Fifty Years of a Londoner's Life

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text excerpt

Vance was first with the stage portrait of the "swell of the period" — fair hair, eye-glass, "faultless evening dress" — which has imitators to this day. But he had versatility. He was the first coster singer, with his Chickaleary Bloke. He could sing a moral, "motto" song with effect. Act on the Square, Boys; act on the Square. Of course his name is inseparable from Slap Bang. He declined in popularity, and his death occurred at a hall he would hardly have considered in his great day, the Sun, Knightsbridge. In a barrister's wig and gown he sang a topical song, with the refrain, uttered as an appeal to the gallery, "Are you guilty ? "He fell unconscious on the stage. A troupe of singers and dancers tripped lightly over his body, and carried on the show. A scene, quickly lowered, divided them from a dead man".

excerpt from 'Fifty Years of a Londoner's Life' pp. 93 (147 words)

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