References, Acknowledgments, and Contact Information |
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References Ackroyd, Peter. London: The Biography. London: Chatto & Windus, 2000. Andrews, Frank, and Ernie Bayly. Billy Williams’ Records: A Study in Discography. Bournemouth, UK: Talking “The ANZAC tenor.” North-Western Advocate and Emu Bay Times (Tasmania), 18 April 1917, p. 1. “The Aragon: Last scene on torpedoed troopship — every man for himself.” Western Gazette, 15 February 1918, Arthur, Max. When This Bloody War Is Over: Soldiers’ Songs of the First World War. London: Piatkus, 2001. Baker, Richard Anthony. British Music Hall: An Illustrated History. London: Pen and Sword, 2014 e-book. “Bare leg dancing taboo.” Falkirk Herald, 6 November 1926, p. 10. Behr, Edward. The Good Frenchman: The True Story of the Life and Times of Maurice Chevalier. New York: Villard Bishop, W.J. “Song Writers’ Parade.” The Era, 15 April 1937. p. 19. “‘Blighty’ again: Jap horrors behind them.” Western Morning News, 9 October 1945, p. 2. “British in Turkey: Battalion of our men landed at Constantinople.” Birmingham Gazette, 25 November 1918, p. 3. Burgess, Muriel, with Tommy Keen. Gracie Fields. London: W.H. Allen, 1980. “Burma leave men home.” Gloucestershire Echo, 15 November 1945, p. 1. “Burnley amusements.” Burnley News, 4 November 1914, p. 3. “By the Way.” Globe and Traveller, 27 December 1907, p. 1; 9 May 1908, p. 1; 16 October 1908, p. 1; 13 January Chiderdoss, Doss. “Around the Halls and Suburban Theatres.” Sporting Times, 1 March 1913, p. 9. “City amusements,” Daily Record and Mail [Glasgow], 17 February 1915, p. 3. “Conservative van at Chard: Fireworks at an al fresco meeting.” Chard & Ilminster News, 16 October 1909, p. 2. “Costume banned.” Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 1 November 1926, p. 4. “Coventry entertainments.” Coventry Evening Telegraph, 27 October 1914, p. 4. “Coventry soldier missing; Germans sing ragtime.” Coventry Herald, 15 January 1915, p. 2. “Crowds wait in street for Formby.” Sydney Morning Herald, 27 September 1947, p. 3. “District news,” Devon and Exeter Gazette, 23 January 1914. “Doom of the Bunny Hug.” Yorkshire Evening Post, 13 August 1912. “Election spirit.” Scotsman, 27 March 1929, p. 11. “The Empress, Brixton.” The Stage, 10 June 1915, p. 15. “Entertainments.” Liverpool Echo, 24 February 1914, p. 7. “A favourite song.” Sheffield Weekly Telegraph, 19 May 1917, p. 10. Felstead, S. Theodore. Stars Who Made the Halls: A Hundred
Years of English Humour, Harmony and Hilarity. “Footlight Flashes.”The Era, 30 August 1922, p. 20; 16 May 1923, p. 24. “Forty years of comic song.” Eastbourne Gazette, 31 August 1949, p. 8. “Freak dances doomed.” Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 12 August 1912. “From Clipstone to France.” Mansfield Reporter, 28 January 1915, p. 5. Gammond, Peter. The Good Old Days Songbook: Sixty Songs from the Golden Age of Music Hall. London: British ———. Music Hall Songbook: A Collection of
45 of the Best Songs from 1890–1920.
