George Robey
Encyclopedia
Sir George Edward Wade better known by his stage name, George Robey, was an English
music hall
comedian and star. He was marketed as the "Prime Minister of Mirth".
, as assistant to Professor Kennedy, a burlesque
mesmerist, in 1891. In this act he sang songs, pretending to be under hypnosis
. He was soon performing in his own act, and was booked at the Oxford Music Hall
in June 1891, aged 21.
Like many of his time, Robey's act consisted of patter and song, with elaborate stage costumes, often appearing in drag
. He was renowned for his double entendres, and ordering his audience to "Desist" and "Kindly temper your hilarity with a modicum of reserve", in the manner adopted by later comedians such as Frankie Howerd
. Naturally, these exhortations had the opposite effect.
During World War I
he was known for his enthusiastic participation in recruitment drives for the army. In one theatre he promised "a shiny florin for every recruit who signs on tonight". He raised over £500,000 for war charities and at the end of the war he was offered a knighthood for his services, but declined, accepting a CBE
.
He appeared in April 1916 at the Alhambra Theatre
in the musical/revue The Bing Boys Are Here
. He was given the leading male part, Lucius Bing, opposite Violet Loraine
as Emma. It became one of the most popular musicals of the time. His duet with Loraine If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)
became a "signature song" of the era and endured as a pop standard.
Robey continued to raise money for charity, raising over £2m for war savings in World War II
, and in 1954 finally accepted a knighthood.
Robey was also an artist, and a number of pen and ink self-caricatures are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
in both the 1923 and 1933 film versions of Don Quixote, as Ali Baba
in the 1934 film version of the musical comedy Chu Chin Chow
, and as the dying Falstaff
in Laurence Olivier
's film version of Shakespeare
's Henry V
.
Robey appeared in the early sound film
s And Very Nice Too and Good Queen Bess (both 1913), made in the Kinoplasticon process, where the film was synchronized with phonograph records. He also wrote and starred in two Lee De Forest
Phonofilm
sound-on-film
productions, Safety First (1928) and Mrs. Mephistopheles (1929).
. Following a friendly match involving the club, in which he played and scored, he was awarded an amateur
contract
.
In December 1905, George Robey brought a team of professional football players to Springfield Park, Wigan for a charity match against Wigan Town (1905–08) in aid of the Chief Constable’s "Clog and Stocking Fund".
In 1909, Robey was hired by Manchester United
to present the kits specially made for the 1909 FA Cup Final
to the players, before providing the post-match entertainment after their 1–0 victory over Bristol City
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
comedian and star. He was marketed as the "Prime Minister of Mirth".
Early life
Robey was born into a middle class family – his father George was a civil engineer. A myth has grown up that Robey went to Cambridge University - in fact he went to no college at all. He earned small fees from performing music and song at local venues, adopting the stage name "Robey" from a firm of builders, finally changing it by deed-poll.Stage career
Robey's London début was made at the Royal AquariumRoyal Aquarium
The Royal Aquarium and Winter Garden was a Westminster, London place of amusement opened in 1876. The building was demolished in 1903. It was located immediately to the west of Westminster Abbey on Tothill Street. The building was designed by Alfred Bedborough in a highly ornamental style faced...
, as assistant to Professor Kennedy, a burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
mesmerist, in 1891. In this act he sang songs, pretending to be under hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
. He was soon performing in his own act, and was booked at the Oxford Music Hall
Oxford Music Hall
Oxford Music Hall was a music hall located in Westminster, London at the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. It was established on the site of a former public house, the Boar and Castle, by Charles Morton, in 1861. The hall was converted into a legitimate theatre in 1917, but the...
in June 1891, aged 21.
Like many of his time, Robey's act consisted of patter and song, with elaborate stage costumes, often appearing in drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
. He was renowned for his double entendres, and ordering his audience to "Desist" and "Kindly temper your hilarity with a modicum of reserve", in the manner adopted by later comedians such as Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
. Naturally, these exhortations had the opposite effect.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he was known for his enthusiastic participation in recruitment drives for the army. In one theatre he promised "a shiny florin for every recruit who signs on tonight". He raised over £500,000 for war charities and at the end of the war he was offered a knighthood for his services, but declined, accepting a CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
.
He appeared in April 1916 at the Alhambra Theatre
Alhambra Theatre
The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as The Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two years and reopened as the Alhambra. The building was...
in the musical/revue The Bing Boys Are Here
The Bing Boys Are Here
The Bing Boys Are Here, styled "A Picture of London Life, in a Prologue and Six Panels," is the first of a series of revues which played at the Alhambra Theatre, London during the last two years of World War I. The series included The Bing Boys on Broadway and The Bing Boys are There. The music...
. He was given the leading male part, Lucius Bing, opposite Violet Loraine
Violet Loraine
Violet Loraine was an English musical theatre actress and singer.She was born Violet Mary Tipton in Kentish Town, London, in 1886 and went on the stage as a chorus girl at the age of sixteen....
as Emma. It became one of the most popular musicals of the time. His duet with Loraine If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)
If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)
"If You Were the Only Girl " is a popular song written by Nat D. Ayer with lyrics by Clifford Grey. The song was published in 1916. It was republished in 1946...
became a "signature song" of the era and endured as a pop standard.
Robey continued to raise money for charity, raising over £2m for war savings in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and in 1954 finally accepted a knighthood.
Robey was also an artist, and a number of pen and ink self-caricatures are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
Film Work
Robey also appeared in films. Among his most notable roles were Sancho PanzaSancho Panza
Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs,...
in both the 1923 and 1933 film versions of Don Quixote, as Ali Baba
Ali Baba
Ali Baba is a fictional character from medieval Arabic literature. He is described in the adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves...
in the 1934 film version of the musical comedy Chu Chin Chow
Chu Chin Chow
Chu Chin Chow is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based on the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves...
, and as the dying Falstaff
Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...
in Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
's film version of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Henry V
Henry V (1944 film)
Henry V is a 1944 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The on-screen title is The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France . It stars Laurence Olivier, who also directed. The play was adapted for the screen by Olivier, Dallas...
.
Robey appeared in the early sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
s And Very Nice Too and Good Queen Bess (both 1913), made in the Kinoplasticon process, where the film was synchronized with phonograph records. He also wrote and starred in two Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use...
Phonofilm
Phonofilm
In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...
sound-on-film
Sound-on-film
Sound-on-film refers to a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying picture is physically recorded onto photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog sound track or digital sound track,...
productions, Safety First (1928) and Mrs. Mephistopheles (1929).
Footballing interests
Robey also had a brief association with Chelsea Football ClubChelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
. Following a friendly match involving the club, in which he played and scored, he was awarded an amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
.
In December 1905, George Robey brought a team of professional football players to Springfield Park, Wigan for a charity match against Wigan Town (1905–08) in aid of the Chief Constable’s "Clog and Stocking Fund".
In 1909, Robey was hired by Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
to present the kits specially made for the 1909 FA Cup Final
1909 FA Cup Final
The 1909 FA Cup Final was the final match of the 1908–09 FA Cup, the 38th season of England's premier club football cup competition. The match was played on 24 April 1909 at Crystal Palace, and was contested by Manchester United and Bristol City, both of the First Division. Manchester United won by...
to the players, before providing the post-match entertainment after their 1–0 victory over Bristol City
Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the City...
.
External links
- Brief biography
- "If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)" sung by Loraine and Robey, 1916 (mp3)
- Ye Olde Tree and Crown
- Eight digitally restored recordings of George Robey