Malcolm Scott "The Woman Who Knows"

Belated tribute to a forgotten star of music hall

   Malcolm Scott was a leading comedian in the Edwardian era who developed a highly satirical act dressed as a female figure of history, be it Elizabeth I or Katherine Parr. Highly popular in his day, he is now practically forgotten, but over ninety years after his death I hope to rekindle interest in him, with my book now published by Bear Manor Media. 

Scott in his send up of the Directoire style

   Scott came from a good family with a brother who became a famous admiral. However, when he was orphaned at 13, he was forced to take his fate in his own hands and eventually made his way to the stage, where he became a successful actor and found his metier in comedy dressed in female attire. He was a hugely successful pantomime dame, and by 1903 a star of music hall. His approach was far different to that of his fellow female impersonators in that he was not trying to fool anyone, but effectively sending himself up - along with everything else. Nothing was off-limits to him and he made a hit in London and New York with his satire of Maud Allan as Salome, at a time when the play was still banned. Throughout his career he was the doyen of Pierrot shows and later found fame on radio before his untimely death in his fifties.

   

   His recordings are sadly few and his sole film would appear to be lost, but I hope this belated tribute elevates him to share the limelight with the other greats of music hall. My book is the first to cover his life in some detail, and includes extensive lists of his performances, songs and monologues. It is available in hardback, softback and ebook directly from Bear Manor Media and other outlets. See details here A review here

https://bearmanor-digital.myshopify.com/products/malcolm-scott-the-woman-who-knows-hardback 

The Lost World of Music Hall

    After several years and a number of false starts, my book about music hall has now been released. The Lost World of Music Hall is published by Bear Manor Media. It covers ten individuals who each represented some aspect of the national character during the heyday of the halls and the way they adapted to the many and rapid changes of the twentieth century. Among the names are Nellie Wallace, Lily Morris, Billy Bennett, Charlie Higgins and Norman Long. Several found a new lease of life on radio and others recorded extensively. Included is an in-depth discography and catalogues of the songs they sang but never committed to shellac. I hope the book stands as a fitting tribute to some forgotten stars and an introduction to the subject for those intrigued to know more about our entertainment past.

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 Alfred Lester "Always Merry and Bright"

One of the subjects of my forthcoming book The Lost World of Music Hall (Bear Manor Media, 2021). Excerpt below:

"Alfred Lester was a lugubrious comedian who avoided the jolly idiot approach and perfected the persona of the ultimate pessimist. It could be argued that he channelled the underlying fatalism of Music-Hall into his stage characters, although much of that outlook was decidedly his own. He found his greatest popularity in Britain on the revue stage from the Great War up until his sudden death in 1925. If he had been reincarnated as a film comedian it would have been one in the Buster Keaton mould. Unlike Keaton, Lester is almost completely forgotten and liable to remain so. However, he was a good example of a different type of comic approach and one who successfully straddled the music hall and revue stage, pointing the way forward for others."

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Lily Morris 

Much-loved Cockney Comedienne 

Lily Morris was one of the great Variety artistes who is celebrated in my forthcoming book, The Lost World of Music Hall (Bear Manor Media, 2021)

"Lily Morris was a great Cockney comedienne. On stage from childhood, she was something of a teenage phenomenon. She was a doyen of pantomime and enjoyed her greatest popularity on the variety stage in the immediate post-war era. In her prime she presented a blousy figure and had a great way with a song, in the tradition of Marie Lloyd, with whom she was often compared. Usually, Morris in character was one over the eight, and delivered her songs in a disarming way but they were true gems of social comment, and she did full justice to them."  

(From the introduction)

Above right: Lily in character, c1922. Left: A young Lily during her years as a pantomime favourite.

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Little Tich: Giant of the Music Hall

   Music Hall is probably unknown to a great proportion of the population now, in a country not genuinely interested in its own history. But even for those who don't know what it is, I would heartily recommend Little Tich: Giant of the Music Hall. Not only is it a perfect introduction to the era and subject, but one of the best biographies I have ever read. It is a warm-hearted, humorous and poignant story of a man who suffered a Dickensian childhood and became one of the greatest stars of his day.

    He was born with the deformity of six fingers on each hand and never stood taller than 4 ft 6 in. high. The sixteenth child of a 77-year-old Kent farmer, Tich danced for pennies on the bar of his parents' inn from infancy, and was regularly performing from the age of 12. He developed a uniquely droll humour which made him a greatly popular figure on stage in England and France. He proved hugely influential to succeeding generations of comedians including Charlie Chaplin and Jacques Tati.

    In reality Tich was a cultured individual who could speak several languages. Twice he was married and twice he was left in an apartment stripped of all its furniture with only a farewell note. His son was a shiftless personality who never found his place in the world. After all his personal troubles Tich finally found the love of a woman who really cared about him, albeit just before his premature death.

   The author writes with rare sensitivity with help from the daughter of the man himself. What emerges is a remarkably human portrait of a sadly forgotten talent and a piquant recreation of a time now irretrievably lost to us.

Little Tich: Giant of the Music Hall by Mary Tich and Richard Findlater with Foreword by Jacques Tati (London: Elm Tree Books, 1979)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Tich-Giant-Music-Hall-x/dp/0241101743/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489418442&sr=8-1&keywords=little+tich