Lottie was something of a Music Hall institution through the 1890s and early 1900s. She was called "The Little Magnet" because she could be counted on to draw a crowd. It was in her show that the evergreen song "On The Sidewalks Of New York" received its premier,
and her performances featured other "firsts" as well - the "planted heckler", as Lottie discovered that it spiced up the performance (as long as she could control what was said), and songwriter's attempts to get her to perform a song resulted in the first known instance
of "payola" (though it probably existed before that). This Edison 4-minute cylinder was recorded in September of 1911, and was the first of four she recorded for them. The song was written by Thurston Chattaway, otherwise famous for writing the lyrics to the hit song
"Red Wing". This cylinder had been overplayed, possibly on the wrong equipment, and nearly ruined as a result - some careful noise reduction has helped, and even though some "blasting" remains on the louder notes it is much more presentable than before.
