Maidie Scott (born Mary Elizabeth Pim; 21 September 1881 – 28 July 1966) was an Irish-born singer, comedienne and

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 ...

performer.

Life and career

She was born in

Mountmellick Mountmellick or Mountmellic () is a town in the north of County Laois, Ireland. It lies on the N80 national secondary road and the R422 and R423 regional roads. Name ''Mountmellick'', sometimes spelt ''Montmellick'' or ''Montmellic'', is a ...

County Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medie ...

, Ireland, and moved with her parents and siblings to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, when she was a child. She soon began touring as a stage performer, and under the name Madie Doris Pim married Alfred Scott Dodd in 1900. Sam Beale, ''The Comedy and Legacy of Music-Hall Women 1880-1920: Brazen Impudence and Boisterous Vulgarity'', Springer, 2020
/ref> By 1904 she was known professionally as Maidie Scott. One reviewer in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

described her performance that year in the

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

''The Girl from Japan'' as: "delightfully dainty and demure... heholds the hearts of all the male members of the audience in willing thralldom... Her songs... are rendered with vocal skill and sweetness which make an audience turbulent for encores... s a dancerher marked originality, graceful and artistic movements proclaim her as an artiste of high attainments." Her popularity extended to the United States, where she made her first appearance in 1908. Among her most successful songs were "Everybody Works But Father" (first published in 1905), "The Bird on Nellie's Hat" (1907), "If the Wind Had Only Blown the Other Way" (1909), and "If the Managers Only Thought the Same as Mother" (1910). The writer W. L. George, in ''A London Mosaic: London in the early 1900s'', described Scott as "the most finished product on the music-halls of today". In 1913, she and her husband, a variety agent, divorced in a well-publicised case. She married John Francis MacGregor, a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

, and lived on

Magna Carta Island Magna Carta Island is an ait in the River Thames in England, on the reach above Bell Weir Lock. It is in Berkshire facing water-meadows forming Runnymede. Its civil and ecclesiastical parish is Wraysbury so it was transferred from Buckinghamsh ...

in the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

Runnymede Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining hi ...

. She remained a popular performer, appearing with

Gaby Deslys Gaby Deslys (born Marie-Elise-Gabrielle Caire, 4 November 1881 – 11 February 1920) was a singer and actress during the early 20th century. She selected her name for her stage career, and it is a contraction of ''Gabrielle of the Lillies'' ...

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...

in 1915, when she was described as "one of the daintiest, cleverest, and most winsome comediennes on the stage". She also recorded several of her most popular songs, for the

Zonophone Zonophone (early on also rendered as Zon-O-Phone) was a record label founded in 1899 in Camden, New Jersey, by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company but was applied to records and machines sold by Seaman's Universal Talki ...

label in 1912, and

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

in 1915."Nellie Wallace & Maidie Scott: '' Mother's Advice''", ''Windyridge'' CD liner notes
Retrieved 13 April 2021 After having two children, she continued to tour, and in Australia in 1925 was described as one of "the small coterie of vaudeville 'stars' whose name is well known outside

the Old Country ''The Old Country'' is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by A. V. Bramble and starring Gerald McCarthy, Kathleen Vaughan and Haidee Wright. Cast * Gerald McCarthy – James Fountain * Kathleen Vaughan – Mary Lorimer * Haidee Wri ...

." "Miss Maidie Scott", ''The Brisbane Courier'', 13 January 1925, p.11
/ref> Following a second divorce, she married Noel Robertson in 1927. She retired from the stage, and the couple emigrated to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Her husband died in 1960, and she died in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

in 1966, aged 84.

References

External links

Film of Scott
at

, 1920s * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Maidie 1881 births 1966 deaths English women comedians English women singers Music hall performers People from Mountmellick Vaudeville performers British emigrants to South Africa