Flanagan & Allen

Another EP from the weekends record haul at the boot sale in Cheshire.  This time a sort of mini Greatest Hits by Flanagan & Allen on Columbia from the late 40's.

allmusic.com says  -  "Bud Flanagan (b. Reuben Weintrop [Robert Winthrop], 14 October 1896, Whitechapel, London, England, d. 20 October 1968, Kingston, Surrey, England) and Chesney Allen (b. William Ernest Allen, 5 April 1896, London, England, d. 13 November 1982, Midhurst, Sussex, England). One of Britain’s best-loved comedy-singing duos during their heyday in the 30s and 40s. Allen was the straight man, with a neat, well tailored image complete with trilby, while comedian Flanagan wore a voluminous mangy fur coat and a battered straw hat. The son of Jewish refugees from Poland, Flanagan took a job as a call boy at the Cambridge Music Hall when he was 10, and made his first stage appearance at the London Music Hall - as conjuror Fargo, the Boy Wizard - in 1908. After winning singing competitions sponsored by the popular musical hall artist Dora Lyric, Flanagan made up his young mind to run away to America, and, at the age of 14, found himself washing dishes in the galley of the S.S. Majestic bound for New York. Once there, he worked as a Western Union messenger, newspaper vendor, and prizefighter (billed as ‘Luke McGlook from England’), before forming a vaudeville double act with Dale Burgess. They toured the USA, and appeared in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, before Flanagan returned to England just after the outbreak of World War I, and enlisted in the Royal Artillery. Posted to Northern France, where he first met Chesney Allen briefly, he took his future stage name from a particularly obnoxious, anti-Semitic Sergeant-Major Flanagan. After his release in 1919, he worked with various stage partners and was a taxi driver for a spell in the early 20s, before taking over from Stan Stanford as Chesney Allen’s partner in Florrie Forde’s revue and pantomime company in 1924.

Allen, whose father was a master builder, had been articled to a solicitor before opting for a stage career. As well as performing in Forde’s shows, he was also her manager. When Forde decided to retire, Flanagan and Allen’s first inclination was to follow their main interest and start up as bookmakers, but they accepted D.J. Clarke’s offer of a week in variety at the Argyle Theatre, Birkenhead, in January 1931. Their performances were so well received, especially their rendering of Flanagan’s composition, ‘Underneath The Arches’, that they were swiftly booked for the Holborn Empire and the London Palladium. Flanagan and Allen also appeared at the Palladium in their first Royal Variety Performance in 1932. Flanagan’s impulsive appeal for ‘three cheers’ for their majesties King George V and Queen Mary at the end of the show, marked the beginning of his long reign as an affectionately regarded ‘court jester’. Also on the bill that year were the comic duo, Nervo And Knox, and that pair’s subsequent appearances with Flanagan And Allen, Eddie Gray, Caryll And Mundy, and Naughton And Gold in the Palladium’s Crazy Month revues, saw the birth of the legendary Crazy Gang. The team was reduced to seven after Billy Caryll lost a leg and died. In the 30s, as well as touring in variety and appearing together in their own shows such as Give Me A Ring, Happy Returns, Life Begins At Oxford Circus, and Swing Is In The Air, Flanagan And Allen were part of the Crazy Gang (although in most cases the artists were each billed separately) in popular revues such as Round About Regent Street, O-Kay For Sound, London Rhapsody, These Foolish Things, and The Little Dog Laughed (1939). During World War II Flanagan And Allen entertained the troops with ENSA, and were seen in the revues Top Of The World, Black Vanities and Hi-Di-Hi. They also starred in a series of comedy films - sprinkled occasionally with songs - which had begun in the 30s with A Fire Has Been Arranged, Underneath The Arches, Okay For Sound, Alf’s Button Afloat, and The Frozen Limit, and continued in the early 40s with Gasbags, We’ll Smile Again, Theatre Royal, Here Comes The Sun, and Dreaming (1944)."


Flanagan & Allen  -  Hey Neighbour/ Umbrella Manhttps://www.box.com/s/2y11w0z315iymcxr4h3i

Stanley Kirkby & Harry Hudson

Old scratchy 78 from Crewe flea market today. I'm always attracted to "comic songs" and this one was the only record to have this printed on the label. I'd heard of Harry Hudson before - indeed I think I have featured him and his Melody Men on this very blog. Shame it's so worn - sounds like a fun double "A" side...........................................................................................................................................................................Wikipedia says - "Stanley Kirkby was a British music hall singer at the beginning of the twentieth century. He was particularly well known for a series of songs he sang during the First World War, such as "Boys of the Dardanelles", a patriotic song, "Tell my Daddy to come home again", a sentimental treatment of how hard it was for children to be parted from their soldier fathers, and in 1910 he covered "The Galloping Major" - the original version of which had been performed by George Henry Bastow in 1906. But he also had success singing love songs, such as "When you know you're not forgotten by the girl you can't forget". He recorded "Irish and proud of it too" in 1915.".........................................................................................................................................................................Kirkby & Hudson - Finnegan's Ball.......................................................................................................................................................................Kirkby & Hudson - I Can't Do Without Love

Savoy Havana Band/ Columbia Novelty Orch.

