Nellie Wallace

NELLIE WALLACE d1948. British music hall star, actress, comedian, dancer and songwriter who became one of the most famous and best loved music hall performers. She became known as "The Essence of Eccentricity". She dressed in ultra-tight skirts (so tight in fact, that she would lie down on the stage and shuffle back and forth on her back to pick up whatever she had contrived to drop). Her hat sported a lone daisy, feather, or fish bone and once even a lit candle (supposedly, so she could see where she was going and where she had been). Her first solo performance on the stage was as a clog dancer at the age of 12 in Birmingham. Prior to this, she had performed with her sisters Emma and Fanny, also singers and dancers. She had a rapid rise to fame and became much loved by her audiences. Not a naturally pretty woman, a reviewer noted her 'grotesque get-up', which started the audience laughing the moment she appeared on stage ; however her cleverness, vivacity and facial expressions were second to none. Her career lasted until her death aged 78 in 1948 ; she appeared in the Royal Command Performance of that year