George Formby
George Formby (1904-1961)
was a comedian famous for the many songs that he performed
with his ukulele-banjo. These songs were supplied by
various writers, but typically adhered to a
formula that combined topical humour, double entendre, and catchy
tunes, with a general spirit of
cheerfulness in keeping with the friendly, Lancashire 'lad-next-door'
character that Formby played.
George Formby
snr.
George Formby jnr.
Born in Wigan, Lancashire on 26 May, 1904,
George was the eldest child of Eliza Ann Hoy and
James Booth, who was a music hall comedian using the stage name
George Formby.
The young George forwent his school
education, being sent by his father to train as a jockey, but
when George snr. died in 1921 at the age of 45, George jnr. took
to the stage, performing a poor
imitation of his father's act. However, his fortunes began
to change in 1924 when he married Beryl
Ingham, and they improved further in 1925 when he introduced the
ukulele into his act. He made his
first recordings with the instrument in 1929 by which time he had
begun to develop his own individual
style of playing. George adopted the ukulele's more
powerful counterpart, the ukulele-banjo, and the
instrumental solos in his songs became famously popular.
Between 1934 and 1946 he starred in twenty-
one films, being the biggest British box-office draw for six
consecutive years (from 1938 to 1943).
Throughout World War II, George, with Beryl
constantly at his side, toured France, Italy, India, North
Africa and the Middle East with the Entertainments National
Service Association (ENSA), sometimes
giving as many as eight performances a day. He also
entertained factory workers around Britain. For
these morale-boosting tours and his war effort he was awarded the
OBE in 1946, by which time,
incidentally, he had recorded over 200 songs.
In the post-war years, the Formbys toured
Australia and New Zealand, Scandinavia and Canada, and
in 1951 George took the West End by storm as the star of a new
musical Zip Goes A Million at the
Palace Theatre. Beryl died on Christmas Day 1960 and George
died on 6 March, 1961, leaving comic
and musical legacies that are still enjoyed by his fans today.
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