FOOTLIGHT NOTES
HAND MADE GREETINGS CARDS
Lizzie Lizzette (fl. late 1860s/early 1870s)
John Culme writes in reply to a recent enquiry about Lizzie Lizzette, as follows:
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© John Culme, 2006
burlesque actress, 'Dances and sings'
'She does look, I agree, rather extraordinary and to 21st Century eyes she must appear even more so. I have no doubt at all that Lizzie Lizzette was not her real name, but one can't assume that she wasn't trying to make a success of her theatrical career. Even though I know nothing more about her than stated, I am pretty confident that in the photograph she is posing in the costume of a burlesque or pantomime actress. Either way, she is dressed as a stage man; the moustache and goatee hints at this, but so, too, does the entire costume, which is very typical of the period - look, for instance, at the epaulettes.
'Burlesque as a form of entertainment on the British stage was more or less debased by the mid 1870s and dead by 1890, so its costumes, particularly those of the leading young male parts, which were invariably played by women, are somewhat surprising to us today. The tradition lingers on in modern pantomimes where the principal boys are usually played by women.
'Poor Lizzie Lizzette! I am not sure that you are being quite fair in casting aspersions on her private character! The caption "Sings and dances" actually comes from a pencilled note on the back of the photograph, which I acquired along with others of a similar nature from a source linked to a least one theatrical agent operating in Victorian London. That is why I assume that Miss Lizzette was serious about her career; if she hadn't been it's very unlikely that her photograph would have surfaced in such collection. It remains to be seen whether anyone can discover more about her. Meanwhile, the course of her career remains a mystery.'