Ida Barr (singer)

Ida Barr
Born Maud Barlow
(1882-01-17)17 January 1882
Regent's Park Barracks, London
Died 17 December 1967(1967-12-17) (aged 85)
London
Occupation Music hall singer
Known for Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1910)
Everybody's Doing It (1911)
Spouse(s)
  • Gus Harris (?–1910)
  • C. W. Marriott (1919–?)

Ida Barr (17 January 1882 – 17 December 1967) was an English music hall singer.

Life and career

Barr was born at Regent's Park Barracks, London on 17 January 1882. Her father was a soldier.[1]

She made her stage debut in 1898 as a chorus girl at the Theatre Royal, Belfast.[2] Initially calling herself Maud Laverne, she first used the stage-name Ida Barr in 1908 at London's Bedford Theatre.[3]

Barr married comedian Gus Harris (billed as "the only Yiddisher Scotsman in the Irish Fusiliers"[4]), but left him in 1910, sailing to New York.[5] Achieving some success in America, Barr returned to England a premier singer of ragtime songs, popularising in Britain the songs "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" (Ayer & Brown; 1910) and "Everybody's Doing It" (Berlin; 1911).

She toured worldwide, earning good money, but was over-generous and failed to save. She became in her old age reliant on welfare benefits, living in a small flat off the Charing Cross Road in London. Writer and broadcaster Daniel Farson, a music hall enthusiast, took it upon himself to extend a helping hand, bringing Barr to a new (or nostalgic) audience on record and television. It was through Farson, too, that variety entertainer Danny La Rue arranged a benefit concert for Barr.[1]

Death

Ida Barr died on 17 December 1967 in London.[1]

Film and TV credits

Barr's screen credits span the years 1936 to 1966.[6]

Film credits

TV credits

Trivia

References

  1. 1 2 3 Baker, Richard Anthony (2014). British Music Hall: An Illustrated History. Pen and Sword Books. p. 255. ISBN 1783831189.
  2. ↑ "The Theatre Royal, Arthur Square, Belfast". Arthur Lloyd website. 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "The Bedford Theatre, 93 - 95 Camden High Street, Camden Town". Arthur Lloyd website. 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "Sergeant Solomon Isaacstein". Monologues.co.uk website. 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Saturday 23rd Jan: Carry On Eastenders!". WordPress. 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "Ida Barr (1882–1967): Actress". IMDb. 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "Music-Hall Cavalcade (1937)". IMDb. 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  8. ↑ Callow, Simon (2012). Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor. Vintage Books. p. 21. ISBN 0099581957.
  9. ↑ "A jeans-clad Adonis, a stripper called Ursula ... I'm sure the circus wasn't this much fun when I was a kid". The Guardian. 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
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