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Billy Merson
Billy Merson (born William Henry Thompson; 29 March 1879 – 25 June 1947)Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, , pp.227-228 was an English music hall performer, comedian and songwriter. Biography He was born in Nottingham. He began his career while working in a lace-making factory. He performed in the evenings in a duo with Bernard Whiteman, at first as "Whiteman and Thompson - Irish Comedians and Trapeze Performers", and later as "Snakella and Travella". With Whiteman, he toured Ireland and the north of England, and appeared in pantomimes. In 1904, they changed their name to "Keith and Merson". Merson was initially an acrobat and clown, and first played in London in 1905 under the character name "Ping-Pong".Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson, ''British Music Hall: A story in pictures'', Studio Vista, 1965, p.158 It took some time until he could make a living from his stage work. "For five or six years on the stage, I sur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whirled Into Happiness
''Whirled into Happiness'' is a musical comedy with music by Robert Stolz, and book and lyrics by Harry Graham, adapted from Stolz's ''Der Tanz ins Glück'', with a libretto by Robert Bodanzky and . The work, billed as a "musical farce", was presented in London in 1922. History The musical was staged in London by George Edwardes Ltd, a company controlled by the financier James White after the death of its founder George Edwardes. The piece opened at the Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue on 18 May 1922 and ran for 246 performances, closing on 16 December 1922. The production was taken on tour in the provinces, with Mai Bacon from the original cast, and Derek Oldham, Winnie Melville, George Gregory and Bert Weston. The J. C. Williamson company presented a production that toured Australia in 1924–25. A revised version of the show was staged in New York in 1925, under the title ''Sky High'', and ran for 217 performances. ''Der Tanz ins Glück'' was also adapted into I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Austin (comedian)
Charles Austin (born Charles Reynolds; 4 April 1878 – 14 January 1942) was an English music hall comedian. He was born in London, and started performing in music halls in 1896, initially as one half of a double act, Lytton and Austin. Inspired by the sight of a redundant police station, he developed a solo act in the character of an inept policeman, "Parker, P.C.", which he first performed at Collins' Music Hall in Islington in 1908. ''Radio Times'', Issue 522, 1 October 1933 Retrieved 8 February 2021 Austin came to be described as "The King of Cockney Humour", and, starting in 1910, he recorded a number of es as Parker P.C. With f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People From Nottingham
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form of per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Male Songwriters
English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national identity, an identity and common culture ** English language in England, a variant of the English language spoken in England * English languages (other) * English studies, the study of English language and literature * ''English'', an Amish term for non-Amish, regardless of ethnicity Individuals * English (surname), a list of notable people with the surname ''English'' * People with the given name ** English McConnell (1882–1928), Irish footballer ** English Fisher (1928–2011), American boxing coach ** English Gardner (b. 1992), American track and field sprinter Places United States * English, Indiana, a town * English, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * English, Brazoria County, Texas, an unincorporated community * En ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riding High (1937 Film)
''Riding High'' is a 1937 British comedy film directed by David MacDonald and starring Claude Dampier, John Garrick, Kathleen Gibson and Helen Haye. It is very loosely based on the story of the inventor Thomas McCall, who came up with a radically new design for a bicycle in Victorian Britain. It was made at Shepperton Studios.Wood p.96 Cast * Claude Dampier as Septimus Earwicker * Helen Haye as Miss Ada Broadbent * John Garrick as Tom Blake * Kathleen Gibson as Grace Meadows * John Warwick as George Davenport * Billy Merson as Popping * Mae Bacon as Mrs. Winterbottom * Peter Gawthorne Peter Gawthorne (1 September 1884 – 17 March 1962) was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-upo ... as Sir Joseph Wilmot * Billy Holland as Jack Adamson * Billy Bray as Ted Rance * Aileen Latham as Fanny * The Georgian Sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Show Goes On (film)
''The Show Goes On'' is a 1937 British musical comedy film directed by Basil Dean and starring Gracie Fields, Owen Nares and John Stuart. Premise ''The Show Goes On'' is a semi-biographical film about Sally Scowcroft (Gracie Fields) who is a mill worker who is plucked from obscurity and thrust towards fame and fortune by an ailing composer (Owen Nares) who needs a singer to perform his work. Cast * Gracie Fields as Sally Scowcroft * Owen Nares as Martin Fraser * John Stuart as Mack McDonald * Horace Hodges as Sam Bishop * Edward Rigby as Mr. Scowcroft, Sally's Father * Amy Veness as Mrs. Scowcroft, Sally's Mother * Arthur Sinclair as Mike O'Hara * Cyril Ritchard as Jimmy * Jack Hobbs as Nicholson * Dennis Arundell as Felix Flack * Billy Merson as Manager * Frederick Leister as O.B. Dalton * Patrick Barr as Designer * Nina Vanna as Maniana * Tom Payne as Professor Augustino * Queenie Leonard as Lilith Henderson * Frank Atkinson as Actor at O'Hara's Agency * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Players Theatre
