Vesta Victoria

Vesta Victoria (born Victoria Lawrence, 26 November 1873 – 7 April 1951) was an English music hall singer and comedian. She was famous for her performances of songs such as " Waiting at the Church" and " Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow", both of which were written specially for her. Vesta's comic laments delivered in deadpan style were even more popular in the USA: she was, at the beginning of the twentieth century, one of the most successful British entertainers in America.

Life and career

Vesta Victoria was born Victoria Lawrence at 8 Ebenezer Place in Holbeck, Leeds, on 26 November 1873. Her parents, Joe and Emma (née Thompson), were themselves entertainers, and she made her stage debut aged six weeks in one of her father's sketches.

Billed as "Baby Victoria" until nearly ten years of age, she was "Little Victoria" by her first London appearance in 1883.

The painter Walter Sickert (1860–1942) made a portrait of her performing – ''Vesta Victoria at the Old Bedford'' – in about 1890.

Though Yorkshire-born, Vesta assumed a Cockney stage persona. Her singing career escalated in 1892 when " Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow" became a huge hit. She sang it first at South London Palace, a music hall in Lambeth, and to high success on her first trip to the United States in 1892, when she appeared for eight weeks at Tony Pastor's theatre in New York City.

Vesta married twice, both marriages producing a daughter. She was married to music hall manager Frederick Wallace McAvoy from 1894 to 1904. They had a daughter, Irene. The marriage ended in divorce, owing to the fact that McAvoy was a cruel, abusive and adulterous husband. In 1912, Vesta announced in New York that she was married to William Terry. In 1913, the couple had a daughter, Iris. But the 1912 "marriage" may have been invented, as English records show that Vesta and William Terry were married in Wandsworth in 1920. In any event, the marriage ended in 1926, when Vesta filed for divorce on the grounds of "Ill-usage and association with other women".

One of the most highly paid vaudeville stars, Vesta bought a considerable amount of property in America. By the 1920s, she is estimated to have been worth around £3.25 million – the equivalent in 2014 of around £975 million. She retired after World War I, but re-recorded many of her hits in 1931 in a series of Old-Time Medleys, and performed at the Royal Variety Show of 1932. She also appeared in a number of films in the 1930s. Unlike younger music hall contemporaries Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, Victoria remained principally a live performer in England instead of becoming a full-time film performer in the USA; next to nothing remains of what film work she did.

Vesta died of breast cancer in Hampstead, north London, on 7 April 1951.England & Wales Deaths 1837–2007 Vol. 5C page 735 She did not leave a will, and at probate her estate was valued at £15,631.17s. 5d. The large fortune she amassed by the 1920s is thought to have been lost in the interim partly to the scheming of handsome young men, and partly as a result of the news-making robbery of her famous jewellery collection.

She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, where a lilac tree (no longer in existence) was planted in her memory.

Legacy

Dr Carol Morley argues that Vesta's characterisations of downtrodden women laughing off problems were, in their time, an influence on the development of the emerging musical form of the blues.

By 1906, Vesta's fame in America was then such that one of San Francisco's main roads was renamed ''Vesta Victoria Avenue'' in her honour; the city was grateful that she performed numerous benefit concerts for the relief of sufferers in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Actress Helen Fraser toured her one-woman show ''Vesta'', based on Vesta Victoria's life and work, in the 1990s, playing over 90 performances in the UK and across America.

References

External links

*
Text collection of Vesta Victoria song lyrics Medley: Waiting At The Church, He Calls Me His Own Grace Darling, It's All Right In The Summertime, Now I Have To Call Him Father, Poor John, Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me A Bow-WowVesta Victoria: ''Waiting at the Church'' a.k.a. ''My Wife Won't Let Me'', 1907Vesta Victoria: ''Waiting at the Church'' + Medley, 1931Vesta Victoria: ''Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow''Vesta Victoria: ''It's All Right in the Summertime''Vesta Victoria: ''Poor John''Vesta Victoria: ''Now I Have to Call Him Father''
**
Vesta Victoria: ''It Ain't All Honey And It Ain't All Jam'', 1907Vesta Victoria: ''Riding on a Motorcar'', 1907Vesta Victoria: ''It Didn't Take Long to Come Off''Vesta Victoria: ''Look What Percy's Picked Up in the Park''Vesta Victoria: ''Man, Man, Man'', 1907Vesta Victoria: ''Summer Blouses'', 1907Vesta Victoria: ''The Turkey Girl''Vesta Victoria: ''The Next Horse I Ride On''Vesta Victoria performing (silent)
**
Vesta Victoria cylinder recordings
from the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoria, Vesta
1873 births
1951 deaths
Music hall performers
Vaudeville performers
English women singers
English women comedians
English stage actresses
20th-century English comedians
Victor Records artists
Pioneer recording artists
Golders Green Crematorium
Musicians from Leeds
Actresses from Leeds
Comedians from Yorkshire
20th-century English women
20th-century English people