Leopoldo Fregoli

He was famous for his extraordinary ability in impersonations and his quickness in exchanging roles – so much so that while he was performing in London in the 1890s, unkind rumours spread that there was more than one Fregoli.

[citation needed] Originally an amateur entertainer, he took his first steps to professionalism while serving in the Italian army in Abyssinia under General Baldissera in 1890.

In the audience at Florence was a government registry clerk, Ugo Biondi, who was so impressed with Fregoli's performance that he sought him out and asked for some lessons in how to follow in his footsteps.

While he was in Madrid he was watched in performance by Alfred Moul, the general manager of the Alhambra Theatre in London's Charing Cross Road (which was being refitted at that time in the Moorish style under the direction of the great designer Owen Jones).

He subsequently claimed that Fregoli (and his team of supporting assistants) were being paid £350 per week to perform at the Alhambra – a remarkable amount for the time.

[citation needed] The Alhambra was scheduled to reopen early in March 1897 with the premiere of Sir Arthur Sullivan's new ballet "Victoria and Merrie England".

There were a few problems with this work (it was rather over-long in its original form) and so it was thought that for a week or two, Leopoldo Fregoli could perform (he needed little in the way of permanent sets, etc.)

The general view of him was that, apart from his obvious abilities as a quick change artist he was - unlike his rivals - a consummate actor and a brilliant writer.

There were spoofers and parodists: journalists claimed tipsy theatregoers were demanding their money back upon discovering that all the performers they had just witnessed were actually just one man.

[citation needed] While there is no doubt Fregoli enjoyed himself and his success, he seems to have been essentially a modest man and he did not wish to carry on in London forever.

Rather suddenly, in 1922, while performing in Niterói, a city across the bay, opposite Rio de Janeiro, he decided to quit the world of quick change.