Another from the 78 pile which I don't think I've uploaded before.Delightful novelty song from the days of the music hall. Two different bands for the price of one! Wikipedia says - "The Savoy Havana Band was a British dance band of the 1920s. It was resident at the Savoy Hotel, London, between 1921 and 1927. The band was formed by the American saxophonist Bert Ralton in 1921. Originally there were six players including Ralton. It was later increased to ten players. From 1924 it was led by the English violinist Reginald Batten. Both the Savoy Havana Band and their colleagues the Savoy Orpheans were under the management of Wilfred de Mornys. Among the players was a young American saxophonist, Rudy Vallee, whose attempts to become a vocalist were discouraged by his fellow-players. Another member of the ensemble was the pianist Billy Mayerl. The owner of the Savoy Hotel, Rupert D'Oyly Carte, called the original Savoy Havana Band and the Savoy Orpheans "probably the best-known bands in Europe."[2] When de Morny's contractual arrangement with the Savoy Hotel company ended on 31 December 1927, the band went on tour, and disbanded in 1930." Columbia Novelty Orch. - The Little Wooden Whistle Wouldn't Whistle. Savoy Havana Band - Why Did I Kiss That Girl?

Tom Foy

A scratchy 78 from the dusty recesses of a bedroom cupboard. Bought at a charity shop or boot sale - I forget which. Monologue and comic patter from the music hall days. "Music Hall Performer. Born in Manchester, England he served an apprenticeship as a sign painter. Apparently bored, he joined a traveling circus as a scenery artist and clown. He made his first music hall appearance as a lightning cartoonist. His music hall career progressed to comedian to song and dance man. He was famous for his sketches 'Tom Foy and his Donkey' which included a live donkey, and the pantomime 'Idle Jack,' as well as Yorkshire dialect comedy, for which he became known as 'The Yorkshire Lad' despite his origins. He recorded about forty music hall staples on several record labels during his career. He collapsed on stage at Argyle, Birkenhead, England in July 1917. He died two weeks later at the age of 38." Tom Foy - Much Obliged To Me. Tom Foy - In Trouble Again

Saturday Night At Flannagans

This LP from the boot sale was inside the wrong sleeve so picked this one from Ebay - not sure it's right but will have to do. It's no great shakes as a sing-along record with boozy pub crown led by Bernard Bedford - whoever he might be? Not much gleaned from the internet. A short extract here to give you some idea of how it sounds. I have fond memories of the TV show from Leeds Varieties in the 60's and 70's which sounded similar to this but somehow better. I suppose it was the injection of humour by the likes of Ken Dodd and Billy Dainty etc. that lifted above the normal mire of pub sing-along and into the realms of the affectionate re-creation of the Victorian Music Hall. Flannagans - Side Two.

Cosmotheka

I've been looking for this LP by Cosmotheka for ages and luckily found it today at the local boot sale for a quid. A lovely selection of songs inspired by the music hall and featuring songs made famous by Gus Elan, Eugene Stratton, Billy Williams etc. "The two Sealey brothers, Alan and Dave, were born in Melen Street and attended Bridge Street and Bridley Moor Schools. They became famous as a 'music hall' type duo known as Cosmotheka, a name taken from an old time music hall which was once in the back streets of Paddington. They have shared the stage with such fellow celebrities as Roy Hudd, June Whitfield, Don McClean, Isla St Clare, Charlie Chester, Dame Vera Lynn and many others. Dave moved to London in the mid 1960s, hoping to become a pop star: 'I was always involved in some way or other as a singer and when I was in my twenties I was in a rock and roll band . We had a bit of success and got to make a recording for EMI at Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles made Sergeant Pepper. A bit later on I got a solo career with Dick James' Music in London. Neither of these two recording contracts came to much, so I returned to Redditch and got married. 'My brother, Alan, had been singing in a folk group and in about 1974, shortly after I got married, we said suddenly, 'Why don't we sing as a duet?'. We hadn't really got anything in mind, except that Alan had an old music hall item he used to sing with his folk group. It was called, 'A little bit of cucumber'. Between us we then decided that's what we would have a look at, old music hall songs, and we would sing them in two-part harmony with me accompanying on my guitar. We went down to the local library, looked through the old scores and learned two or three of them. Alan and I were both sales reps, and I was working in Digbeth in what had been the old Bird's Custard factory which was then being used for manufacturing polythene bags. I used to wander off at lunch time going round the local junk shops looking for songs to start Cosmotheka off. I was searching through some sheet music for songs by Gus Elen, who was a music hall singer, when the proprietor came over and said, 'What are you looking for?'. I told him and he said, 'I have got some of his records at home'. It turned out that he was a member of the Birmingham Gramophone Society. I asked him if I could take a tape recorder to his house and record some of the old songs, and he was very obliging. When I went to see him he took me into his front room, it was cluttered with old gramophones and phonographs. These were his main interest but he had collected a lot of cylinders and 78 records on the way. The first thing he played to me was a song called 'Little Billy's Wild Woodbines' by Billy Williams, who called himself 'The Man in a Velvet Suit'. His most famous song was 'When father papered the parlour'. The old fellow put the record on; there was a great big horn attached to the gramophone and a tiny metallic voice started coming out of the blackness of the horn. It felt like a time machine, almost as if I could see this little fellow at the end of this horn. I was completely hooked, I had never heard anybody sing quite like that and he affected a funny little laugh at the end. That was the first time I heard a music hall artist singing and I heard three that day. I walked away with about six numbers that formed the initial batch of songs for what was to become the Cosmotheka act." Tracks are as follows = Good Little Girl, The 'ouses In Between, The Baby's Name, Little Dolly Daydream, Down The Road, Up Went My Little Umbrella, The Golden Dustman, Cosmotheka - Side One

