Dan Leno was a star of the music halls in the 1880s and known
as the ‘Funniest Man on Earth’. He was also one of the most
popular pantomime dames of the 1890s. Born in 1860 his real
name was George Galvin and, like many music hall performers,
his parents were also on the halls. His first performance was
at the Cosmotheca Music Hall in Paddington, London where he
was billed as ‘Little George, the Infant Wonder, Contortionist
and Posturer’.
He became known as a clog dancer, travelling the halls around
the country, often giving twenty shows a night in different
taverns. In 1880 he became World Champion Clog Dancer and won
a silver belt. The judges sat under the stage and listened to
the beats.
His clog dancing didn’t go down so well with audiences in
London and he turned instead to developing his comedy routine.
Leno
developed a rambling character monologue as part of his comic
song where he would talk directly to the audiences. He managed
to evoke a whole gallery of characters based on minute observation,
which conjured up the street life of London, where people
gossiped
on their doorsteps and through open windows.
Leno claimed that the characters in his songs were all founded
on real people; the talkative old woman, the
Beefeater with more interest in
the refreshment room than history, the chatty shopkeeper. One
of his most famous monologues was
the neighbour gossiping about the imaginary Mrs Kelly. ‘Mrs
Kelly, you know Mrs Kelly’. But all his comedy was tinged
with
pathos - like many of his audience, he was the little man, and his
comedy was an out pouring of deep grievances.
In 1886 Leno played the dame in Jack and the Beanstalk
at the Surrey Theatre. Such was his success that
Augustus Harris hired him as dame at Drury
Lane for the 1888 production of Babes in the Wood.
He became one of the greatest and most popular of all pantomime
dames and continued to play during the Christmas season at Drury
Lane for the next 15 years.
Leno’s nickname, ‘the King’s Jester’, came after he appeared
before Edward VII at Sandringham House in Norfolk in 1901. He
died after a nervous breakdown at the age of 42. He had performed
almost daily for 36 years of his life.
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