Ben Albert 'Three Ages of Women' (1908)

Ben Albert's 'bill matter' was "The Dry Old Stick". ('Bill Matter' was the short slogan added to the artist's name on the posters to give an idea of what his act was about). He was a minor performer, completely forgotten now, but he did have a fairly prolific recording career between 1902 and 1925. This monologue traces the life of a woman through the blushing young maid 'buying her blushes at the chemists', courting, marriage and finally running a temperance hotel and 'selling bottled beer to the young men lodgers'. Recorded c.January 1908.