George Formby (born James Lawler Booth; 4 October 1875 – 8 February 1921) was an English comedian and singer in musical theatre, known as one of the greatest music hall performers of the early 20th century. His comedy played upon Lancashire stereotypes, and he was popular around Britain. His nickname, "The Wigan Nightingale", was coined because of the way he would use his bronchial cough as a comedic device in his act.
Formby was born into poverty in the industrial North West England; his mother was an alcoholic and part-time prostitute, and during much of his youth he was maltreated. To earn money he would sing for pennies on street corners, before he joined a singing duo in his teens. He began to develop his own act during the 1890s and built up a following in Lancashire. He also developed a series of stage characters, including that of "John Willie", which is described by the cultural historian Jeffrey Richards as "the archetypal gormless Lancashire lad ... hen-pecked, accident-prone, but muddling through." Formby also had a successful recording career and made the transition from music hall to revue in 1916.
His health had always been poor, but a stage accident in 1916 weakened Formby's lungs, and he suffered increasingly for the next few years, reducing his ability to perform. Tuberculosis and influenza—the latter contracted in the pandemic of 1918—weakened his constitution further, and he died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1921 at the age of 45. Formby's act, and one of his costumes and canes, inspired Charlie Chaplin in the formation of his character the Tramp. Formby's son also used parts of his father's act when starting his stage career and, once established, also changed his name to George Formby; Formby Jr went on to become the top British male star in box office takings between 1937 and 1943.
Biography
Early years: 1875–90
George Formby was born James Lawler Booth in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, on 4 October 1875. He was the illegitimate and only child of Sarah Jane Booth (c. 1856–1912), a poor, illiterate cotton weaver. His father, Francis Lawler, a coal miner, was not named on the birth certificate; six months after the birth of their son, the couple married, both aged about 19. Sarah worked as a prostitute; she was small, around tall, and sang in pubs in exchange for alcoholic drinks. She was convicted 140 times for offences that included theft, prostitution, drunkenness and brawling. The marriage was turbulent, and Formby was often neglected, mistreated and suffered malnourishment. Because Sarah was frequently absent from home, and often detained overnight at the local police station, Formby was regularly forced to sleep outside. As a result he developed asthma and became susceptible to bronchitis. In his later years he recalled that his "childhood was the most miserable as ever fell to the lot of a human creature".
Formby left formal education at the age of eight or nine, and did not learn to read until well into his teenage years. To earn money for the household, he sang on street corners for coppers; the family's poverty worsened when, in October 1890, Lawler died from pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 33. Formby secured a job at a cotton mill and spent two years as a loom builder. He supplemented his wages by singing in pubs, alehouses and free-and-easies, the last being places where informal arrangements were made for patrons to provide their own entertainment. Around this time he joined up with another boy to form an act, "the Glenray Brothers" (also "the Glen Ray Brothers"), which was profitable enough to have a manager; the act continued until Formby's boy soprano voice broke, after which the pair separated.
Burgeoning stage career: 1890–1902
Formby began to develop his own stage act during the 1890s, and built a large fan base in Lancashire. He devised several characters with their own costumes, and composed a series of comic songs. By 1896 his assignment book records that he was buying and collecting comic songs and securing the singing rights. He was billed as J.H. Booth until 1897, when he changed his stage name to George Formby. Although rumoured to have picked his new surname after seeing it as a destination on a railway carriage, the main sources agree this story is likely to be apocryphal. The origin of the Formby name is more likely to have been a suggestion from Dennis Clarke, the manager of the Argyle Theatre in Birkenhead, while George was chosen in honour of the music hall star George Robey. Formby first used his new stage name in Birkenhead in 1897.
One of the earliest characters Formby developed was "John Willie". Baz Kershaw, the professor of theatre, described the character as Formby's "onstage alter ego", while the cultural historian Jeffrey Richards describes Willie as "the archetypal gormless Lancashire lad in baggy trousers, tight jacket, and bowler hat, slow-talking, hen-pecked, accident-prone, but muddling through." His costume included ill-fitting clothes, large boots worn on the wrong feet, and a variety of hats; he would often carry a cane. In 1908 he lent one of his costumes to a young Charlie Chaplin when the latter was touring with Fred Karno's troupe; Chaplin also incorporated Formby's cane twirl and duck-like walk into his act.
In 1897 Formby met Martha Maria Salter, a 20-year-old music hall performer, and they married in her home town of Halifax in August. Little is known about Salter, although the 1901 census shows that she was still living with her parents. The marriage does not appear to have been successful, but according to Formby's biographers, Sue Smart and Richard Bothway Howard, there is no evidence of a divorce between the couple and no information relating to when the couple separated.
