In the 19th century the stars of their day were often celebrated in paintings, prints and drawings, in ceramic figures and even Toby jugs. Several factories in Staffordshire specialised in moulded earthenware portrait figurines which were decorated by hand and sold cheaply. This figurine depicts John Liston (1776-1846) as a Broom Girl. Liston sang the song, 'Buy a Broom', with Madame Vestris at her benefit performance at the Haymarket Theatre on 6 November 1826. Vestris had first performed the song at the Haymarket Theatre in September that year and it went on to become her great popular song and was ideal as a comic routine for Liston to perform in skirts.

Despite a rather serious temperament, John Liston became one of the greatest comedians of all time, achieving his greatest successes in farce, particularly at the Haymarket Theatre in 1825 as the pompous busybody Paul Pry, a role in which he was often depicted in paintings, drawings and figurines. Liston was the first comic actor to command a salary greater than a tragedian, earning the vast salary of £60-£100 a week with Madame Vestris's company at the Olympic Theatre. He retired in 1837 after a successful stage career which lasted over thirty years.