London: David and Charles; ———. The Oxford Companion to Popular Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. ———. Your Own, Your Very Own! A Music Hall Scrapbook. London: Ian Allan, 1971. “Gay scenes on eve of royal wedding.” Sunday Post, 26 February 1922, p. 16. Giddens, Gary. Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star — The War Years, 1940–1946. New York: Little, Brown, 2018. “Gossip of the day: The winning strain,” Yorkshire Evening Post, 22 December 1916, p. 4. “Gracie makes the boys cheer.” Aberdeen Journal, 1 May 1940, p. 4. High, Steven. One Job Town: Work, Belonging, and Betrayal in Northern Ontario. Toronto; University of Toronto Honri, Peter. Working the Halls: The Honris in One Hundred Years of British Music Hall. London: Futura, 1974. “How songs make the stars.” Arrow (Sydney, Australia), 1 February 1918; article reprinted from The Era. “How Xmas was spent at the front: Letter from a Bournemouth sapper,” Bournemouth Guardian, 2 January 1915, p. 6. “It’s a great day for veteran.” Truth (Sydney, Australia), 6 November 1949, p. 2. Johnston, Esme. “‘Marriage is real fun’ say George and Beryl Formby.” Melbourne Weekly Times, 31 December “Kensitites shouted down.” Derbyshire Courier, 8 March 1913. Kilgarriff, Michael, Sing Us One of the Old Songs: A Guide to Popular Song, 1860–1920. Oxford: Oxford “Latest films.” The Stage, 23 February 1911, p. 9. “Leonard Barry, an Anglo-French Comedian.” Music Hall and Theatre Review, 24 February 1910, p. 125. Libby, Frederick. Horses Don’t Fly: A Memoir of World War I. New York: Arcade, 2000. “The Listener.” Yorkshire Evening Post, 6 June 1931, p. 5. Lomas, Terence. “Final Call.” Call Boy [British Music Hall Society] 22, no. 2 (1985): 7. “London Variety Theatres.” The Era, 19 February 1910, p. 21. Luff, David. Mollison, the Flying Scotsman: The Life of Pioneer
Aviator James Allan Mollison. Washington,
DC: Mander, Raymond, and Joe Mitchenson. British Music Hall: A Story in Pictures. London: Studio Vista, 1965. Marriott, R.B. “Epic of Tin Pan Alley.” The Era, 14 May 1937, p. 17. Mellor, G.J. The Northern Music Hall. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Frank Graham, 1970. “Melodyland.” The Era, 20 September 1916, p. 14; 1 November 1916, p. 14. “Messrs. B. Feldman’s Songs.” The Era, 16 December 1914, p. 20. “Messrs. Feldman’s Songs.” The Era, 14 December 1907, p. 25. “‘Molly O’Morgan,’ Irish girl whose romance inspired a song.” Nottingham Evening Post, 21 February 1929. “Mrs Pankhurst ragged by lively Cardiff students, who answer her remarks in chorus.” Courier (Dundee), “The Music-Hall World.” Entr’acte, 13 December 1906, p. 7. “The Musical Kiosk.” The Era, 12 July 1916, p. 19. “Nuts and wine: Gossip for the after-dinner hour.” Sunday Mirror, 3 February 1918, p. 8. “Obituary [of C.W. Murphy].” Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer, 20 June 1913, p. 7. “Operation successfully completed, Sir.” Daily Mirror, 31 August 1942, p. 4. “Our Portrait Gallery.” The Era, 22 February 1922, p. 20. Palmer, Roy. What A Lovely War!: British Soldiers Songs
from the Boer War to the Present Day. London: “Pantomime News.” Music Hall and Theatre Review, 14 December 1911, p. 790. “Perth-London air service has started.” Coventry Evening Telegraph, 11 August 1955, p. 22. Pulling, Christopher. They Were Singing (And What They Sang About). London: George G. Harrap,1952. Quilliam, Norman. “Remembering Fred Barnes.” Call Boy [British Music Hall Society] 31, no. 4 (1995): 16. “Rambles round-about.” Yorkshire Evening Post, 1 November 1919. Randall, Alan, and Ray Seaton. George Formby: A Biography. London: W.H. Allen, 1974. “Repatriated prisoners.” Scotsman, 24 April 1943. Rose, Clarkson. “Peradventure: Being More Leaves from a Pro’s Log Book.” The Stage, 3 February 1938, p. 2. “Round the halls: Billy Williams at the Hippodrome.”Yorkshire Evening Post, 22 July 1913, p. 3. “Rowdyism in Arbroath streets: Parade of young lads at police court.”Arbroath Herald, 2 February 1917, p. 5. Rust, Brian. British Music Hall on Record. Harrow, UK: Gramophone, 1979. ———. The Complete Entertainment Discography from the Mid-1890s to 1942.
