Rare 1916 & 1923 film of Male Impersonator Hetty King (+ 1934 recording "Fill Em Up!")

A recording of famous Music Hall star and male impersonator, Hetty King accompanying two silent Pathe short fims.

The first film, made in WW1 finds Miss King and her husband Music Hall star Ernest Lotinga entertaining waht appear to be assorted military personnel and nursing staff.

The second, "Clothes And The Woman" is a trick film of 1926, showing Hetty King in a number of her male characters.

Winifred Emms was born in Shoreditch, London on 4 April 1883.

She adopted the name Hetty King when she first appeared on the stage of the Shoreditch Theatre at the age of six with her father, William Emms (1856-1954), a comedian who used the stage name of Will King.

By 1905, she was appearing in music halls, with her solo act, as a male impersonator, often dressed as a "swell". Her career spanned both World Wars when she performed in the uniform of either a soldier or a sailor. She also played the "principal boy" in many pantomimes. She continued to entertain until the end of her life, touring with the show Thanks for the Memory.

She was married to actor and writer Ernie Lotinga (aka Ernest) (1876-1951), born in Sunderland.

Her husband was a music hall comedian, singer and theatre proprietor, appearing as Dan Roe from 1898; who appeared in films in the 1920s and 1930s, often as the comic character PC Jimmy Josser.

Hetty King died on 28 September 1972 and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Hetty
• King
• Ernie
• Lotinga
• drag
• Male
• impersonator
• Music
• Hall
• Variety
• Vaudeville
• WW1