Old Mother Riley: Bridget’s Night Out, from 1936 when a drag act was entertainment and not pushing an ideology

Played by real-life married couple Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane, Old Mother Riley was an old-time British music hall act.

Arthur Lucan played Old Mother Riley and Kitty McShane her daughter.

Both were born in the nineteenth century (1885 and 1897 respectively) and the films they made give an insight into comedy at that time.

Old Mother Riley is a drag act, although at that time it was purely comedy and not the ideology that it has become today.

In the film, which is a short and released in 1936, Kitty goes out for the evening and her mother waits up for her to come back.