The way I heard things when I was a small lad in London just after the war was that in the days of music hall (vaudeville to those across the pond) performers like Marie Lloyd could play anything up to five or six halls in an evening. Apparently their acts were only about ten or fifteen minutes long. A normal cab was too wide to get arpound the alleys and back streets of London, so the artist would have a light two wheeled gig and driver waiting outside the stage door to whisk them off to the next hall.

This is my understanding also. Before music hall there were the singing rooms and artistes would do three or four in one night and a gig would be hired to drive them around for the evening.