Ida Barr (born Maud Barlow, 17 January 1882 – 17 December 1967) was an English

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 Bri ...

singer.

Life and career

Barr was born at

Regent's Park Barracks The Regent's Park Barracks, commonly known as the Albany Street Barracks, is a British Army barracks located on Albany Street, London, near Regent's Park. History The barracks were constructed in 1820-1821 as cavalry barracks for the Life Guard ...

, London on 17 January 1882. Her father, William Barlow, is believed to have been a soldier, although Maud described him as a retired civil servant on her marriage certificate. She made her stage debut in 1898 as a

chorus girl A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. Chorus line dancers in Broadway musicals and revues have been referred to by slang terms s ...

at the Theatre Royal, Belfast. Initially calling herself ''Maud Laverne'', she first used the stage-name Ida Barr in 1908 at London's Bedford Theatre. Barr married comedian Samuel 'Gus' Harris (billed as "the only Yiddisher Scotsman in the Irish Fusiliers"), but the marriage failed within a few years, with Maud soon sailing to New York. Achieving some success in America, Barr returned to England a premier singer of

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

songs, popularising in Britain the songs "

Oh, You Beautiful Doll "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" is a ragtime love song published in 1911 with words by Seymour Brown and music by Nat D. Ayer. The song was one of the first with a twelve-bar opening. The tune has been recorded hundreds of times by many artists from ...

" (

Ayer Ayer may refer to: Places * Ayer, Massachusetts, United States ** Ayer (CDP), Massachusetts, the central village in the town of Ayer ** Ayer (MBTA station), commuter rail station * Aller, Asturias, a municipality in Spain known in Asturian as A ...

& Brown; 1910) and " Everybody's Doing It" (

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

; 1911). She

toured ''Toured (A Live Album)'' was a live album by Huntington Beach pop punk band Big Drill Car. The concert was recorded live at New York's CBGB's on September 3, 1991, at the beginning of a nineteen-week tour known as ''The Batch World Tour'', in su ...

worldwide, earning good money, but was over-generous and failed to save. She became in her old age reliant on

welfare benefit Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...

s, living in a small flat off the

Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street) and then becomes Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direction of ...

in London. Writer and broadcaster

Daniel Farson Daniel James Negley Farson (8 January 1927 – 27 November 1997) was a British writer and broadcaster, strongly identified with the early days of commercial television in the UK, when his sharp, investigative style contrasted with the BBC's mor ...

, a music hall enthusiast, took it upon himself to extend a helping hand, bringing Barr to a new (or

nostalgic Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", a Homeric word, ...

) audience on record and television. It was through Farson, too, that variety entertainer

Danny La Rue Danny La Rue, (born Daniel Patrick Carroll, 26 July 1927 – 31 May 2009) was an Irish singer and entertainer, best known for his on-stage drag queen, drag persona. He performed in drag and also as himself in theatrical productions, television ...

arranged a

benefit concert A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...

for Barr.

Death

Ida Barr died on 17 December 1967 in London.

Film and TV credits

Barr's screen credits span the years 1936 to 1966.

Film credits

*''

Happy Days Are Here Again "Happy Days Are Here Again" is a 1929 song with music by Milton Ager and lyrics by Jack Yellen. The song is a standard that has been interpreted by various artists. It appeared in the 1930 film '' Chasing Rainbows'' and was the campaign song for ...

'' (1936) *'' Laugh It Off'' (1940) *'' Let the People Sing'' (1942)

TV credits

*''Music Hall Cavalcade'' (1937) *''

Stars and Garters ''Stars and Garters'' was a British television variety show produced by ATV from 1963 until 1965, set in a fictional public house. Hosted by comedian Ray Martine, regulars included singers Kathy Kirby, Vince Hill, Tommy Bruce, Al Saxon, Clinton ...

'' (1965) *'' Love Story'' (1966)

Trivia

*Actress

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British-American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary ''Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the Fir ...

performed in her youth a snake dancing routine with Ida Barr. *Ida Barr's name was appropriated more than 40 years after her death by Christopher Green for an unrelated, non-

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...

drag act The term "drag" refers to the performance of exaggerated masculinity, femininity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. A drag queen is someone (usually male) who performs femininity and a drag king is someone ...

. *Ida Barr was (through her marriage to Gus Harris) a

great-aunt An aunt is a woman who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. Known alternate terms include auntie or aunty. Children in other cultures and families may refer ...

of actress and singer

Anita Harris Anita Madeleine Harris (born 3 June 1942) is an English actress, singer and entertainer. Harris sang with the Cliff Adams Singers for three years from 1961 and had a number of chart hits during the 1960s. She appeared in the ''Carry On'' film ...

References

External links

*
Photographs of Ida Barr
held by the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

Photographs of Ida Barr
held by

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...

Photograph of Ida Barr
held by the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

Ida Barr discography
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Ida Barr: ''Everybody's Doing It Now''/''Oh, You Beautiful Doll''
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Ida Barr: ''Everybody's Doing It Now''/''Oh, You Beautiful Doll''
on

Deezer Deezer is a French online music streaming service. It allows users to listen to music content from record labels, as well as podcasts on various devices online or offline. Created in Paris, Deezer currently has 90 million licensed tracks in i ...

Lyrics to "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" as sung by Ida Barr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Ida 1882 births 1967 deaths Music hall performers Singers from London 20th-century English women singers 20th-century English singers