"Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?", with music and lyrics by

C. W. Murphy Charles William Murphy (14 February 1870 – 18 June 1913) was a prolific British composer of music hall and musical theatre tunes. Biography He was born William Murphy in Manchester, England.Lamb, Andrew. "C. W. Murphy, Edwardian Song Compo ...

and Will Letters (1908), is a British

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

song, originally titled "Kelly From the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

". The song concerns a Manx woman looking for her boyfriend during a visit to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It was adapted for American audiences by William McKenna in 1909 for the

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

''The Jolly Bachelors''.

Kelly Kelly may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kelly (Kelly Price album) * Kelly (Andrea Faustini album) * ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap * "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland * ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...

is the most common surname on the Isle of Man. Murphy and Letters originally wrote the song for

Florrie Forde Flora May Augusta Flannagan ( Flannagan; 16 August 187518 April 1940), known professionally as Florrie Forde, was an Australian popular singer and music hall entertainer. From 1897 she lived and worked in the United Kingdom. She was one of the ...

, as a follow-up to another Murphy song written for Forde, "Oh, Oh, Antonio", a success in 1908. Forde regularly performed on the Isle of Man, between England and Ireland, each summer, and "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" made reference to "Kelly from the Isle of Man" as being "as bad as old Antonio". The song was immediately successful, becoming "the rage all over England". In discussing the song, Murphy said: "To find a refrain which will go with a swing is the secret of success in popular song-writing for the general public... It must have a melody in which 'something sticks out', so to speak."Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, , pp.114-115 In the American adaptation of the song, lyrics were changed to describe Kelly as being from Ireland and visiting New York; Irish songs and performers were popular with

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

audiences. In

Nora Bayes Nora Bayes (born Rachel Eleonora "Dora" Goldberg; October 3, 1880March 19, 1928) was an American singer and vaudeville performer who was popular internationally between the 1900s and 1920s. She is credited with co-writing the song "Shine On, Har ...

' 1910 recording of the song, she gives a wink to her own Jewish heritage by "accidentally" singing "Has anybody here seen Levi...I mean Kelly." In 1926,

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...

produced an animated short in the DeForest

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. Introduction In 1919 and 1920, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, ...

sound-on-film process as part of his "

Song Car-Tunes '' Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes'', ''Song Car-Tunes'', or (some sources erroneously say) ''Sound Car-Tunes'', is a series of short three-minute animated films produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer between May 1924 and September 1927, pioneering t ...

" series. In 1928,

William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), ''The Best Years of O ...

directed a feature film starring

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned ei ...

with this title. In 1943, the song was performed in the film musical ''

Hello, Frisco, Hello ''Hello, Frisco, Hello'' is a 1943 American musical film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Alice Faye, John Payne, Lynn Bari, and Jack Oakie. The film was made in Technicolor and released by 20th Century-Fox. This was one of the last ...

''. An instrumental rendition can be heard throughout the 1949 film ''

It Happens Every Spring ''It Happens Every Spring'' is a 1949 American comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Ray Milland, Jean Peters and Paul Douglas. Plot A college professor is working on a long-term scientific experiment when a baseball comes through the ...

''. It functions like a theme song for the main character - a science professor who becomes a baseball star under the pseudonym 'King Kelly'. In 1978's ''Ziegfeld: The Man & His Women'',

Inga Swenson Inga Swenson (born December 29, 1932) is an American actress and singer. She appeared in multiple Broadway productions and received two Tony nominations. She also spent seven years portraying Gretchen Kraus in the ABC comedy series ''Benson''. ...

, as

, sings the song during the scene of the first ''

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air ...

'' in 1908. In the 1956

Adelphi Films Adelphi Films Limited was a British film production company. With its sister company Advance, it produced over 30 films in the 1940s and 1950s and distributed many more. Adelphi linked Gainsborough Pictures and the raw “Kitchen sink realism, kit ...

release - restored in 2020 by Silver Salt Restoration -

Stars In Your Eyes ''Stars in Your Eyes'' is a 1956 British musical film directed by Maurice Elvey. Plot As the world of vaudeville gradually loses its attraction, more and more entertainers are losing their jobs. In hopes of fixing their financial problems, a gr ...

, Pat Kirkwood sings the song. In 1917, the British composer

Havergal Brian Havergal Brian (born William Brian; 29 January 187628 November 1972) was an English composer. He is best known for having composed 32 symphonies (an unusually high total for a 20th-century composer), most of them late in his life. His best-know ...

based much of the opening scene of his opera ''The Tigers'' around the song (or rather round the refrain), which runs beneath and through the action as policeman search for a missing person during a

Bank Holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band o ...

. A few years later he extracted the music, without the vocal parts or transferring those parts to instruments, as an independent orchestral work, ''Symphonic Variations on 'Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?.

Lyrics

Kelly and his sweetheart wore a very pleasant smile,
And sent upon a holiday they went from Mona's Isle,
They landed safe in London but alas it's sad to say,
For Kelly lost his little girl up Piccadilly way.
She searched for him in vain and then of course began to fret,
And this is the appeal she made to everyone she met:

Has anybody here seen Kelly?
K-E-double-L-Y.
Has anybody here seen Kelly?
Find him if you can!
He's as bad as old Antonio,
Left me on my own-ee-o,
Has anybody here seen Kelly?
Kelly from the Isle of Man!

When it started raining she exclaimed, "What shall I do?"
For Kelly had her ticket and her spending money too,
She wandered over London like a hound upon the scent,
At last she found herself outside the Houses of Parliament.
She got among the suffragettes who chained her to the grille,
And soon they heard her shouting in a voice both loud and shrill:

Has anybody here seen Kelly?
K-E-double-L-Y.
Has anybody here seen Kelly?
Find him if you can!
He's as bad as old Antonio,
Left me on my own-ee-o,
Has anybody here seen Kelly?
Kelly from the Isle of Man!

In other media

A verse from an adaptation of the song was featured in the film ''

Catch Me If You Can ''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams and James ...

'' on a broadcast of the 1960s television program ''

Sing Along With Mitch Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...

''. The song was also referenced in a 1959 episode of the television series '' Bachelor Father'' titled "Bentley, the Hero". The theme tune to

Kelly Monteith Kelly Norton Monteith (October 17, 1942 – January 1, 2023) was an American comedian, actor, writer and producer. He was best known for writing and starring in the BBC comedy show ''Kelly Monteith''. Early life Kelly Norton Monteith was bor ...

's BBC TV series also used part of the song's music. The song appears in the 2018 film "

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ''The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'' is a 2018 American Western anthology film written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. It had a limited theatrical release, being primarily intended for Netflix television. It stars Tim Blake Nelson, T ...

" directed by the

Coen Brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

. The film is a six-part episodic Western with the song featuring in the sixth and final segment, "The Mortal Remains". The song was performed by

Jonjo O'Neill John Joseph "Jonjo" O'Neill (born 13 April 1952) is an Irish National Hunt racehorse trainer and former jockey. He is a native of Castletownroche, County Cork in Ireland. Based at the Jackdaws Castle training establishment in England. O'Neill ...

with the song's title character's name being changed from 'Kelly' to 'Molly'. It is not known why this change was made, but it has been speculated that the softer sound of 'Molly' made the song more audibly appeasing.

References

External links

1926 animated version at IMDB

1928 live-action film at IMDB

''Hello, Frisco, Hello'' at IMDB
{{authority control Songs about London 1908 songs British songs Songs with music by C. W. Murphy Women's suffrage in England