In 1897 or 1898 Formby was signed to appear at the Lyceum Theatre, Blackburn, supporting the magician Walford Bodie; a 40-week tour followed, with Formby earning 30 shillings a week. In 1898, while performing at the Wigan Empire as part of the tour, Formby met Eliza Hoy, the daughter of the Empire's cashier. The couple married in August the following year at Wigan Registry Office, although this marriage was bigamous because of his union two years previously with Salter. In the months after their marriage, Eliza persuaded Formby to join the Roman Catholic Church, which helped her parents overcome their initial distrust of him. Formby and Eliza had thirteen children, of whom seven survived: four daughters and three sons. The cultural historian David Bret states that Formby was "possessed of staggering consumptive virility", as the comedian also had several children with other partners. Eliza became an important figure in Formby's professional life, making his costumes and standing in the wings during his performances to help him. Eliza also continued working as a seamstress and would sell chips during lunchtimes to supplement the family's income.
London, and a growing reputation: 1902–16
In 1902 Formby performed for the first time in London, when he was booked by Ted Granville, the proprietor of the Royal Albert Music Hall in Canning Town, to appear for £3 a week; Granville subsequently became Formby's London agent. Eliza Formby later recounted that Belle Elmore, the wife (and later victim) of the murderer Dr Crippen, saw Formby perform, and was so impressed that she contacted Granville and told him to travel to Leeds to see the act. Formby soon transferred to the London Pavilion music hall, where he was immediately successful, and became "an idol of the town", according to The Times. His popularity increased when Marie Lloyd, the influential music hall singer and actress, said that she would only watch two acts: his and Dan Leno's. Lloyd recommended Formby to the proprietor of the Tivoli Music Hall, who gave the comedian a ten-week run. Robey was also impressed, and in 1905 he recommended Formby as the lead in a pantomime in Newcastle at a salary of £35 a week. He was able to command £325 a week by 1920.
After the Formbys had lost three daughters to early deaths, their first son, George Hoy Booth, was born in 1904. Although the boy was born unable to see owing to an obstructive caul, he gained his sight during a violent coughing fit or sneeze when he was a few months old. Over the course of 1904 Formby purchased the singing rights to 57 songs, more than his normal annual number of between 10 and 20; the average cost of his songs was around a guinea. Two years later he made his first recordings, on phonograph cylinders, for the Louis Sterling Cylinder Company, and in 1907 he signed a recording contract with Zonophone. He was one of the few performers who had no difficulties recording clearly with the primitive equipment, and he performed in a relaxed fashion for an invisible audience. He would sing his song and then talk to the listener using a variant of his normal stage patter. Some of those songs, such as "Playing the Game out West" and "Since I Parted my Hair in the Middle" have been identified by Dave Russell, the social historian, as "clever depictions of a provincial innocent let lose in the capital".
For much of January and February 1908 Formby appeared in various London music halls for which he received £20 a week. The following year, and staying in the capital, he played three halls a night in exchange for £45 a week. One such venue was the Tivoli with Lloyd and Little Tich as the headline acts. When not performing in London, Formby continued to tour the provincial music halls. In 1910 he again appeared at the Tivoli, and was reviewed in The Times, in which the reporter opined that Formby "becomes more of an artist the longer he sings". Later that year Formby recorded what would become his most famous song, "Standing at the Corner of the Street", which he also co-wrote. By 1913 his record sales were strong enough for him to negotiate a new recording contract worth £300 a year.
Formby's career received a further boost in July 1913 when he was one of seven acts to appear before George V and Queen Mary in a Royal Command Performance at Knowsley Hall, near Liverpool. The Times reported that Formby's "broad humour succeeded with unexpected ease, and their Majesties praised him very highly after the performance." Formby was embarrassed by his performance. His usual act partly consisted of a running patter with the orchestra conductor, which he again did on this occasion; behind the conductor sat the royal party, and it looked to some that Formby was speaking disrespectfully to them. The king understood to whom Formby was talking, however, and afterwards presented him with a tiepin. In October Formby appeared in his second Royal Command Performance of the year, in a charity show organised by the French actress Sarah Bernhardt. He took part in two acts: a performance of "Ten Little Nigger Boys All in a Row", alongside other music hall entertainers including Robey, Mark Sheridan, Cicely Courtneidge and George Graves, followed by a short solo piece.
In March 1914 Formby appeared in No Fool Like an Old Fool, a 20-minute-long silent comedy film, which is thought to be lost; it was his only film appearance, and little is known about the plot or his character. When the First World War broke out in August that year, he tried to enlist, but was turned down on medical grounds; instead he, like many music hall stars, was active in the recruiting campaign for the army and spoke at rallies, particularly on behalf of the Derby Scheme.