Tom Costello (born Thomas Costellow, 30 April 1863 – 8 November 1943) was a

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 ...

comedian and singer. His birthplace is variously given as

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. ''Tom Costello'', ''The Music Hall Guild''
Retrieved 11 April 2017 He worked as an engraver before making his first stage appearance in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

in 1883, and later the same year started performing in music halls in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

and south London. One of his earliest successes was in performing

William J. Scanlan William J. Scanlan (February 14, 1856 – February 18, 1898) was a composer and male actor of musical theater. Biography William J. Scanlan was born to parents of Irish ancestry in Springfield, Massachusetts. After completing the 100th perform ...

's song "My Nellie's Blue Eyes", which was soon parodied by

Charles Coborn Colin Whitton McCallum (4 August 1852 – 23 November 1945), known by his stage name Charles Coborn, was a British music hall singer and comedian. In a long career, Coborn was known largely for two comic songs: "Two Lovely Black Eyes", and " Th ...

as "Two Lovely Black Eyes". Costello performed in

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 ...

s, but increasingly specialised in

black humour Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

, such as "At Trinity Church I Met My Doom" and "His Funeral's Tomorrow", and sentimental and patriotic ballads such as the stirring "Comrades", a story of friendship between two old soldiers written by

Felix McGlennon Felix McGlennon (30 January 1856 – 1 December 1943) was a British songwriter and publisher, whose seriocomic songs were popular in the music halls of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Biography McGlennon was born in Glasg ...

, which became Costello's

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

. He continued to have a lengthy career in pantomime, and in the 1920s toured with his own variety company. He recorded a medley of his most famous songs in 1933. He died, aged 80, in London in 1943 and was buried in

Streatham Park Cemetery South London Crematorium and Streatham Park Cemetery is a cemetery and crematorium on Rowan Road in Streatham Vale. It has always been privately owned and managed and is now part of the Dignity plc group . The South London Crematorium is situ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costello, Tom 1863 births 1943 deaths Music hall performers Burials at Streatham Park Cemetery