Echoes from 1917: England’s Sparkling and Dainty Comedienne

Another page from my WW1 music hall autograph book

I’m lucky to own an autograph book that dates back to 1917. It’s full of the signatures of music hall stars who performed at the Chatham Empire in 1917.

Today’s page features Nellie Waring - “England’s Sparkling and Dainty Comedienne.”

Here’s a picture of her.

Nellie Waring (active 1907-1920), was an English popular vocalist and variety theatre and vaudeville entertainer. Her professional partnership with the American J.W. Wilson (John W. Musante, 1863/69?-1928), comedy duo, appears to have begun about 1912. (photo: James Bacon & Sons, Leeds, circa 1910)

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Here’s the page from my autograph book

It’s incredible to think of Nellie bending over the page, dipping her pen in the ink and writing this little message that we’re reading now, over a hundred years later.