Flanagan & Allen

An LP on the EMI label from the Hospice Shop today. Songs and patter from the 30's up until the 50's on this compilation obviously taken straight from old 78's due to the background hiss and crackle on most tracks.

Wikipedia says -

"As music hall comedians, they would often feature a mixture of comedy and music in their act; this led to a successful recording career as a duo and roles in film and television. Just prior to and throughout the Second World War they appeared in several films helmed by Marcel Varnel and John Baxter. Flanagan and Allen were both also members of The Crazy Gang and worked with that team for many years concurrently with their double-act career.

Flanagan and Allen's songs featured the same, usually gentle, humour for which the duo were known in their live performances, and during the Second World War they reflected the experiences of ordinary people during wartime. Songs like 'We're Gonna Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line' mocked the German defences (Siegfried Line), while others like 'Miss You' sang of missing one's sweetheart during enforced absences. Other songs, such as their most famous, 'Underneath the Arches' (which Flanagan co-wrote with Reg Connelly), had universal themes such as friendship. The music was usually melodic, following a binary verse, verse chorus structure, with a small dance band or orchestra providing the accompaniment. The vocals were distinctive because while Flanagan was at least a competent singer and sang the melody lines, Allen used an almost spoken delivery to provide the harmonies.

The recordings of Flanagan and Allen remain popular, and the duo are frequently impersonated by professionals and amateurs. Royal Variety Performances often feature people 'doing a Flanagan and Allen', notably Roy Hudd and Christopher Timothy, Bernie Winters and Leslie Crowther. In 1980 the latter two featured in a one-off musical drama about the duo produced by ATV for the ITV network.

The later comedy team Morecambe and Wise, who often expressed their admiration for Flanagan and Allen, recorded a tribute album, Morecambe and Wise Sing Flanagan and Allen (Phillips 6382 095), in which they performed some of the earlier team's more popular songs in their own style, without attempting to imitate the originals. Fans of either comedy team may be slightly disappointed by this album, since all of the selections are performed absolutely straight, with no comedy except for a brief amount of banter after one of the songs. Run Rabbit Run was one of their best hits in World War Two."

Songs are -

1. "Oi!" Intro: A Million years

2. Life Begins Again

3. |Memories Medley: Part 1 - Wanderer, Dreaming, Where The Arches Used To Be.

4. Memories Medley: Part 2 - Can't We Meet Again, A Million Tears, Underneath The Arches.

5. Down And Out Blues

6. I'm Sending Out An S.O.S.

Flanagan & Allen - Side One

Sophie Tucker

An LP on the Coral label from 1966 but suspect these songs were recorded in the 30's or 40's. Some are almost spoken rather than sung and remind me of Jimmy Durante and others who employed this style.

IMDb says -

What becomes a legend most? For the beloved Russian-born entertainer Sophie Tucker, it was most definitely the live stage. The stage was her home. She fed off a live audience and it's what made her the sensation she was. Seeing her up close and personal was to get the very best of her. Movies and TV were too restrictive to capture the true essence of Sophie Tucker. For well over five decades, she performed everywhere -- Broadway, vaudeville, cabaret, clubs and burlesque.

This gutsy, irrepressible "Jazz Age Hot Mamma" was born Sophie Kalish in Russia in 1884 just as her family was about to emigrate to the United States. They left when she was a mere three months old, settling in Hartford, Connecticut. She started performing as a youngster in her parent's small restaurant, occasionally singing and playing the piano for tips. Marrying in her teens to a ne'er-do-well, she was forced to continue at the restaurant to support a family of three (including baby boy Bert). Within a short time, however, she divorced, left her child with her parents, and headed to nearby New York with visions of stardom. Changing her name to the more suitable marquee moniker of "Sophie Tucker" (her ex-husband's name was Louis Tuck), she proceeded to take the town by storm.

