Biography
Born Beatrice Mary Hale-Monro on 22 May 1899 in Liverpool, England, and passing away on 10 January 1984 in London, England, she ranked among the foremost and most accomplished performers on the London musical comedy and revue circuit throughout the 1920s and 1930s. This adaptable and lively fair-haired performer excelled as an actress, vocalist, dancer, and remarkably skilled impressionist, first stepping onto the stage in the musical comedy Follow The Crowd at the former Empire Theatre during 1916. Still that same year she took part in the revue We’re All In It at the identical venue before entering the chorus of Houp-La!, the production that inaugurated C.B. Cochran’s newly constructed St. Martin’s Theatre. Following engagements in several ordinary revues and musical comedies such as 150 Pound, The Kiss Call, Just Fancy, Jumble Sale, My Nieces, Katinka, Puppets, and The Odd Spot (1924), she achieved particular distinction in the late 1920s and 1930s through No, No, Nanette (‘I Want To Be Happy’, ‘Tea For Two’, ‘I’ve Confessed To The Breeze’, ‘Take A Little One-Step’), Sunny (‘Who’, with Jack Buchanan), Mr. Cinders (‘Spread A Little Happiness’, ‘I’m A One-Man Girl’, ‘Ev’ry Little Moment’—marking the initial of three collaborations with Bobby Howes), Nippy, Bow Bells alongside her father, the actor Robert Hale (‘You’re Blasé’, ‘Mona Lisa’), The Dubarry (portraying Jeanne on the UK tour), Give Me A Ring, Yes, Madame? (‘Dreaming A Dream’), Rise And Shine, Cochran’s Coronation revue Home And Beauty (‘A Nice Cup Of Tea’), and Magyar Melody (1939). During the 1940s and the greater part of the 1950s she combined pantomime appearances—in which she proved an outstanding principal boy—with variety work and additional stage productions that included Up And Doing, Flying Colours, One, Two, Three! (alongside her younger brother Sonnie Hale), Four, Five, Six!, Out Of This World, and The Punch Revue (1955). She further partnered with her brother on the radio series All Hale. Her final West End appearance is recorded as the Duchess and Queen of Hearts in Alice In Wonderland at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1959.