{{Short description|British music hall entertainer of the late Victorian era}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|right|Marie Loftus c. 1897 '''Marie Loftus''' (24 November 1857 – 7 December 1940) was a British music hall entertainer of the late Victorian era often billed as "The Sarah Bernhardt of the Music Halls" and "The Hibernian Hebe". She became one of the leading stars of music hall from the 1880s to World War I.<ref name=Mahoney/><ref name=Paul>Paul Mahoney, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1kuc21R8cC&pg=PP11 ''Scotland and the Music Hall, 1850-1914''], Manchester University Press (2003) - Google Books pg. 102</ref>
==Biography== Loftus was born in Glasgow in Scotland in 1857 to Irish parents. Her early years were spent living near to the Scotia Music Hall where she danced as a young girl. Her first appearance was at Brown's Royal Music Hall in her native city in 1874 before moving south to the Oxford Music Hall in London in 1877. Here she became known as "The Sarah Bernhardt of the Music Halls" and quickly became a popular performer leading to tours of the United States and South Africa. By the end of the 19th century she was earning the then immense sum of £100 a week.<ref name=Mahoney>Paul Mahoney, [https://www.theglasgowstory.com/story/?id=TGSDH14 Biography of Marie Loftus: The Glasgow Story website]</ref> thumb|160px|left|Marie Loftus in costume c. 1896 In her native Glasgow Loftus was incredibly popular, and this was reciprocated in her many charitable acts in the city. While appearing at the Britannia Music Hall in Glasgow in 1894 she bought 150 pairs of boots for the poorest children in the city.<ref name=Muir>Janet Muir, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nMm1BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT102 ''Masks and Faces: The Life and Career of Harry Braham''], Chaplin Books (2014) - Google Books</ref> As a pantomime principal boy she wore costumes that enhanced her buxom figure; this was displayed to great effect when Loftus played the title role in ''Robinson Crusoe'' at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow in 1889 and 1900, and ''Sindbad the Sailor'' in 1895.<ref>[http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Glasgow/TRHope.htm The Theatre Royal,282 Hope Street, Cowcaddens, Glasgow - Arthur Lloyd: The Music Hall and Theatre History Site Dedicated to Arthur Lloyd, 1839 - 1904]</ref> Such was her fame that in 1892 Loftus appeared in the popular Theatre Royal, Drury Lane pantomime alongside Marie Lloyd, Ada Blanche, Dan Leno, Herbert Campbell and Mabel Love.<ref>[http://www.its-behind-you.com/gallery149.html Principal Boys: Marie Loftus - It's Behind You website]</ref>
Making the most of her Scottish and Irish background, Loftus' act ranged from Scottish songs and Irish songs such as "Kilkenny Kate" to more coquettish songs like "Sister Mary wants to Know". Such risqué numbers occasionally attracted criticism such as that from a critic in the 1890s Glasgow magazine ''The Quiz'' who wrote: "A man in the pit last night thought some of them were 'no verra proper{{'"}}. Perhaps as a result of this criticism, when performing at the Britannia Music Hall in Glasgow in 1894 her contract stipulated that the management had the right to stipulate which songs and material she would perform and that she would obey the stage manager "in all matters concerning the Stage, Encores, or Addressing the Audience" and should conduct herself "soberly and respectably."<ref>Mahoney, ''Scotland and the Music Hall, 1850-1914'', pg. 60</ref><ref>Marie Loftus contract with William Kean of the Britannia music Hall, Glasgow - 31 January 1994 - The Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection</ref> Loftus was more famous for such sentimental ballads as "One Touch of Nature Makes the Whole World Kin".<ref name=Mahoney/>
An attractive woman with the hour-glass figure popular at the time, she became a favourite pin-up<ref>[https://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst1813.html Marie Loftus (1857-1940) - The Gazetteer for Scotland]</ref> beauty among young men during the 1880s and 1890s.<ref>[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp126521/marie-loftus Postcards of Marie Loftus (1857-1940) music hall entertainer] - National Portrait Gallery, London website</ref> Loftus married Benjamin Brown (1848–1926), part of the successful variety group, Brown, Newland & Le Clerc.<ref name=cullen>Frank Cullen (2004) ''Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America'', Routledge, Taylor and French, New York {{ISBN|0-415-93853-8}}</ref> The 1891 census lists the couple as living at 20 Trent Road in Lambeth with Loftus recorded as a "Music Hall Artist",<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/6598/LNDRG12_408_411-0498?pid=12503365&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D6598%26h%3D12503365%26tid%3D20191136%26pid%3D420166516292%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3Ddjv2723%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=20191136&personid=420166516292&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv2723&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.128205135.2103412031.1581107688-1197399642.1515349816 1891 England Census for Benjamin Brown - London, Lambeth, Brixton - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> while in 1901 they were living at 3 Maida Vale Mansion in Maida Vale in London.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7814/LNDRG13_7_8-0271?pid=24818850&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D7814%26h%3D24818850%26tid%3D20191136%26pid%3D420166516292%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3Ddjv2729%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=20191136&personid=420166516292&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv2729&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.57371881.2103412031.1581107688-1197399642.1515349816 1901 England Census for Ben Brown - London, Paddington, St Mary, Paddington - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> Their daughter, Marie Cecelia Brown (1876–1943), like her mother Glasgow-born, was herself a talented mimic and actress who found fame as Cissie Loftus, appearing on Broadway and the West End of London.<ref name=Mahoney/>
Marie Loftus died in London in December 1940 aged 83.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7579/ons_d19404az-0671/32013901 England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 for Marie Loftus: 1940, Q4-Oct-Nov-Dec- Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref><ref>'Mother of Cissie Loftus; Marie Loftus, a Retired Music Artist, Dies in England at 83' - ''The New York Times'' 8 December 1940</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Loftus, Marie}} Category:1857 births Category:1940 deaths Category:Musicians from Glasgow Category:19th-century Scottish women singers Category:Scottish people of Irish descent Category:Women of the Victorian era Category:British stage actresses Category:19th-century British actresses Category:20th-century British actresses Category:British music hall performers Category:British vaudeville performers Category:20th-century Scottish women singers