Sophie started out in amateur shows. Not a beauty by any stretch, she was grossly overweight and quickly found that self parody and racy comedy, punctuated by her jazzy musical style, would become the backbone of her popularity. Playing at various dives, she earned a minor break in 1906 after earning a singing/piano-playing gig on the vaudeville circuit. Disguised in blackface, she played ragtime music. Her humor, of course, came at the expense of her weight but, with such ditties as "Nobody Loves a Fat Girl, But Oh How a Fat Girl Can Love," she had audiences eating out of the palm of her hand."

1. Some Of These Days

2. You've Got To Be Loved To Be Healthy

3. The Older They Get The Younger They Want 'em

4. Who Wants Them Tall Dark and Handsome

5. You Can't Sew A Button On A Heart

6. Why Go To Havana

Sophie Tucker - Side One

George Formby

A 4 LP boxed set of George's finest work released on the World Record label in 1977.

Wikipedia says -

"Formby was born at 3 Westminster Street, Wigan, Lancashire, as George Hoy Booth, the eldest of seven surviving children (four girls and three boys). Formby was born blind due to an obstructive caul; his sight was restored during a violent coughing fit or sneeze when he was a few months old. His father James Booth used the stage name George Formby, adopted from the town of Formby, Lancashire, and was one of the great music hall comedians of his day, fully the equal of his son's later success. His father, not wishing him to watch his performances, moved the family to Atherton Road in Hindley, near Wigan, and it was from there that Formby was apprenticed as a jockey when he was seven and rode his first professional race aged ten when he weighed under 4 stone (56 lb; 25 kg).

The family then moved to Stockton Heath, Warrington on a property on London Road. It was from there that George Formby Jr. embarked on his career in entertainment.

On the death of his father in 1921, Formby abandoned his career as a jockey and started his own music hall career using his father's material. He originally called himself George Hoy (the name of his maternal grandfather, who originally came from Newmarket, Suffolk, a famous horseracing town, where the family were involved in racehorse training). In 1924 he married dancer Beryl Ingham, who managed his career (and it is said his personal life to an intolerable degree—see biographies below) until her death in 1960. He allegedly took up the ukulele, for which he was later famous, as a hobby; he first played it on stage for a bet."

Tracks are as follows -

1. She Can't say No

2. The Joo Jah Tree

3. In My Little Snapshot Album

4. Hitting The Highspots Now

5. It's A Grand Healthy Life

6. Dan The Dairy Man

7. Bell Bottom George

8. George Formby Medley - Sitting On The Ice.../Do-de-o-do/ Chinese Laundry Blues

George Formby - Record One Side Two

Will Fyffe

This LP on the World Record label is a compilation of songs by the scottish comedian Will Fyffe which I always get mixed up with Sir Harry Lauder. Mostly from the late 20's and early 30's.

"He started his career in childhood touring with his father's dramatic company and made his debut as Little Willie in East Lynne.
At 15 he played Polonius in Shakespeares Hamlet. He then moved to the Music Halls doing sketches featuring Scottish characters many of which were recorded on to 78 rpm records. He appeared at the London Pavilion in 1921 and also appeared in a number of films during the 1930's.

He was presented with the C.B.E. for entertaining the troops during World War 2. He is best known for his recording of "I Belong To Glasgow" but made many other fine recordings demonstrating that he had an excellent singing voice and in my opinion was a superior entertainer to the better known Sir Harry Lauder."

Tracks are as follows -

1. I'm 94 Today

2. He's been On The Bottle Since A Baby

3. The railway Guard

4. Uncle Mac

5. The Skipper Of The Mercantile Marine

6. Corporall McDougal

7. It Is'nt The Hen

8. Sailing Up The Clyde

Will Fyffe - Side Two

G.H. Elliot

Another hissy 78 from the 20's or perhaps even earlier. This disc is a mini 78 - only 8 inches across. I have featured G.H. Elliot before and happy to do so again despite the rather politically uncorrect nick name he used.

Wikipedia says -

"G. H. Elliott (1882–1962) was a British music hall singer and dancer. He was born George Henry Elliott in Rochdale, Lancashire in 1882. Known as the "Chocolate Coloured Coon", he came on stage with a painted black face but dressed entirely in white. He had a white top hat, a white tail-coat which came down well below the knees, white gloves, white tie or cravat, white trousers, white shoes and a white cane.

He and his family emigrated to the United States when he was four. There he played juvenile parts on stage including the title role in Little Lord Fauntleroy. He was a member of the Primrose West Minstrels at the age of nine where he first blacked up.



The family returned to England in 1901 where he continued to perform on the music hall stage. After a number of years treading the boards he rose to top of the bill. He was influenced by Eugene Stratton who also used to black up and he sang some of Stratton’s songs particularly Lily of Laguna which he sang in tribute to his hero. Among the songs particularly associated with him are Idaho, I Used To Sigh For The Silvery Moon and Sue, Sue, Sue.

