hargreaves wrote "Burlington Bertie from Bow" for Shields;''The Times'' (London, England), 8 May 1923, p. 5 an earlier song with a similar title had been sung by Vesta Tilley Matilda Alice Powles, Lady de Frece (13May 186416September 1952 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Britain between bold and scandalous ''Music Hall'' and subsequent, more respectable ''Variety'' differ. Music hall involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. In North America vaudeville was in some ways analogous to British music hall, featuring rousing songs and comic acts. Originating in saloon bars within public houses during the 1830s, music hall entertainment became increasingly popular with audiences. So much so, that during the 1850s some public houses were demolished, and specialised music hall theatres developed in their place. These theatres were designed chiefly so that people could consume food ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burlington Bertie
"Burlington Bertie" is a music hall song composed by Harry B. Norris in 1900 and notably sung by Vesta Tilley. It concerns an aristocratic young idler who pursues a life of leisure in the West End of London. Burlington is an upmarket London shopping arcade associated with luxury goods. This song was parodied in the now-much-better-known "Burlington Bertie from Bow" (1915) credited to William Hargreaves and sung by his wife, Ella Shields, who performed the song whilst dressed in male attire as the sort of character known as a "broken down swell". Unlike the original song, Bertie's pretensions to gentility are belied by his residence in Bow, in the poverty-stricken East End of London, though his status as an idler ironically links him to the leisured aristocratic class, who reside in the West End. Later renditions Betty Grable in the part of vaudevillian Myrtle McKinley Burt performed the song in the musical film ''Mother Wore Tights'' (1947). Julie Andrews, also dresse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Williams (music Hall Performer)
William Holt Williams (born Richard Isaac Banks; 3 March 1878 – 13 March 1915) was an Australian-born British vaudeville and music hall singer and entertainer. His best known song was "When Father Papered the Parlour". Biography Born in Melbourne, the son of Richard Banks, an Irish-born draper, Williams worked in a racing stable and as a golf instructor before joining a small touring variety company in 1895. Back in Melbourne he was heard by the entertainer Tom Woottwell, and met Harry Rickards, who gave him a letter of introduction to contacts in England. He arrived in England in late 1899, and made his London debut the following March, as Will Williams. He started appearing in a velvet suit, usually blue in colour, which distinguished him from other performers and led to his description as "The Man in the Velvet Suit". He became a popular entertainer in the music halls singing what were known as chorus-songs. His best-known songs included "Let's All Go Mad", "John, Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poppy (1923 Musical)
''Poppy'' is a musical comedy in three acts with music by Stephen Jones and Arthur Samuels (additional music by John Egan), and lyrics and book by Dorothy Donnelly, with contributions also from Howard Dietz, W. C. Fields and Irving Caesar. The musical introduced songs such as "Two Make a Home", "On Our Honeymoon", "What Do You Do Sunday, Mary?" and "Alibi Baby". The story, set in 1874 Connecticut, concerns a circus barker and con man, Prof. Eustace McGargle, who tries to pass off his foster daughter, Poppy, as a long-lost heiress. It turns out that Poppy really is an heiress. The original New York City production opened at the Apollo Theater on September 3, 1923, and ran for a successful 346 performances, closing on June 28, 1924. It starred Madge Kennedy as Poppy, with Fields as Prof. McGargle, and Robert Woolsey and Jimmy Barry. It was directed by Dorothy Donnelly and Julian Alfred, with choreography by Julian Alfred. The New York run was followed by a touring production. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ella Shields
Ella Shields (27 September 1879 – 5 August 1952) was a music hall singer and male-impersonator. Her famous signature song, " Burlington Bertie from Bow", a parody of Vesta Tilley's " Burlington Bertie", written by her manager and first husband, William Hargreaves, was an immediate hit. Though American-born, Shields achieved her greatest success in England. Background and early life Ella Shields was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1879. Her true surname appears to have been Buscher (sometimes spelled Busher). She was educated in South Bend, Indiana. It is not certain when she adopted the stage name Shields. "Ella" might also have been a stage name. Career Shields began her career in 1898, doing a vaudeville song-and-dance act with her sisters. In 1904 a talent scout lured her to London, where she was billed as the "Southern Nightingale". In 1906 she married the songwriter William Joseph Hargreaves in Lambeth, London. In 1910 she appeared at the opening night of the London P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vesta Tilley
Matilda Alice Powles, Lady de Frece (13May 186416September 1952) was an English music hall performer. She adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley and became one of the best-known male impersonators of her era. Her career lasted from 1869 until 1920. Starting in provincial theatres with her father as manager, she performed her first season in London in 1874. She typically performed as a dandy or fop, also playing other roles. She found additional success as a principal boy in pantomime. By the 1890s, Tilley was England's highest earning woman. She was also a star in the vaudeville circuit in the United States, touring a total of six times. She married Walter de Frece, a theatre impresario who became her new manager and songwriter. At a Royal Command Performance in 1912, she scandalised Queen Mary because she was wearing trousers. During the First World War she was known as "England’s greatest recruiting sergeant" since she sang patriotic songs dressed in khaki fatigues like a so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1880 Births
Year 188 (CLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Fuscianus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 941 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 188 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Publius Helvius Pertinax becomes pro-consul of Africa from 188 to 189. Japan * Queen Himiko (or Shingi Waō) begins her reign in Japan (until 248). Births * April 4 – Caracalla (or Antoninus), Roman emperor (d. 217) * Lu Ji (or Gongji), Chinese official and politician (d. 219) * Sun Shao, Chinese general of the Eastern Wu state (d. 241) Deaths * March 17 – Julian, pope and patriarch of Alexandria * Fa Zhen (or Gaoqing), Chinese scholar (b. AD 100) * Lucius Antistius Burrus, Roman politician (executed) * Ma Xiang, Chin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1941 Deaths
Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre in Germany, in the first phase of mass killings under the Action T4 program here. * January 1 – Thailand's Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decrees January 1 as the official start of the Thai solar calendar new year (thus the previous year that began April 1 had only 9 months). * January 3 – A decree (''Normalschrifterlass'') promulgated in Germany by Martin Bormann, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, requires replacement of blackletter typefaces by Antiqua. * January 4 – The short subject ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'' is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card. * January 5 – WWII: Battle of Bardia in Libya: Australian and British troops de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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