Lottie Collins (16 August 1865 – 1 May 1910) was an English singer and dancer, most famous for introducing the song "

Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" is a vaudeville and music hall song first performed by the 1880s. It was included in Henry J. Sayers' 1891 revue ''Tuxedo (vaudeville), Tuxedo'' in Boston, Massachusetts. The song became widely known in the 1892 version sung ...

!" in England.

Early life

She was born Charlotte Louisa Collins in the East End of London in 1865. Her father was a woodworker and music hall entertainer.Jewish Virtual Library
/ref> She started out in music hall at the age of 11 or 12 in 1877 in a skipping rope dance act with her younger sisters, Eliza (Lizzie) and Mary Ann (Marie) as ''The Three Sisters Collins''.Lottie Collins profile
, PeoplePlayUK Theatre website

Career

In 1886, Collins became a solo act in music hall. She also played in theatre, appearing the same year as Mariette in the Gaiety Theatre's

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

, '' Monte Cristo Jr.'' She first toured America in 1889 with the Howard Atheneum Company, during which she accepted the proposal of Samuel P. Cooney whom she married in St. Louis.New York Times, 10 November 1898: "Lottie Collins Tries Suicide" According to her obituary in ''The New York Times'' she and Cooney had three children.''The New York Times, 3 May 1910:'Lottie Collins Dead' Lottie Collins doing her big number

While touring in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

in the United States she heard the song "

!" After she sang it at the Tivoli Music Hall in London in November 1891, it became her signature piece. She would sing the first verse demurely and then launch into the chorus and an uninhibited and exhausting

skirt dance A skirt dance is a form of dance popular in Europe and the United States, particularly in burlesque and vaudeville theater of the 1890s, in which women dancers would manipulate long, layered skirts with their arms to create a motion of flowing fabr ...

with high kicks (especially on the word "BOOM") that exposed her stockings held up by sparkling garters, and bare thighs. She sang the song at performances of the Gaiety Theatre's burlesque '' Cinder Ellen up too Late'' beginning on 14 March 1892 and according to her obituary, at the height of the craze was performing it five times nightly at different venues in London. She returned to America in September 1892 to perform "Ta-ra-ra-Boom-de-ay" as an

entr'acte (or , ;Since 1932–35 the recommends this spelling, with no apostrophe, so historical, ceremonial and traditional uses (such as the 1924 René Clair film title) are still spelled . and ', , and ) means 'between the acts'. It can mean a pau ...

at the Standard Theatre, New York, but received a bad review from the critic of ''The New York Times'', who described her as 'a mature woman', referred to her as 'Charlotte Collins' and mentioned she had been detained in quarantine when arriving 'on an infected ship'. Another of Collins's dance sketches in the 1890s was ''The Little Widow'', and she also had a hit with the song ''Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me A Bow-wow''. On 29 November 1897 she opened in New York again at the Garden Theatre, part of a triple bill with two short plays. She became an icon of the " Naughty Nineties" and her risqué style led to some criticism, against which she defended herself. A century later, her

garter A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking f ...

s were sold by auction at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

Family

Lottie had three daughters, Lottie Lucia, José and Cleopatra. *

José Collins Charlotte Josephine Collins (23 May 1887 – 6 December 1958) was an English actress and singer known by her stage name, José Collins, who was celebrated for her performances in musical comedies, such as the long-running ''The Maid of the Mo ...

went on to be a musical comedy star. In 1902 she married her second husband, the composer-producer

James W. Tate James William Tate (30 July 1875 – 5 February 1922) was an English songwriter, accompanist, composer and producer of revues and pantomimes in the early years of the 20th century. After working in the for five years, in 1897 Tate became Musi ...

. * Lottie Lucia (or Lucia Lottie) Collins, a mezzo soprano, appeared in vaudeville on the Australian

Tivoli circuit The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian vaudeville entertainment circuit featuring revue, opera, ballet, dance, singing, musical comedy, old time black and white minstrel and even Shakespeare which flourished from 1893 to th ...

, March–August 1911. She was at the time married to one J. A. R. Cargill; they divorced in 1912. She returned to Australia in 1921 to play " principal boy" pantomime roles. She had undergone a form of marriage with one John Sydney Phillips in London in October 1917, but discovered when she arrived in Sydney that he already had a wife and was penniless.

Death

In 1898, she apparently attempted suicide by cutting her wrists and neck with a penknife, but her wounds were minor and she was discharged from hospital the same day. She died on 1 May 1910 at St Pancras of heart disease and is buried at

St Pancras and Islington Cemetery St Pancras and Islington Cemetery is a cemetery in East Finchley, North London. Although it is situated in the London Borough of Barnet, it is run as two cemeteries, owned by two other London Boroughs, London Borough of Camden, Camden (formerl ...

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill, it straddles the London Boroughs of London Borough of Barnet, Barnet and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey, with most of East F ...

, London.GRO Register of Deaths: June 1910 1b 7 PANCRAS – Charlotte Louisa Tate aged 43

References

External links

*
Music Hall and Variety Artistes Burial Places
at www.arthurlloyd.co.uk

Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay melody
*
Lottie Collins
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections(American Vaudeville Museum Archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Lottie 1865 births 1910 deaths British music hall performers English vaudeville performers People from St Pancras, London Burials at St Pancras and Islington Cemetery