Bert Errol

**Bert Errol**, stage name of **Isaac Whitehouse Jr.**, (August 11, 1883 - November 28, 1949) was a British singer and female impersonator who achieved great success in both Britain and the United States.

## Early life

Errol was born Isaac Whitehouse Jr. on August 11, 1883, in Birmingham. His father was Isaac Whitehouse Sr., a brass lock founder. As a young man, he lived with his family in Handsworth, Birmingham and worked for his father as a brass dresser.

Errol studied chemistry and always wanted to pursue a career in that field. However, as he grew up his voice did not change as much as he had hoped, much to his chagrin. One day, his sister's singing coach arrived at the house and heard Errol and his soprano voice. She asked Errol to sing for her and began teaching him for free. Before long, he became a choir-boy and was trained to appear on the stage.

## Career

Errol began his career in 1901 as a concert singer and was part a concert party for several years. At some point around 1907 or 1908, he appeared in blackface as a member of Harry Reynolds' *Minstrels*. Reynolds later described him as "that famous male soprano and double voice vocalist" who had a remarkable voice and became known for his artistic singing. Errol "created a great impression with his cultured singing and finished burlesque prima donna business. When he first joined me he had a rather poor speaking voice which somewhat handicapped him in the sketches and burlesques". Within a short space of time, Errol had "developed quite an exceptional, robust tenor voice that added interest to his clever show. In his particular line of business he now seems to stand in a class by himself". During a performance with Harry Reynolds' *Minstrel Quintette* at Hasting's Pier in May 1908, he was described as being very popular and his falsetto register and female impersonations that were 'captivating'.

Errol first visited the United States in 1910, garnering significant publicity due to the exorbitant amount of money - totalling approximately USD$1000 - he had paid as customs duty when importing his gowns. Many of the gowns had been purchased from Henry Paget, the Marquess of Anglesey. He returned to the U.S. several times, receiving good reviews and touring on the Orpheum and Keith vaudeville circuits, as well as touring Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. He was said to have a "Tetrazzini voice". He always appeared with his wife, Ray Hartley, whom he presented on stage "for fear of any suspicion of homosexuality", and who assisted with his rapid changes of clothes.

He was in great demand and appeared at the London Hippodrome in August 1913, but eventually he left for America due to his agent, Will Collins, securing a tour of the Keith vaudeville circuit, this time with favourable renumeration. The Errols arrived in New York for the first time in October 1913. Errol made his debut at Keith's *Alhambra* on November 10 that same year. He was an instant hit, and it was acknowledged that his main forte was his voice. He was declared to be 'one of the first class in the manipulation of the paints and powders and the lingerie things' and was compared to the leading America female impersonator as 'almost as close to a Julian Eltinge in the art as Julian himself'.

## Later life

In later years, he developed a comedy side to his act, and became known in Britain for his performances as a pantomime dame. In 1935, he appeared in the pantomime *Cinderella* on BBC radio, and was described as "one of the finest female impersonators of modern times, who must have played in nearly every music-hall in the country".

Errol died in Brighton on November 28, 1949, at the age of 66.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kilgarriff, Michael. *Grace, Beauty and Banjos: Peculiar Lives and Strange Times of Music Hall and Variety Artistes,*. Oberon Books, 1998. ISBN 1-84002-116-0.
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Jazz Age Club: "The Female Impersonator Bert Errol" (October 21, 2021). *https://www.jazzageclub.com/author/jazz-age-club/*. Jazz Age Club. (Archived on March 17, 2022).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Slide, Anthony: ""Bert Errol", The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville, University Press of Mississippi" (2012). google.co.uk. (Archived on March 17, 2022).
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Baker, Richard Anthony. *British Music Hall: an illustrated history*. Pen & Sword, 2014. ISBN 978-1-78383-118-0.
5. ↑ "Radio Times, no. 638" (December 22, 1935). *publisher=BBC*. (Archived on March 17, 2022).