MUSIC-HALL DITTIES

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

MUSIC-HALL DITTIES

THE accident of reading in a newspaper recently that George Robey, England's celebrated "Prime Minister of Mirth" was still being * inundated with requests for his old music hall song, "I Stopped and I Looked and I Listened," brought back memories to me, memories of another day when George and others sang the songs that were popular with music hall audiences all over the land. Well do I recall the famous comcdian singing the song mentioned. Like many hundreds of other" old favourites it is still remembered. Of course, we don't hear them sung from the stage, but quite a lot of them have been handed down to us per the medium of the gramophone record. As I read all about George Robey and his popular old song, the urge came to me to try and put down on paper my recollections of some of the many songs I heard and still remember from those far off days. Probably the first T can recall clearly is one that was. sung by the celebrated Marie Lloyd, entitled "Oh, Mr. Porter, What Shall I Do." Tt had a catchy little tune and the words,, although somewhat hackneyed, caught the public fancy. In case any of my readers may not remember the song and would like to have it recalled. 1 give here the lines of the chorus: — Oh. Mr. Porter, what shall I do, I wanted to so to Birmingham But you've taken me on to Crewe. Take me back to London As quickly as you can. Oh, Mr. Porter, what a silly girl I am. I wonder how many remember it? Speaking of Marie Lloyd. How many of my readers know that it was to this dashing little comedienne that the catch phrase "Let 'em All Come" was attributed. Whether the phrase suggested the song, or the song suggested the phrase, I don't know, but serio-comic singers quarrelled in the hospitable columns of "The Era" as to who originated it. Lottie Collins and Noel Coward Probably one of the most popular of the earlier music hall songs, was that never-to-be-forgottcsn ditty -sung by lottie Collins, namely, "Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay." It was sung, and whistled all over England and eventually found fame in other lands. It will be recalled that Noel Coward used this old favourite in one of his musical plays, and of course you can just imagine how he invested it with satire, by writing his own words to the popular old melody. Some of the most popular old songs were first featured in pantomime and Florrie Ford as principal boy was responsible for many of them. Marit Lloyd also prior to this, sang many old favourites when she appeared in role of the principal girl in panto. If my memory serves me well, Marie appeared in three Drury Lane pan-tomimes—"Humpty-Dumpty," "Little 80-Peep" and "Robinson Crusoe," in IS9I, 1892 and 1893. Her ambition to play principal boy was gratified a little later at a suburban house; but the. "Queen of Comedy" was not at her best in either character. Much, I recall, wa.» niade of the fact that her Drury Lamsalary was £100 a week.

' When Mr. Arthur Collins' produced "Tlie Sins of Society" at the Lane, he was very anxious to have Marie Lloyd P'ay the music hall heroine, opposite to Chevalier, but she declined—just as she declined revue, feeling, and rightly, that the music hall was her metier.

Getting back to tlie 6ongs, what a lot of lovely old ditties there were. Haphazard there come to my mind suca

Byi Frank Broad,

AN OLD " PRO." songs as, "The Tin Gce-Gce," "As 1 Was Strolling Down the Lowthcr Arcade, the Place for Children's Toys," "I'll Stick to the Ship Lads," Tom Costello's great number; and "Just Like the Ivy on the Old Garden Wall," sanj; so charmingly by that great music hall artist, Marie Kendall, and still sung today by'• folk all over the world. " The Blind Boy " Probably no song has ever captured the hearts of music hall audiences more surely, than that beautiful song which G. H. Cliirgwin never ceased to feature during his career on the halls, "TheBlind Boy." The story goes that this song was specially written for the whiteeyed Kaflir and dedicated to his ow.i son who was said to be blind. Whether this is true or not, is not really known, but it is true that this song never failed to bring the house down whenever it was sung by Cliirgwin. A ballad that always received a good hearing was "Skylark," Arthur Lennard's celebrated number; it was a very pathetic sonq and told the story of the little boy who "Asked the Angels to Tell Mother. to Come Back to Daddy and Me." Some of the «ongs of those.days were perhaps a little florid in their sentiments, but the majority of them never failed, to hit the mark. A song that is

still sung to-day and played by many dance, bands is that evergreen favourite ballad "In The Shade of the Old Apple Tree," although I believe the bands of to-day when featuring it refer to it .ts "The New Apple Tree." This song I first heard in pantomime, although it was also featured on the halls, and not by any one individual artist; for it seemed to be the property of all and" sundry. A contemporary of this number was "The . Good Old Summer. Time," featured by that colossal mountain of good humour, the late Burt Shcphard, he of "the white dress suit." I remember when 1 was about six years old being taken —as a great treat, of course—to see Albert Chevalier, that fine character actor-singer, who at the time was thrilling thousands with his rendition of "My Old Dutch." It left me in the seventh heaven of delight; the pathos, the simplicity of the words and the haunting melodj' all combined to make an ineffaceable impression. I have heard this song on several occasions since, but it never had the same effect upon me, probably because when we were children we were at an impressionable age. ' In addition to the great number of what we might term "human" serious songs there can lie mentioned many, many, songs in lighter vein, such as "Lily of Laguna," "Following Father's Footsteps," and that very old number, "If You Want to Know the Time, Ask a Policeman." All of these had their own individual''appeal. After all variety is the spice of lif& and it takes all kinds of songs to make us happy. You will remember no doubt that the vogue thirty or forty years

ago was for songs of the "story" kind, songs that told in no uncertain manner the story of someone or other. For the want of a better example, I would just quote the old song, "Two Little Girls in Blue," readers will know, the kind I mean. These songs were largely responsible for imich of the popularity of the old-time music liall performance;, and I notice that even to-day records are being made of them. Only the other day I heard one over the air; it was that heart-rending ballad, "Don't Send My Boy to Prison."

"Hiawatha "

Many of these songs were parodied by comedians of "the halls and their new versions were often the means of bringing down the house. I never forget -that lovely melody written by Neil -Morct in 1905—it was called "Hiawatha." I venture to say that this song was the butt of every parody, writer, but in spite this, it never lost its charm or popularity. About the same time we first heard that other tuneful little song, "Redwing"—remenVber the words?

Oh. the moon shines to-night on pretty Redwing * The breeze Is sighing, the niglitbirds crying, etc.. etc.

I am old-fashioned, I suppose, but I consider that with a few exceptions there is not the melody in present-day songs that there was in the songs of yesterday. Just lately, however, there appears to be a tendency to get back to the old type, and one I havc c in mind is that very pretty little modern song called "Sweet Genevieve." Please do not confuse it with the old ballad; it is quite a different song; it has a charming melody and a story in the words. One thing I am sure of and that is that there are thousands of musiclovers to-day who still thrill at the strains of an old-time song.