This is wonderful - my Mother as a little girl in the early 1920's used to imitate Vester Tilley......and occasionally performed Burlington Bertie for many years!
I remember as a young night duty Pc (no, not politically correct!) in London's 1960s East End often passing the old music hall in Poplar High Street...which, although by then in sad disrepair, still had that magic aura that seemed to resonate with all the notable music hall performers that would have performed there in the heyday of that famous form of entertainment. This clip is a bit of that magic.
Julie Andrews also sings this song in "Star!" In "Victor/Victoria" she says says: "A guy pretending to be a girl pretending to be a guy! That will never work." (Hoping I got the quote right.) The Shtick is as old as the hills apparently. Miss Elsa Shields was a drag queen who went on stage as a male in drag to sing this song.
Just a little correction to your last sentence: Ella Shields was a male impersonator who performed this song on stage. In contemporary terms, she would have been a drag king.
This song is a parady of the song 'Burlington Burtie' sung by Male-impersonator Vesta Tilly. This version, 'Burlington Burtie from Bow' was written by the husband of Ella Shields a fellow Male-impersonator. Although American she had her biggest success in Great Britain. She became as well known as Burt as Ella. In the late 1940s both Ella Shields and a young Julie Andrews appeared in the Royal Command Performance in front of the King and Queen. Andrews does this number in her movie Star and it is thought to be a tribute to Shields. It is also thought Shields may have influenced Andrews in her perfomance in Victor/Victoria.
I think Ms Andrews did a superb job with her version in "Star" while impersonating Gertrude Lawrence. She tells of the story of how it was recreated in her autobiography. Practice makes perfect, they do say!
