Lottie Collins in Monte Cristo Jr
Late 19th century
Sepia photograph

After working in theatre and music hall for nearly fifteen years, Lottie Collins made her name with the song 'Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay' and the 'skirt dance' that went with it. From its first outing in 1891 the song was a runaway success and everybody found themselves singing it, whether they wanted to or not. This photograph of 1886 shows Collins in Monte Cristo Jr, at the Gaiety Theatre in London's west end, a burlesque of the play Monte Cristo, based on the epic novel The Count of Monte Cristo written in 1845, by Alexandre Dumas. Lottie Collins played Mariette, described in the programme as 'a lively young person'. The reviews, if they mention her at all, comment that she 'dances very nicely' but had a 'peculiarly awkward bearing while in repose'. Her costume is meant to parody the eccentric fashions of the beginning of the century.