He appeared in two films Music Hall (1934) and Those Were the Days (1934 film) and in This is Your Life as Himself in 1957.

He appeared in two Royal Variety Performances, in 1925 and 1948. He made over 100 records, his first on a wax cylinder and his last in 1960.

He was married twice, first to Emily Hayes who died in 1940 and then to Florence May Street, known as June. She had been an acrobat in acts as various as the Martinez Troupe/Duo and Sereno (Harry Sereno) and June.

G. H. Elliott retired to Rottingdean, Brighton where he lived in a cottage he named Silvery Moon after his song I Used to Sigh for the Silvery Moon. He is buried in the churchyard of St Margaret's Church, Rottingdean[3] and his gravestone shows a stage with curtains drawn back. It bears the words: "The last curtain call for G H Elliott The Chocolate Coloured Coon who passed peacefully away 19 November 1962. Dearly loved R.I.P."


G.H.Elliot - So Long As The Sun Keeps Shining

G.H.Elliot - I'm Going Back Again To Old Nebraska

Flanagan & Allen

An old scratchy 78 from the boot sale today. I think I may have this already but couldn't find it on here so here it is in all it's hissy fizzy glory.

Wikipedia says -

"As music hall comedians, they would often feature a mixture of comedy and music in their act; this led to a successful recording career as a duo and roles in film and television. Just prior to and throughout the Second World War they appeared in several films helmed by Marcel Varnel and John Baxter. Flanagan and Allen were both also members of The Crazy Gang and worked with that team for many years concurrently with their double-act career.

Flanagan and Allen's songs featured the same, usually gentle, humour for which the duo were known in their live performances, and during the Second World War they reflected the experiences of ordinary people during wartime. Songs like 'We're Gonna Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line' mocked the German defences (Siegfried Line), while others like 'Miss You' sang of missing one's sweetheart during enforced absences. Other songs, such as their most famous, 'Underneath the Arches' (which Flanagan co-wrote with Reg Connelly), had universal themes such as friendship. The music was usually melodic, following a binary verse, verse chorus structure, with a small dance band or orchestra providing the accompaniment. The vocals were distinctive because while Flanagan was at least a competent singer and sang the melody lines, Allen used an almost spoken delivery to provide the harmonies.

The recordings of Flanagan and Allen remain popular, and the duo are frequently impersonated by professionals and amateurs. Royal Variety Performances often feature people 'doing a Flanagan and Allen', notably Roy Hudd and Christopher Timothy, Bernie Winters and Leslie Crowther. In 1980 the latter two featured in a one-off musical drama about the duo produced by ATV for the ITV network.

The later comedy team Morecambe and Wise, who often expressed their admiration for Flanagan and Allen, recorded a tribute album, Morecambe and Wise Sing Flanagan and Allen (Phillips 6382 095), in which they performed some of the earlier team's more popular songs in their own style, without attempting to imitate the originals. Fans of either comedy team may be slightly disappointed by this album, since all of the selections are performed absolutely straight, with no comedy except for a brief amount of banter after one of the songs. Run Rabbit Run was one of their best hits in World War Two."




Flanagan & Allen - F.D.R.Jones

Flanagan & Allen - If A Grey Haired Lady Says "How's Yer Father?"

Fred Douglas

Not really a boot sale find but an excuse to upload some novelty songs by Fred Douglas who I know nothing about except he made lots of cover versions of hits on the cheap Regal label that sold in Woolworths I believe back in the 30's and 40's. Later they had the Embassy label which did a similar service - all the pop hits of the day by obscure singers who nobody had ever heard of! Fred Douglas went by many other nome de plumes, some say as many as 60 including the comedy duo The Two Gilberts.

Chris Gavin says of The Two Gilberts -

"Almost nothing is known about this comedy duo, but it can be surmised from their recordings that the people making up the pairing varied with time. The odd thing is that the Two Gilberts appear at a time when comedy duettists had just about died out in terms of popularity. Harry Cove & Billy Thompson had dominated the recording studios (along with the likes on Will Brockton, Jack Charman, Stanley Kirkby, Lionel Rothery etc) with their duet records from before WWI. People with a good ear claim that Fred Douglas, a prolific maker of records in his own name, is always one of the pair. Recently it has been claimed that the most regular duo were Fred Douglas and Leslie Rome.

Interestingly, both Cove and Thompson were mainstays of The Two Gilberts at different times. Thompson seems to be Douglas's first partner before Cove took over in mid-1924. Recordings by Tom Gilbert exist, usually paired with recordings of the Two Gilberts, these records issued as by Tom Gilbert are also by Fred Douglas; the Regal company obviously dreamt up the name as a tie-in with the duettists as well as issuing record under Douglas's own name.