With Allen G. Debus. New Rust, Brian, and Sandy Forbes. British Dance Bands on Record, 19111945. Harrow, UK: General Ryan, Brendan. George Formby, A Catalogue of His Work. Dublin: George Formby Society, [1986]. ———. “Songsmiths to George Formby: Harry Gifford and Fred E. Cliffe.” Call Boy [British Music Hall “‘The Scribes’ at Dinner.” The Era, 26 October 1907, p. 23. “Shells, shells, shells: The omnipresent cry.” Western Daily Press (Bristol), 18 June 1915. “Sleeping in chalk trenches: Territorials’ stiff training.” Derbyshire Courier, 20 October 1914. “Song Notes.” The Stage, 26 February 1914, p. 30; 26 March 1914, p. 28; 7 May 1914, p. 20; 28 May 1914, p. 19; “Songs of pier and prom: Refrains we’ll all be singing at the seaside this year.” Dundee Courier, 9 June 1919, p. 8. “Songs, Writers, and Singers.” The Era, 16 February 1907, p. 22; 2 November 1907, p. 25; 26 February 1910, p. 24; “The Star Co.’s Songs.” The Era, 2 February 1916, p. 7; 5 July 1916, p. 18; 9 August 1916, p. 16. “Star Music Co.’s New Premises.” The Era, 27 August 1910, p. 23. “Star Music Co.’s Songs.” The Era, 26 July 1916, p. 19. “Swansea Bankruptcy Court.” South Wales Daily News, 20 August 1892, p. 6; 29 October 1892, p. 6. “Talking machine news.” Bedfordshire Times and Independent, 13 May 1910, p. 11. “This season’s pantomime songs.” Dundee Courier, 19 December 1928, p. 6. “Variety Gossip.” The Era, 27 February 1909, p. 22; 13 September 1916, p. 16. “Variety Gossip.” The Stage, 10 October 1907, p. 15; 10 October 1912, p. 16; 12 November 1914, p. 13; 18 March “War songs and their writers. Sunday Times (Perth, Australia), 15 October 1933, p. 11; reprinted from the London Ward, Dorothy. Live, love and laugh. Daily Sketch (London), 10 May 1932, p. 10. Watters, Eugene, and Matthew Murtagh. Infinite Variety: Dan
Lowreys Music Hall 1879–97. Dublin: Gill
and “The ‘Wonder Song’ Of The Year.” The Era, 8 October 1913, p. 24. Wortman, Chris. “Leslie Sarony.” Call Boy [British Music Hall Society] 22, no. 2 (1985): 5. “Wounded at the Dardanelles.” Middlesex Chronicle, 12 June 1915. “Xmas pantomime.” Western Morning News (Bristol), 27 December 1918, p. 6. “‘Yachting’ in the trenches.” Thanet Advertiser, 28 August 1915, p. 5.
Image Sources All images are from the authors collection unless otherwise identified. Due diligence has been exercised in attempting to obtain reproduction permissions. Any remaining violations of copyrighted material are unintentional and will be rectified upon request of the copyright owners.
