Queenie Williams (November 17, 1896 – June 9, 1962), also billed as Little Queenie Williams and later as Ina Williams, was an Australian child actress, singer, comedian, and dancer.
Early life
Alfreda Ina Williams was born in
Footscray, near
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, in 1896, the daughter of Frank Williams and Annie Armstrong Williams.
She trained as a dancer with Mrs. William Green and Florrie Green in Melbourne.
Career
Williams appeared in ''The Fatal Wedding'' (1906), touring Australia and New Zealand with the
Meynell & Gunn show. She also performed in Meynell & Gunn's ''The Rake's Wife'' (1906–1907), ''The Grey Kimona'' (1907), ''The Little Breadwinner'' (1908), and ''The Old Folks at Home'' (1909), as well as revivals of ''The Fatal Wedding''.
Beginning in 1912, she toured with Pollard's Juvenile Opera Company in the United States and Canada in the years before and during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. She also became a solo act with a short musical comedy sketch called "Married via Wireless". She was noted for her slight stature and skills as a dancer; her singing voice was "of ample range, adequate volume and quality that is tenderly sympathetic." In 1914 she joined other actresses "who have agreed never to wear a bird's body or wing on their hats or to wear animal skins as furs."
After the war, as a young woman, she used the name "Ina Williams" on the vaudeville stage in the North America. Some of her other partners in vaudeville acts were
Hal Skelly
Hal Skelly (James Harold Skelley; May 31, 1891 – June 16, 1934) was an American Broadway and film actor.
Biography
He was born James Harold Skelley in Alleghenyville, Pennsylvania to James and Martha Skelley. His family moved to Daven ...
,
(in "The Guide of Monte Carlo"), Dick Keene,
Johnny Dooley, and Jere Delaney. She retired from the stage in 1932.
Personal life
Queenie Williams married theatrical manager Ernest Chester in 1914. They were separated by the end of 1919. She married again in 1923, to engineer Charles Stecher. They had a daughter and lived in New Jersey.
Ina "Queenie" Williams died in 1962, in Los Angeles, aged 65 years.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Queenie
1896 births
1962 deaths
Vaudeville performers
Australian child actresses
Actresses from Melbourne
People from Footscray, Victoria