Albert Chevalier (born this day in 1861) was a legitimate stage actor who gradually found greater success in the British Music Hall playing a wide variety of characters and speak-singing original songs. For some English audiences he was too legit and inauthentic (not really working class) but he wowed ’em in the States, starting with a smash date at Koster and Bial’s in 1896. He passed away in 1923.
To learn more about the roots of variety entertainment, including vaudeville and British music hall, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.
(Travalanche) 