Early British Comedy

George Robey and ‘Little Tich’

After Dan Leno’s early death in 1904 there were two main contenders for his cinematic crown, fellow music hall stars George Robey and Little Tich.

George Robey (1869-1954) born George Edward Wade in London England, the son of an engineer, forced to leave Cambridge University due to financial problems. Robey intended to follow his father’s footsteps after leaving Cambridge but found his way onto the stage. Known as ‘The Prime Minister Of Mirth’ Robey made many sound recordings of his comic songs and several films in his long career, not only comedies, he also played Falstaff in Lawrence Olivier’s Henry V (1944) a role he had played in the straight theatre. His music hall character was a somewhat saucy country parson with big black eyebrows. Robey appeared in several shorts in the teens as well as more substantial productions for Stoll in the twenties, his career and popularity even spilled over into the television era.

‘Little Tich’ was also after Leno’s crown. ‘Little Tich’ was the stage name of Harry Relph (1867-1928), a minuscule man whose image, in slap shoes almost as long as himself doing his Big Boot Dance, is unforgettable. He would dance on the tips of the shoe’s toes or lean so far forward on the flats of his feet that his nose almost touched the floor, he sat on the ground, shoes straight up imitating scissors and demented windscreen wipers, the boots also made a good place for Little Tich to hang his hat. Little Tich, mainly known for his character sketches and the Big Boot Dance, which was filmed with, synchronised sound specifically to show at the Paris Exposition of 1900, was popular across Europe.

Not only male comedians and headliners were appearing on screen, Marie Lloyd, the most famous of women performers of the era, also had her moment in front of the camera for both Charles Urban in 1909 and Magnet in 1913.