Known as the ‘Queen of the Music Hall’ Marie Lloyd’s career
spanned forty years. She first appeared at the Eagle Tavern
in London aged 15 as Bella Delmare, singing ‘My Soldier Laddie’.
By 1885 she had become Marie Lloyd with her hit song ‘The Boy
I love is Up in the Gallery’. She was a huge success and topped
the bill at the West End music halls.
Marie Lloyd’s songs were full of innuendo and double meaning.
‘She’d never had her ticket punched before’ and ‘Oh Mr Porter
what shall I do’ appear to be innocent on first reading but
could take on a very saucy interpretation when sung by Ms Lloyd.
In one famous incident she was summoned before the committee
responsible for cleaning up the stage and asked to sing her
songs. She sang ‘Oh Mr Porter’ and ‘A Little Bit of What you
Fancy’ in such a sweet innocent way that the committee had no
reason to find anything amiss. Ms Lloyd, indignant that she
had had to go through such a charade, then sang some very innocent
songs in such a way as to render them obscene, shocking the
committee into silence and doing herself no favours.
In 1912 she was omitted from the Royal
Variety Performance for fear of offending the Royal party,
but in true style rented another theatre for the same night
and played to sell out audiences.
Marie Lloyd’s reputation for being socially unacceptable came
partly from her stage act but also from her private life. She
had three unsuccessful and very public marriages. In 1913 she
was refused entry into the USA because she had shared a cabin
with her new boyfriend on the voyage, despite still being married
to her first husband. Marie Lloyd continued performing until
a few days before she died at the early age of 52.
Introduction
