Caricature
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- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
Pen and ink and wash on paper
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This caricature is of Nellie Wallace when she was performing at Collins’ Hippodrome, Stoke-on-Trent, during the week of 30 May 1904. She topped the bill as ‘the Great Low Comedienne’. It is one of the many superb caricatures of Edwardian music hall performers that were drawn by the artist George Cooke when he was based at the Grand Theatre. He compiled them in a series of albums. Wallace’s act at Stoke comprised comic patter and the three songs ‘Down by the River Side’, ‘I was Born on a Friday’ and ‘Three Times a Day’. A reviewer noted her ‘grotesque get-up’, which started the audience laughing the moment she appeared on stage, her cleverness, vivacity and facial expressions.
Born in Glasgow in 1870, Nellie Wallace first appeared on stage as a clog dancer in Birmingham, and as a dancer in pantomime. She made her first London appearance in 1903. By 1910 she was billed at the London Palladium as ‘The Essence of Eccentricity’ with her ‘trademark’ frustrated spinster character who wore elastic-sided boots and a hat with a feather. She was one of the few successful female pantomime Dames, replacing George Robey as Dame Trot in Jack and the Beanstalk at the London Hippodrome in 1922. She died in 1948.
Physical description
Pen, ink and wash caricature on pink paper of Nellie Wallace carrying a can in her left hand and wearing a tan and black checked dress, a blue jacket and a black hat decorated with a sprig of berries. With an inscription dated 4 June 1906.
Date
4 June 1904 (drawn)
Artist/maker
Cooke, George (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Pen and ink and wash on paper
Marks and inscriptions
Truly Yours Nellie Wallace 4/6/'04
Dimensions
Height: 15.5 cm, Width: 12.4 cm
Object history note
This caricature is of the music hall comedienne Nellie Wallace (1870-1948) topping the bill at Collins' Hippodrome, Stoke-on-Trent, during the week of 30 May 1904.
Nellie Wallace made her name as a frustrated spinster character, complete with elastic-sided boots and a hat with a feather. Born in Glasgow, she made her first stage appearance in Birmingham as a clog dancer and worked as a dancer and in pantomime in the provinces before making her first London variety appearance in 1903. By December 1910 she appeared on the bill that opened the London Palladium as 'The Essence of Eccentricity', with a wide range of songs and a comical voice. She was one of the few successful female pantomime Dames, replacing George Robey as Dame Trot in 'Jack and the Beanstalk' at The London Hippodrome in 1922. During the War she toured with ENSA. The caricature comes from the first of several albums compiled by the graphic artist George Cooke, featuring performers working in music hall in the early 20th century. The album is dated 1903-4-5.
Descriptive line
Caricature of the Edwardian music hall performer the comedienne Nellie Wallace (1870-1948), from an album of caricatures drawn by George Cooke. Dated 4 June 1904.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Staffordshire Sentinel 31 May 1904
"The bill is headed by Nellie Wallace, described as 'the great low comedienne'. No-one can dispute the cleverness of the artist. She at once sets everybody laughing by her grotesque get-up and by her style of entering on the stage, and she maintains the merriment with the burden of her songs, with remarkable vivacity, and with her facial expression.'
Materials
Watercolour; Pen and ink
Techniques
Painted; Drawn
Categories
Entertainment & Leisure; Drawings; Caricatures & Cartoons
Collection code
T&P
