John Norman Hulbert (24 April 189225 March 1978) was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame)

Cicely Courtneidge Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge, (1 April 1893 – 26 April 1980) was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West En ...

Biography

Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, he was the elder and more successful son of Henry Harper Hulbert, a physician,Register of Marriages Solemnized at St Paul’s Church, Hampstead
p. 94
(Marriage of J. N. Hulbert and Cecily Courtneidge on 14 February 1916, at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 7 May 2020 being the brother of the actor

Claude Hulbert Claude Noel Hulbert (25 December 1900 – 23 January 1964) was a mid-20th century English stage, radio and cinema comic actor. Early life Claude Hulbert was born in Fulham in West London on Christmas Day 1900. He was the younger brother of J ...

. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

and appeared in many shows and revues, mainly with the

Cambridge Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

. He was one of the earliest famous alumni of the comedy club. After Cambridge, he earned recognition and fame performing in musicals and light comedies.D. Pepys-Whiteley
‘Hulbert, John Norman (Jack) (1892–1978)’
rev., ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. However the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

delayed his rise to fame; on 14 February 1916, while still an actor, he married

, the daughter of

Robert Courtneidge Robert Courtneidge (29 June 1859 – 6 April 1939) was a British theatrical manager-producer and playwright. He is best remembered as the co-author of the light opera ''Tom Jones (Edward German), Tom Jones'' (1907) and the producer of ''The Arc ...

, a theatrical manager, in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

. On 2 March, the

Military Service Act 1916 The Military Service Act 1916 was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom during the First World War to impose conscription in Great Britain, but not in Ireland or any other country around the world. The Act The Bill which became ...

came into force and Hulbert was expecting to be conscripted into the army for the remainder of the conflict. However, he appears to have been exempted. In June 1916, Hulbert and Courtneidge were appearing together in a sketch called “A Lucky Mistake”, and in December 1916 he was appearing at the Comedy Revue in "See-Saw". In May 1917, he opened at the Comedy in "Bubbly", and the ''Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News'' commented that "Mr. Jack Hulbert, Miss Winnie Melville, and Miss Irene Greville also stay on at this same munition factory for high explosives of laughter". After the war, Hulbert continued his career in the theatre. Hulbert made his film debut in ''

Elstree Calling ''Elstree Calling'' is a 1930 British comedy musical film directed by Adrian Brunel and Alfred Hitchcock at Elstree Studios. Synopsis The film, referred to as "A Cine-Radio Revue" in its original publicity, is a lavish musical film revue and ...

'' (1930); appearing opposite his wife and frequent stage and screen co-star Cicely Courtneidge. His career went through a successful period during the 1930s when he appeared in several films, including ''The Ghost Train'' (1931), ''Love on Wheels'' (1932) and ''Bulldog Jack'' (1935), a tongue-in-cheek homage to the popular ''

Bulldog Drummond Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond is a fictional character, created by H. C. McNeile and published under his pen name "Sapper". Following McNeile's death in 1937, the novels were continued by Gerard Fairlie. Drummond is a First World War veteran who, ...

'' films in which Jack was supported by his brother Claude. In 1931 Courtneidge and Hulbert suffered a serious setback when they discovered that their financial manager had been speculating with their money, suffering heavy losses and putting their business into liquidation. Hulbert accepted responsibility for all the business's debts and undertook to repay every creditor. He had a hit record in 1932 "

The Flies Crawled Up the Window "'The Flies Crawled Up the Window" is a British song originally sung by the actor Jack Hulbert in the 1932 comedy film ''Jack's the Boy''. The lyrics describe the antics of various flies as they crawl up windows. In the film it is sung by Hulbert' ...

", which was originally sung in the film ''

Jack's the Boy ''Jack's the Boy'' is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge, Francis Lister and Peter Gawthorne. It became well known for its song "The Flies Crawled Up the Window", sung by Hulbert, wh ...

''. In 1934 he was voted the most popular male British star at the box office. In 1936 exhibitors voted him the third most popular British film star. Hulbert's popularity waned as the 1930s came to an end, and after the war he and his wife continued to entertain chiefly on stage. In 1951 he appeared in the West End in '' The White Sheep of the Family'' and the following year directed his brother in '' Lord Arthur Savile's Crime''. In 1958 he starred with

Yvonne Arnaud Germaine Yvonne Arnaud (20 December 1890 – 20 September 1958) was a French-born pianist, singer and actress, who was well known for her career in Britain, as well as her native land. After beginning a career as a concert pianist as a child, Ar ...

Ronald Millar Sir Ronald Graeme Millar (12 November 1919 – 16 April 1998) was an English actor, scriptwriter, and dramatist. Life and career After attending Charterhouse School, Millar studied at King's College, Cambridge for a year before joining th ...

's ''

The Big Tickle ''The Big Tickle'' is a 1958 comedy play by the British writer Ronald Millar. A respectable woman who finds herself short of money, turns to robbery. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Brighton before beginning a 27 performance run at the Duke of ...

''. In 1962 he appeared in the BBC radio sitcom ''Discord in Three Flats'', along with Courtneidge and

Vic Oliver Victor Oliver von Samek (8 July 1898 – 15 August 1964) was an Austrian-born British actor and radio comedian. Early life He was born in Vienna into a Jewish family, the son of Baron Viktor von Samek. He studied medicine at Vienna University but ...

Personal life

His marriage to Cicely Courtneidge lasted for 62 years until his death. Their relationship is mentioned in the British television series ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...

'' in the episode ''

Ring Dem Bells "Ring Dem Bells" is the first episode of the eighth series of the British comedy series ''Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on 5 September 1975. Synopsis The platoon are going to be featured in a film to help the war effort, but are an ...

'' when Hulbert pulls out of shooting a

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...

training film to spend time with his wife. In 1975, Hulbert published his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''The Little Woman's Always Right''. Hulbert died, at the age of 85, at his home in

Westminster, London Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

on 25 March 1978.

Filmography

Film

Photo of card in Wills's cigarette album circa 1934

Television

Theatre

References

Bibliography

* Green, Stanley. (2009). ''Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre.'' Da Capo Press * Wearing, J. P. (2014). ''The London Stage 1920-1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performances and Personnel.''

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

Education (2nd edition) * Landy, Marcia. (2014). ''British Genres: Cinema and Society, 1930-1960.'' Princeton University Press * Hartley, Cathy. (2013). ''A Historical Dictionary of British Women''. Routledge

External links

*
Jack Hulbert & Cicely Courtneidge archive, Theatre Collection, University of Bristol
*
Jack Hulbert
Britmovie , Home of British Films
Jack Hulbert

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

Jack Hulbert
BFI Screenonline {{DEFAULTSORT:Hulbert, Jack 1892 births 1978 deaths English male film actors English male musical theatre actors People from Ely, Cambridgeshire People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Musicians from Cambridgeshire Male actors from Cambridgeshire 20th-century English male actors English male stage actors 20th-century English singers 20th-century English comedians British male comedy actors 20th-century British male singers