Acknowledgments For Christmas 1981, two of my mother’s friends, Pete Levenstone and Trevor Gould, gave me a dusty 78 rpm shellac disc theyd found in a flea market in Lachute, Quebec. It had a bright blue and gold Columbia label and looked to be quite old. On one side was a song called The Kangaroo Hop; on the other was Its A Grand Old Song Is Home Sweet Home. What interested me, however, was that both songs listed one of the composers as Godfrey. I knew neither the songs nor the singer, Billy Williams. But I did know that my grandfather had been a songwriter in Britain long ago. The family had always sung a handful of his most famous numbers at Christmas gatherings and the like, and my mother, his youngest daughter Peggie, would point out a song of his if it appeared in a television program. Beyond that, I knew little, and in any event I was more interested in the music of my own time I was, and remain, an avid Beatles fan. But, I wondered, if an old disc containing not one but two of my grandfathers songs could turn up in a French-speaking town in southwestern Quebec, of all places, what other relics of the mans career must exist out there? Thus began the search that has led to this website. My thanks, first of all, to Pete and Trevor, wherever you are, for your serendipitous find. I am also indebted to the many collectors, discographers, and researchers in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, the United States, and Japan who have been so generous with their time, their knowledge, and in some cases even their treasured relics of a bygone era. Sadly, some of them have now passed on, but they are far from forgotten. In particular, I thank Frank Andrews, who let me look through his voluminous research notes at his home in North London and fed me when I needed sustenance; his discographical partner Ernie Bayly, who travelled up to London from Bournemouth and showed me where the English recording industry started; Colin Bray, musician and devotee of the Cockney Music Hall singers; Terry Brown, for his archaeological expertise in unearthing long-lost obscure references to Fred Godfrey; Peter Burgis, former head of the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra, Australia, who was a constant source of information and encouragement for more than two decades; music historian Peter Gammond; record finder extraordinaire Jack Parsons; Quentin Riggs, one of the worlds greatest Billy Williams collectors; discographer Brian Rust; John Rutherford, who introduced me to the Canadian Antique Phonograph Society; Brendan Ryan, who welcomed me into his home in Dublin and infected me with his enthusiasm for that odd-looking ukulele player and film star, George Formby Jr.; and Gart T. Westerhout, who alerted me to the beautiful Bamforth song cards of the First World War era and their illustrated lyrics of many Godfrey songs. Thanks also to Richard Mangan of the Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection, the Max Miller Appreciation Society, the staff of the Music section at the British Library, the British Film Institute, the National Library of Australia, the Public Records Office (Kew), and Angelica Antal, keeper of a marvellous, though sadly now-defunct, website on Music Hall star Mark Sheridan. I must also acknowledge the late, legendary Jim Walsh, long-time contributor to Hobbies magazine, whose kindness and interest in the story of my grandfather’s songs opened valuable doors and made me think that this research project was both possible and worthwhile in the first place. Finally, a million thanks and much love to my wife Laurie, who has cheerfully endured my many hours at the computer and who has probably heard quite enough about old FG by now!
Reproduced here is a letter given to me by my grandfather, Fred Godfrey, on the occasion of my first birthday. He died in February 1953, before I was old enough to know him. Our family emigrated to Canada at the end of that year, and I was in my early thirties before I began to realize the extent of my grandfather’s contribution to British popular music of the early twentieth century. By then, virtually all of his collaborators and the stars who sang his songs had passed on, making it a challenge to piece together the story of his life and work. In his book, One Job Town: Work, Belonging, and Betrayal in Northern Ontario (University of Toronto Press, 2018), Steven High notes that “‘amateur’ historians or ‘collectors’...are said to produce flawed research that is sentimental, celebratory, excessively detailed, or lacking in analysis.” I plead guilty on all counts — I leave it to the “real” historians to make of this research what they will. And in case you were wondering, neither I nor any other relative or descendant of Fred Godfrey’s now owns the rights to his songs or receives any royalties whatsoever. My grandfather’s gift allowed him to create happiness for his generation — that is treasure enough. Just as the flickering images of a Chaplin film or Pathé newsreel evoke the era visually, so the songs of Fred Godfrey and all the other writers, most now forgotten, help us to know what it sounded like so long ago. To borrow from the title of Christopher Pulling’s classic memoir of the Music Halls, “they were singing”; thanks for giving them voice, Grandpa, and I love you, too.
Additions, corrections, and comments are most welcome. Please contact: Barry A. Norris |
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