The Players' Theatre was a London theatre which opened at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, on 18 October 1936. The club originally mounted period-style musical comedies, introducing Victorian-style music hall in December 1937. The threat of World War II German bombing prompted a move in October 1940 to a basement at 13 Albemarle Street, Piccadilly and then after the cessation of hostilities, to Villiers Street, Charing Cross, opening on 14 February 1946. Other intermediate locations of the theatre include the Arts Theatre and the St John's Wood private residence of a member, Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley). Overwhelmed by debt, the theatre closed in 2002, although the Players' Theatre Club continues to perform music hall shows in other venues. Appearing at the Players' Theatre were Leonard Sachs (who was often the chairman), Patricia Hayes, Hattie Jacques, James Robertson Justice, Peter Ustinov, Clive Dunn, Ian Carmichael, Joan Sterndale-Bennett, Vida Hope, and Denis Martin, who e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rose-Marie
''Rose-Marie'' is an operetta-style musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. The story is set in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian girl who loves miner Jim Kenyon. When Jim falls under suspicion for murder, her brother Emile plans for Rose-Marie to marry Edward Hawley, a city man. The work premiered on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on September 2, 1924, running for 557 performances. It was the longest-running Broadway musical of the 1920s until it was surpassed by ''The Student Prince'' (1926). It was then produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London in 1925, enjoying another extraordinary run of 581 performances. It was filmed in 1928, in 1936 and again in 1954. The best-known song from the musical is "Indian Love Call". It became Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy's "signature song". Several other numbers have also become standards, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its shorter length, the operetta is usually of a light and amusing character. It sometimes also includes satirical commentaries. "Operetta" is the Italian diminutive of "opera" and was used originally to describe a shorter, perhaps less ambitious work than an opera. Operetta provides an alternative to operatic performances in an accessible form targeting a different audience. Operetta became a recognizable form in the mid-19th century in France, and its popularity led to the development of many national styles of operetta. Distinctive styles emerged across countries including Austria-Hungary, Germany, England, Spain, the Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, and the United States. Through the transfer of operetta among different countries, cultural cosmop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", "Louise", " Mimi", and "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" and for his films, including ''The Love Parade'', ''The Big Pond'', ''The Smiling Lieutenant'', '' One Hour with You'' and ''Love Me Tonight''. His trademark attire was a boater hat and tuxedo. Chevalier was born in Paris. He made his name as a star of musical comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age before working in menial jobs as a teenager. In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France at the time, Fréhel. Although their relationship was brief, she secured him his first major engagement, as a mimic and a singer in ''l'Alcazar'' in Marseille, for which he received critical acclaim by French theatre critics. In 1917, he discovered jazz and ragtime and went to London, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elsie Janis
Elsie Janis (born Elsie Bierbower, March 16, 1889 – February 26, 1956) was an American actress of stage and screen, singer, songwriter, screenwriter and radio announcer. Entertaining the troops during World War I immortalized her as "Forces Sweetheart, the sweetheart of the AEF" (American Expeditionary Force). Early life Elsie Bierbower was born in Marion, Ohio, the daughter of Josephine Janis and John Eleazer Bierbower. She had a brother, Percy John. Stage Bierbower first took to the stage at age 2. By age 11, she was a headliner on the vaudeville circuit, performing under the name Little Elsie. As she matured, using the stage name Elsie Janis, she began perfecting her comedic skills. Acclaimed by American and British critics, Janis was a headliner on Broadway theatre, Broadway and London. On Broadway, she starred in a number of successful shows, including ''The Vanderbilt Cup'' (1906), ''The Hoyden'' (1907), ''The Slim Princess'' (1911), and ''The Century Girl'' (1916). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Formby, Sr
George Formby (born James Lawler Booth; 4 October 1875 – 8 February 1921) was an English comedian and singer in musical theatre, known as one of the greatest music hall performers of the early 20th century. His comedy played upon Lancashire stereotypes, and he was popular around Britain. His nickname, "The Wigan Nightingale", was coined because of the way he would use his Bronchitis, bronchial cough as a comedic device in his act. Formby was born into poverty in the industrial North West England; his mother was an alcoholic and part-time prostitute, and during much of his youth he was maltreated. To earn money he would sing for pennies on street corners, before he joined a singing duo in his teens. He began to develop his own act during the 1890s and built up a following in Lancashire. He also developed a series of stage characters, including that of "John Willie", which is described by the cultural historian Jeffrey Richards as "the archetypal gormless Lancashire lad&nb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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