It seems that about these artists: Douglas, Thompson & Cove, very little is known as they spent pretty well the whole of their careers as recording artists, generally looked down upon by collectors and researchers as "of no historical importance or interest"."


Fred Douglas - Yes, Sir That's My Baby

Fred Douglas - Vamping Rose

Fred Douglas - Mammy

Fred Douglas - Aurora Borealis

Gus Elen

I saw a Gus Elen compilation LP in the Oxfam shop the other day and was tempted to buy it but realised I had most of the tracks already on a cassette that somebody sent me some years ago. All dubbed from scratchy old 78's so excuse the terrible sound quality. I doubt the LP's sound was any better though.

Wikipedia says -

"Gus Elen (22 July 1862 – 17 February 1940 (aged 77)[1]) was a British music hall singer. He achieved success from 1891, performing cockney songs and sketches as a 'coster' comedian.

Gus Elen began his career busking, and found a position singing in a minstrel troupe. His solo success began with the coster songs, sung in 1891 at the Middlesex Music Hall[2], when his comedy partner, a man named Daniels, died in a boating accident. They had performed a 'blackface' comedy act, but solo he performed cockney songs and sketches as a 'coster' comedian, dressed in the clothes of a poor East End costermonger, coming himself from a similar background. In an interview, given after he had become a star, he said,
“ Years before I entered the ranks of music hall performers proper, I used to contribute to the programmes of the weekly sing songs held at such places as 'Poppy Lords' in Lisson Grove; the 'Magpie and Stump', Battersea; or the 'George Street Recital Hall'. At the last named hall, the salaries ranged from a shilling to three and sixpence a night with a cup of coffee and a bun thrown in by way of refreshment. In those days I often filled in a season on the 'waxeys' (on the seaside) at Margate and Ramsgate in a Negro minstrel troupe ”
—in Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America
Elen was praised as an "authentic cockney from the poor streets" and was well known for his involvement in personally organized charity events. For many years he and his wife distributed free Christmas gifts to the poor in public."

Songs included here are -

1. The Publican
2. The Coster's Pony
3. Don't Stop Me Half A Pint Of Beer
4. I'm Going To Settle Down
5. Pretty Little Villa In Barking
6. Nature's Made A Big Mistake
7. Meriah
8. Arf A Pint Of Ale
9. The Pavement Artist
10. Wait Til the Work Comes Around

Gus Elen - Coster Songs

Fred Douglas

Not really a boot sale find but an excuse to upload some novelty songs by Fred Douglas who I know nothing about except he made lots of cover versions of hits on the cheap Regal label that sold in Woolworths I believe back in the 30's and 40's. Later they had the Embassy label which did a similar service - all the pop hits of the day by obscure singers who nobody had ever heard of! Fred Douglas went by many other nome de plumes, some say as many as 60 including the comedy duo The Two Gilberts.

Chris Gavin says of The Two Gilberts -

"Almost nothing is known about this comedy duo, but it can be surmised from their recordings that the people making up the pairing varied with time. The odd thing is that the Two Gilberts appear at a time when comedy duettists had just about died out in terms of popularity. Harry Cove & Billy Thompson had dominated the recording studios (along with the likes on Will Brockton, Jack Charman, Stanley Kirkby, Lionel Rothery etc) with their duet records from before WWI. People with a good ear claim that Fred Douglas, a prolific maker of records in his own name, is always one of the pair. Recently it has been claimed that the most regular duo were Fred Douglas and Leslie Rome.

Interestingly, both Cove and Thompson were mainstays of The Two Gilberts at different times. Thompson seems to be Douglas's first partner before Cove took over in mid-1924. Recordings by Tom Gilbert exist, usually paired with recordings of the Two Gilberts, these records issued as by Tom Gilbert are also by Fred Douglas; the Regal company obviously dreamt up the name as a tie-in with the duettists as well as issuing record under Douglas's own name.

It seems that about these artists: Douglas, Thompson & Cove, very little is known as they spent pretty well the whole of their careers as recording artists, generally looked down upon by collectors and researchers as "of no historical importance or interest"."


Fred Douglas - Valencia

Fred Douglas - In The Gloaming Of Wyoming

Fred Douglas - California

Fred Douglas - On Mother kellys Doorstep

Morecambe and Wise

A charity shop find from a few years back. This LP on the Philips label is was released in 1971 and features songs made famous by another great comedy duo Flanagan and Allen.

"The theatrical/TV impresario Bernard Delfont gave Morecambe and Wise their own ITV show after the pair appeared frequently on the small-screen in 1960, notching up 12 spots on Val Parnell's Sunday Night At The London Palladium. Now the same network pitched them into a show of their own, teaming the comedians with another double-act, the writers Sid Green and Dick Hills. Sid and Dick, as they soon became known to the nation, also ventured out from behind-the-scenes to feature in front of the cameras with the comics.

