Gymnastic Wife, The

Historical Notes

G.W. Hunt was a prolific composer of music hall songs, many of which concerned sophisticated and fashionable young men being tricked by predatory women. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/vicpopmus/b/015hzz00001257au00009005.html George Leybourne, whose birth name was Joe Saunders, was born in the Midlands in 1842. He left his job as a mechanic for a career in the northern music halls. His first professional appearance in London was at the Whitechapel Music Hall in 1864. Dressed in the height of ‘fast’ fashion, in bow tie and tails, he would swig from a bottle of Moët while declaring his love for the high life and women. Toward the end of his life, Leybourne failed to adapt to changing times, and his popularity ultimately declined. A victim of success and fast living, he died in 1884 at the age of 42. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/george-leybourne/