WHAT CHEER BESSIE


Consuelo Yznaga sang minstral songs and played the banjo. But what's that compared to a bawdy, brassy babe who gives hecklers the what for? Viscount Mandeville - Kim - Consuelo Yznaga's husband certainly thought that, as he carried on an open affair with Bessie Bellwood for several years. Bessie was a dance hall singer with a feisty, fiery reputation. Sharp-tongued Bessie was a hero to the working class, a star performer they could claim as their own. Bessie was a charitable woman who lived life the way she wanted to, be damned to anyone who said she shouldn't.

Catherine Mahoney was born March 30th 1856, to Irish parents. The family were working class. Catherine skinned rabbits in a factory before becoming Bessie Bellwood. She made her stage debut in the working class area of Birdmondsey. She adapted the persona of a coster - a street vendor. Bessie sang songs about the hardships of life, sometimes from the perspective of a woman done wrong.

Bessie Bellwood was sassy and saucy. She argued with hecklers - while performing on stage. She once beat up a cabbie for insulting a boyfriend. Bessie was a hit with Cockney working class audiences. Bessie was also benevolent ; a devout Catholic, she gave money to the poor, and would clean, cook, and offer child care to anyone in need, as well as pay for funeral masses for those without money. Sometime in her stage career she became involved with Viscount Mandeville. Bessie and Kim lived openly together, despite both of them being married. Kim gambled away his money, Consuelo Yznaga's money, and Bessie's money. She sued Kim for the money she lent him, but lost the case.

Betsy with skilled at improvisation, and often incorporated audience members into her act. She co-wrote her signature song "What Cheer Ria." In 1893 Tony Pastor, vaudeville impressario, engaged her to play America. The vaudeville team of Coster and Bial wooed Bessie back to America in 1895. Bessie Bellwood died in 1896, of heart disease, a victim of her own lifestyle. Like Ria, Bessie Bellwood was on the job of entertaining working class audiences by showing them she was one of their own.


SOURCES : 

Bessie Bellwood. Wikipedia.

"Bessie Bellwood." Busy Beaver Button Museum.

"Bessie Bellwood : Bessie's On the Job." Travalanche, 30 March 2019. 



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