The first ATV series - broadcast live each week from the Wood Green Empire in north London - was so successful that a second run was commissioned and given a Saturday primetime slot; from here on, after seven years of irregular TV appearances, Morecambe and Wise were firmly established as stars of the medium and Britain's best comedy double-act. Catchphrases soon developed, with Eric as the wag and Ernie the butt of all jokes: Morecambe would grab Wise by the throat and remark 'Get out of that!'; Morecambe would claim that Wise possessed 'short fat hairy legs'; the two comics, with their scriptwriters, sang a catchy comedy song that attained national fame, 'Boom Oo Yatta Ta Ta'; and every programme ended with the first line - but never more - of the age-old dirty joke 'There were these two old men sitting in deckchairs...'.

As a result of these marvellous ITV shows, Morecambe and Wise branched out into the cinema with three starring feature films, The Intelligence Men, That Riviera Touch and The Magnificent Two, released in 1964, 1966 and 1967 respectively."

Side one tracks are - Underneath The Arches, Run Rabbit Run, Umbrella Man, Are You Havin' Any Fun, Strollin' and A Shanty In Old Shanty Town.
Side two tracks are - Down And Out Blues, Nice people, Hometown, Dreaming, Can't We Meet Again and Where The Arches Used To Be.

Go HERE to find out more about Eric and Ernie.


Morecambe & Wise - Side One

Morecambe & Wise - Side Two

The Great Days Of Music Hall

A terrific LP of old music hall stars that were still around in the 20's and 30's to record these medleys of their biggest hits. I've had these on a cassette for a number of years but glad to find this vinyl version on the cheapo Music For Pleasure label that was released in the 60's and sold for 12 shillings and sixpence back then. Wee Georgie Wood writes the sleeve notes- here's the first part about Billy Merson -

"The Greatest Music-Hall Ever Assembled" is
no mean boast, yet the six stars on this album
really do represent the best of music-hall
entertainment.
I can think of no better selection of artists and
numbers with which In illustrate the talks on
music-hall immortals which I give throughout
this country and America. There were other
greats too, of course, but these six stood in the
front rank and I am proud to have been a personal
friend of them all.
BILLY MKRSON typified the individuality
and personality which marked out the great
artists of the days when, to quote George
Bernard Shaw: "The music-hall, thank God. is
part of the traditional British life acceptable.—
nay, indeed welcomed—by Ireland".
"On The Good Ship Yacki Hicki Doola" was
the popular favourite of pierrot shows, amateur
reviews for charity, and delighted countless sea-
side charabanc parties.
Merson's own particular favourite was "The
Photo Of The Girl I Left Behind Me" but
"Signora", the least successful item in his
repertoire, was nevertheless the critics choice.
Lewis Waller's performance in the well-known
drama "A White Man" inspired "A Prairie
Life".
Best known of all his numbers was of course,
"The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" and I
can remember that, during the Drury Lane
rehearsal breaks of that truly great musical "Rose
Marie" (in which Merson played the part of
Herman), the composer Rudolf Kriml would
implore Billy to teach him the trick of "The
Spaniards" opening of "O list to me while 1 tell
you" with which Billy played vocal tricks with
nuances of tremolo and almost a yodel. In 1943,
Al Jolson sang this song to the troops when we
were together in North Africa and he always pre-
faced it with a personal tribute to "That Merson
man of the music-hall". Later, when Joe Brown
parted from "The Bruvvers" to gain fame as a
solo performer, he added the song to his reper-
toire and performed it with great success on a
T.V. show filmed in colour specially for America,
when it was generally thought to be a new song!"


Billy Merson - Medley

Vesta Victoria - Medley

Charles Coburn - Medley

Florrie Forde - Medley

Harry Champion - Medley

Ella Retford - Medley

Golden Voices Of The Music Hall

An LP on Ace Of Clubs cheapo label from the 60's with various artistes including Ella Shields, Nellie Wallace and Tom Leamore that I have featured before.

Wikipedia says of Hetty King-

"Winifred Emms (4 April 1883 – 28 September 1972), best known by her stage name Hetty King, was an English entertainer who played in the music halls over a period of 70 years.

Emms was born in Shoreditch, London on 4 April 1883. Emms was born in New Brighton a seaside resort in Cheshire Cheshire and performed with her father on the beach in a company of minstrel

Emms adopted the name Hetty King when she first appeared on the stage of the Shoreditch Theatre, at the age of six with her father, William Emms (1856-1954), a comedian who used the stage name of Will King. By 1905, she was appearing in music halls, with her solo act, as a male impersonator, often dressed as a "swell". Her career spanned both World Wars when she performed in the uniform of either a soldier or a sailor. In the First World War her acrt included, in 1916, "Songs the soldiers sing" when she sang some of the less rude of the songs invented by soldiers in the trenches.
She also played the "principal boy" in many pantomimes. She continued to entertain until the end of her life, touring with the show Thanks for the Memory."

