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Bert Lee
William Herbert Lee (11 June 1880 – 23 January 1946) was an English songwriter. He wrote for music hall and the musical stage, often in partnership with R. P. Weston. Life and career Lee was born in Ravensthorpe, Yorkshire, England.Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, , pp.145–146 He played organ in his local chapel as a child, and initially worked as a piano tuner in Manchester, before joining a travelling concert party as a pianist.Roy Hudd, "R. P. Weston and Bert Lee, 'A Song a Day'", ''Theatrephile'', vol. 2 no.6, 1985, pp.55–58 His first successful song as a writer was "Joshu-ah!", co-written with George Arthurs and performed by Clarice Mayne in 1910. He found further success in 1913 with " Hello! Hello! Who's Your Lady Friend?", written with Worton David and the song's performer, Harry Fragson. In 1915, music publisher David Day, of Francis, Day and Hunter, introduced Lee to R. P. Weston, the collaborator with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury
Ravensthorpe is an area of Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ravensthorpe is on the western outskirts of Dewsbury and is part of the "Dewsbury West" ward in the district of Kirklees.The area has always been heavily industrial and was once bustling with textile mills. History Despite its appearance, Ravensthorpe is not in fact a Norse name, but was coined in the 19th century by a local clergyman and historian to fit in with other Norse-named settlements in the area. It was formerly called Newtown and a large gasworks was built here in 1857. Ravensthorpe did not exist as a community until the middle of the 19th century when large numbers of houses were constructed alongside the new textile mills. The Church of St Saviour was built in 1864 but was replaced in 1901 by a large Gothic revival church (Grade II listed). Before the building of textile mills in the 1870s the main economic activity in the area was the production ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Good-bye-ee!
"Good-bye-ee!" is a popular song which was written and composed by R. P. Weston and Bert Lee. Performed by music hall stars Florrie Forde, Daisy Wood, and Charles Whittle, it was a hit in 1917. Weston and Lee got the idea for the song when they saw a group of factory girls calling out goodbye to soldiers marching to Victoria station. They were saying the word in the exaggerated way which had been popularised as a catchphrase by comedian Harry Tate. They then travelled to Brighton and wrote the song on a wet afternoon in their cabin under the pier. The song lent its name to "Goodbyeee", the final episode of the sitcom ''Blackadder Goes Forth ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' is the fourth series of the BBC sitcom ''Blackadder'', written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC1. The series placed the recurring characters of Blackadder, Bald ...''. Chorus Good-bye-ee! good-bye-ee! Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee. Tho' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crazy Gang (comedy Group)
The Crazy Gang were a group of British entertainers, formed in the early 1930s. In the mature form the group's six men were Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen, Nervo and Knox, Jimmy Nervo, Nervo and Knox, Teddy Knox, Charlie Naughton and Jimmy Gold. The group achieved considerable domestic popularity and were a favourite of the British Royal Family, Royal Family, especially King George VI of the United Kingdom, George VI. Formation Although George Black (Producer), George Black is often credited with the formation of the Crazy Gang, the start was more complicated. In 1931, three double acts (Nervo and Knox, Naughton and Gold and Billy Caryll and Hilda Mundy) were tentatively booked at the London Palladium. This caused Black to consider cancelling one of the couples. Nervo and Knox had a technique of entering other acts and Black was persuaded to overcome the difficulty by letting this happen. The show, which was called ''Crazy Week'' opened on 30 November 1931. Other Crazy Weeks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest paid film star in the world in 1937. She was known affectionately as ''Our Gracie'' and ''the Lancashire Lass'' and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979. Life and work Early life Fields was born Grace Stansfield, a daughter of Frederick Stansfield (1874–1956) and his wife Sarah Jane 'Jenny' Stansfield née Bamford (1879–1953), over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire. Her great-grandfather, William Stansfield (b.1805), of Hebden Bridge, Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Howes
Bobby Howes (4 August 1895 – 27 April 1972) was a British entertainer who was a leading musical comedy performer in London's West End theatres in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Born in Battersea, Surrey, his parents were Robert William Howes and Rose Marie Butler. He started his career in revues, but his career was interrupted for the First World War where he soldiered on the Western Front. He suffered a German mustard gas attack but recovered and returned to the stage. He gained a career break-through with the role-reversal comedy ''Mr. Cinders'', based on the ''Cinderella'' pantomime, also featuring Binnie Hale, with whom he appeared on many occasions subsequently. He reprised his title role in Mr. Cinders in several different productions. In the 1930s, he was with Van Phillips' Four Bright Sparks whose vocalists included Billy Milton. Four Bright Sparks recorded at least 60 sides. He was a leading musical comedy performer on the West End in the 1930s and 1940s. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twickenham
Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the borough council's administrative headquarters are located in the area. The population, including St Margarets and Whitton, was 62,148 at the 2011 census. Twickenham is the home of the Rugby Football Union, with hundreds of thousands of spectators visiting Twickenham Stadium each year. The historic riverside area has a network of 18th-century buildings and pleasure grounds, many of which have survived intact. This area has three grand period mansions with public access: York House, Marble Hill and Strawberry Hill House. Another has been lost, that belonging to 18th-century aphoristic poet Alexander Pope, who was known as the ''Bard of Twickenham''. Strawberry Hill, the Neo-Gothic prototype home of Horace Walpole is linked with the olde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wee Georgie Wood
George Wood Bamlett OBE (17 December 1895 – 19 February 1979), known professionally as Wee Georgie Wood, was a British comic entertainer and actor who appeared in films, plays and music hall revues. He had a lengthy career of over fifty years, based on exploiting the childlike appearance that he retained in adulthood. Biography He was born in Jarrow, County Durham, but within a few weeks of his birth moved to South Shields where his father owned a pawnbroker's shop.Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, , pp.81-83 His parents were George Bamlett and Georgina, ''née'' Wood, who divorced in 1908 on account of his father's adultery. He had a form of dwarfism, as an adult reaching a height of , and retaining an unbroken voice. From the age of five, he started performing in concert parties as an entertainer, and at the age of 13 was still able to perform in the guise of a five-year-old. For much of his career he was guided an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robb Wilton
Robert Wilton Smith (28 August 1881 – 1 May 1957), better known as Robb Wilton, was an English comedian and actor. He was best known for his filmed monologues during the 1930s and 1940s, in which he played incompetent authority figures. His trademark was to put his hand over part of his face at the punchline. Early life Wilton was born Robert Wilton Smith in the Everton district of Liverpool on 28 August 1881. He was a grand-uncle of actor Robin Askwith. Career Wilton had a dry Lancashire accent, which suited his comic persona as a procrastinating and work-shy impediment to the general public. His first theatre work was as a villain in melodramas, but he soon found himself getting laughs from his audience and, by 1909, was touring music halls as a comedian. Wilton's comedy emerged from the tradition of English music halls. He was a contemporary of northern comedians Frank Randle and George Formby, Sr. He portrayed the human face of bureaucracy; for example, playing a poli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Karno
Frederick John Westcott (26 March 1866 – 17 September 1941), best known by his stage name Fred Karno, was an English theatre impresario of the British music hall. As a comedian of slapstick he is credited with popularising the custard-pie-in-the-face gag. During the 1890s, in order to circumvent stage censorship, Karno developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue. Cheeky authority-defying playlets such as ''Jail Birds'' (1895) in which prisoners play tricks on warders and ''Early Birds'' (1899), showing the poverty and realities for the poor of London's East End, can be seen as precursors of movie silent comedy. Many of his comics subsequently worked in film and used Karno material throughout their work. Film producer Hal Roach stated: "Fred Karno is not only a genius, he is the man who originated slapstick comedy. We in Hollywood owe much to him." Among the music hall comedians who worked for him were Charlie Chaplin and his understudy, Arthur Stanley Jefferson, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sketch (comedy)
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is used widely in variety shows, comedy talk shows, and some sitcoms and children's television series. The sketches may be improvised live by the performers, developed through improvisation before public performance, or scripted and rehearsed in advance like a play. Sketch comedians routinely differentiate their work from a "skit", maintaining that a skit is a (single) dramatized joke (or "bit") while a sketch is a comedic exploration of a concept, character, or situation. definition 3b, Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved 5/4/2019 History Sketch comedy has its origins in |
Lupino Lane
Henry William George Lupino (16 June 1892 – 10 November 1959) professionally Lupino Lane, was an English actor and theatre manager, and a member of the famous Lupino family, which eventually included his cousin, the screenwriter/director/actress Ida Lupino. Lane started out as a child performer, known as 'Little Nipper', and went on to appear in a wide range of theatrical, music hall and film performances. Increasingly celebrated for his silent comedy short subjects, he is best known in the United Kingdom for playing Bill Snibson in the play and film '' Me and My Girl'', which popularized the song and dance routine "The Lambeth Walk".''Oxford Dictionary of Biography'' "Lupino Lane" Early life and career Lane was born in Hackney, London, son of Harry Charles Lupino (1867–1925), part of the Lupino family. He adopted the surname Lane from his great-aunt Sarah Lane (1822–1899, née Borrow), the director of the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton. Lane married actress Violet Blythe on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking countries, especially during the Christmas and New Year season. Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing. It employs gender-crossing actors and combines topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale.Reid-Walsh, Jacqueline. "Pantomime", ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature'', Jack Zipes (ed.), Oxford University Press (2006), Pantomime is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is encouraged and expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers. Pantomime has a long theatrical history in Western culture dating back to the era of classical theatre. It developed partly from the 16th century c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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