POPULAR COMEDIAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 182, 3 August 1929, Page 9

POPULAR COMEDIAN.

Body Found In Scrub Near N.S.W. Beach. SUICIDE SUSPECTED. 'I , SYDNEY, August 2. Members of the theatrical profession and listeners-in throughout Australia received a shock, to-day when they learned of the tragic death of Mr. Jack Cannot, a popular comedian. His body was discovered by the police in the scrub on Maroubra Beach. A packet, containing remnants of a poisonous drug was found in, one of deceased's pockets. His widow received a letter from him telling her where his body would be found. Mr. Cannot played the "dame" in several pantomimes. More recently he had been a broadcasting artist.

Like many. other noted comedians Mr. Jack Cannot's early ambitions on the stage .were towards the serious side. It was not until he' went, to Australia just before the Great Waiv that his flair for burlesque was discovered and given an opportunity to develop. Mr. Cannot was about 45 years of age. He made his debut to an Australian audience under the aegis of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., who brought him from England to be the baritone in • "Gipsy Love." When it was found that he was really a comedian, Williamson's billed him as such, and he became an outstanding success. He then turned to pantomine, and to many of the younger generation of New Zealand and Australian theatre-goers he was the "dame" by whom all others were judged. Mr. Cannot had appeared many times in Auckland. He was last here in 1925. in "Whirled Into Happiness", and "Leave It To Jane." ; .