Hetty King

Winifred Emms (1883 in Shoreditch, London - 1972 September 28), was an English entertainer who played on the Music Halls over a period of 70 years.

Biography

Winifred adopted the stage name Hetty King, when she first appeared on the stage, at the age of six with her father, William Emms (1856-1954), a comedian who used the stage name of Will King. By 1905, she was appearing in Music Halls, with her solo act, as a Male Impersonator, often dressed as a swell. Her career spanned both World Wars when she performed in the uniform of either a soldier or a sailor. She also played the "principal boy" in many pantomimes. She continued to entertain while she was in her seventies.

She was married to actor and writer Ernie Lotinga (aka Ernest) (1876-1951), born in Sunderland. Her husband was a music hall comedian and singer, as Dan Roe from 1898; who appeared in films in the 1920s and '30's, often as the comic character PC Jimmy Josser.

The family were not related to H. Vernon Watson (1886-1949), the music hall artist performing under the sobriquet Nosmo King.

Songs recorded by Hetty King

• All the nice Girls Love a Sailor Also known as "Ship Ahoy"
• Piccadilly
• Tell her the Old, Old Story
• Down by the Riverside
• I'm Going Away
• Now I'm Home Again
• Bye Bye Batcholor Days
• Love 'em & Leave 'em Alone
• Fill 'em up
• Oh Girls, why do you Love the Soldiers
• What Does A Sailor Care?

Her half brother, Harold Emms, wrote many of Hetty's songs with his French wife, Francine.

References

• "Kindly Leave the Stage" by R Wilmut ISBN 0-413-59290-1
• Emms family
• Hetty King: Performer (1970) (Poor TV documentary)
• Ernie Lotinga - Filmography

This article is based on a GNU FDL LGBT Wikia article: King Hetty King

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