Wikipedia says of Albert Whelan -

"Albert Whelan (5 May 1875 – 19 February 1961), was an Australian popular singer and entertainer, who was prominent in the English music hall during the first half of the twentieth century.
Like his exact contemporary and fellow music-hall artist Florrie Forde, Whelan was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1875. Early in his career, Whelan moved to Western Australia, where he found fame as a singer and dancer, entertaining the miners working the gold fields. At the turn of the century, he emigrated to Britain, making his debut in a novelty dance act at the Empire, Leicester Square. He rapidly honed his act, and settled on a style which would vary little over his career, although his ability to update the content of his act ensured his career was both long and successful, lasting well into his eighties. Whelan was acknowledged as one of the first entertainers to have a signature tune, appearing on-stage (and exiting at the end of his act) whistling Robert Vollstedt's waltz from Die Lustige Brüder (The Jolly Brothers). Immaculately dressed in bow-tie and tails, he sang, danced and played the piano. He was an excellent mimic, and adapted easily to changing vocal styles.
His recording career spanned the first half of the twentieth century, from The Whistling Bowery Boy in 1905 to his final recordings made in 1960. He also had minor roles in a number of British films of the 1930s and 1940s."


Gus Elen - 'Arf A Pint Of Ale

Hetty King - Tell Her The Old Old Story

Hetty King - Down Beside The Riverside

Albert Whelan - The Three Trees

Albert Whelan - The Preacher & The Bear

Music Hall - Top Of The Bill

More music hall songs from the late 1800's and early 1900's on a double LP on EMI. It claims to have been digitally re-mastered but still sounds very scratchy to me. One wonders what it was like before!

Wikipedia says of Gus Elen-

"Gus Elen began his career busking, and found a position singing in a minstrel troupe. His solo success began with the coster songs, sung in 1891 at the Middlesex Music Hall[2], when his comedy partner, a man named Daniels, died in a boating accident. They had performed a 'blackface' comedy act, but solo he performed cockney songs and sketches as a 'coster' comedian, dressed in the clothes of a poor East End costermonger, coming himself from a similar background. In an interview, given after he had become a star, he said,
“ Years before I entered the ranks of music hall performers proper, I used to contribute to the programmes of the weekly sing songs held at such places as 'Poppy Lords' in Lisson Grove; the 'Magpie and Stump', Battersea; or the 'George Street Recital Hall'. At the last named hall, the salaries ranged from a shilling to three and sixpence a night with a cup of coffee and a bun thrown in by way of refreshment. In those days I often filled in a season on the 'waxeys' (on the seaside) at Margate and Ramsgate in a Negro minstrel troupe ”
—in Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America
Elen was praised as an "authentic cockney from the poor streets" and was well known for his involvement in personally organized charity events. For many years he and his wife distributed free christmas gifts to the poor in public."



Miss Vesta Victoria - Now I Have To Call Him Father

Mr. Gus Elen - It's A Great Big Shame

Mr. Gus Elen - If It Wasn't For The 'Ouses In Between

Miss Marie Lloyd - That's How The Little Girl Got On

Mr. Alex Hurley - 'Arry 'Arry 'Arry

Mr. Herbert Campbell - Up I Came With My Little Lot

Music Hall To Variety Vol. 3

This is a great LP of old Music Hall songs from the early part of the last century. I have managed to collect all three volumes from various flea markets and bootsales over the years. The third Volume contains some droll comedy sketches which have dated rather badly but also some novelty song gems like Mary From The Dairy by Max Miller and Under The Bed by Nellie Wallace.

"Surviving recordings make it clear that few music hall stars had good voices. Like their vaudeville counterparts in the U.S., their primary qualifications were energy and personality. The best music hall performers had both in abundance. Marie Lloyd (seen at left) was one of the most beloved music hall stars. Her stage humor ranged from the wholesome to the risqué. If her trademark parasol failed to open, she would quip, "I haven't had it up for ages." One of her songs was "She Sits Among Her Cabbages and Peas" – a title that sounds less innocent than it looks. Lloyd always adapted her act to the audience at hand, winning almost universal affection. Playwright and poet T. S. Eliot explained her appeal this way –

No other comedian succeeded so well in giving expression to the life of the music hall audience, raising it to a kind of art. It was, I think, this capacity for expressing the soul of the people that made Marie Lloyd unique.
- Selected Essays by T. S. Eliot, Faber and Faber, London, 1941

After World War I, food service disappeared from the music halls, and traditional theatre seating replaced the old benches and tables. But there was still plenty of beer! Performers faced more concentrated scrutiny, which only strengthened the popularity of favorites like comic singers Florrie Forde, George Robey and Harry Champion. Most performers preferred songs with simple repetitive refrains that were easy for audiences to remember and sing along with. "

Find out more about the music hall HERE.



Gracie Fields - Rochdale Hounds

Tessie O'Shea - Two Ton Tessie

Ronald Frankau - I'd Like To Have A Honeymoon With Her