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George Formby

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'''George Formby''' (May 26, 1904 - March 6, 1961) was a Britain British singer and comedian who became a major star of both film cinema and music hall. Formby was born in Wigan, Lancashire, as George Hoy Booth, the eldest of seven children (four girls and three boys). His father (born James Booth) was George Formby (Senior) (1875-1921) one of the great music hall comedians of his day, fully the equal of his son's later success. His father not wishing him even to watch his performances, he was apprenticed as a jockey when he was seven and rode his first professional race at ten when he weighed less than four stone. On the death of his father in 1921, Formby abandoned his career as a jockey and started his own music hall career using his father's material. He originally called himself George Hoy (Hoy being his mother's maiden name). In 1924 he married dancer Beryl Ingham, who managed his career (and it is said his personal life to an intolerable degree - see biographies below) until her death in 1960. He allegedly took up the ukulele, for which he was later famous, as a hobby and first played it on stage for a bet. George Formby endeared himself to his audiences with his cheeky Lancashire humour and folksy Northern England persona. In film and on stage, he generally adopted the character of an honest, good-hearted but accident-prone innocent. What made Formby stand out, however, was his unique and often mimicked musical style. He sang comic songs, full of double entendre, to his own accompaniment on the ukulele, for which he developed a catchy syncopated style which became his trademark. Some of his best-known songs were written by Noel Gay. He made his first record in 1932 with the Jack Hylton Band, and his first film movie ''Boots! Boots!'' in 1934. The film was successful and he signed a contract to make a further 11 with Associated Talking Pictures, earned him a then-astronomical income of £100,000 per year. A subsequent contract with Columbia Pictures earned him a further £500,000. For six years between 1934 and 1945 Formby was the top box-office attraction in British cinema. He appeared in the 1937 Royal Variety Show, and entertained troops with Entertainments National Service Association ENSA in Europe and North Africa during World War II. He received an Order of the British Empire OBE in 1946. He had received a Stalin Prize in 1944, prompted by the popularity of his films in the USSR. His most popular film, and still regarded as probably his best, is the espionage comedy ''Let George Do It'', in which he is a member of a concert party, takes the wrong ship by mistake during a blackout, and finds himself in Norway as a secret agent. A dream sequence in which he hits Hitler on the nose and addresses him as a 'windbag' is one of the most enduring moments of film comedy ever. Formby suffered his first heart attack in 1951. His wife died of leukaemia on 24 December 1960 and Formby planned to marry Pat Howson, a 36-year-old schoolteacher, in the spring of 1961. However he had a second heart attack before then and died in hospital on 6 March 1961. He was buried in the family grave in Warrington Cemetry, with an estimated 100,000 mourners lining the streets on the day of the funeral. '''Selected Songs''' *"Auntie Maggie's Remedy" *"Chinese Laundry Blues" *"The Isle of Man" *"The Window Cleaner" *"Leaning on a Lamppost" *"With my Little Ukulele in my Hand" *"With my Little Stick of Blackpool Rock" *"Mother What'll I do Now" *"Mr Woo's A Window Cleaner Now" *"Our Sergeant Major" '''Filmography''' * ''Boots! Boots!'' * ''Off The Dole'' * ''The Song That Made A Star'' * ''No Limit'' * ''Keep Your Seats Please'' * ''Feather Your Nest'' * ''Keep Fit'' * ''I See Ice'' * ''It's in the Air It's In The Air'' * ''Trouble Brewing'' * ''Come On George'' * ''Let George Do It'' * ''Spare A Copper'' * ''Turned Out Nice Again'' * ''South American George'' * ''Much Too Shy'' * ''Get Cracking'' * ''He Snoops To Conquer'' * ''Bell Bottom George'' * ''I Didn't Do It'' * ''George in Civvy Street''

External links

- The Guardian: Naughty but nice (George Formby by David Bret)
- 'Ukulele king' Formby dies (BBC News)
- The George Formby Society
- homage to Mancunian Films Category:1904 births Formby, George Category:1961 deaths Formby, George Category:English comedians Formby, George Category:English film actors Formby, George fr:George Formby nl:George Formby

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