The original ‘Little Tich’

Press, 29 September 1979, Page 17

The original ‘Little Tich’

Little Tich: Giant of the Music Hall. By Mary Tich and Richard Findlater. Elm Tree Books, 1979. 158 pp. $17.10. (Reviewed by Stephen Erber) In 1854 Roger Tichborne, the eldest son of a baronet, was lost at sea. His mother refused to believe he was dead and in belated answer to an advertisement came Arthur Orton — the Tichborne Claimant who. in 1871, after 103 days of trial, lost his claim. Arthur Orton was fat. Harry Relph was also over-weight for his height, which was four feet six inches. He became known as Little Tich. In his time he was “first and foremost, both the least and the greatest".

Audiences loved him. They laughed They laughed because he was" so snort: because they had been waiting to laugh: because they had been drinking and because he was a great comic. Chaplin owes a debt to him. He was that good. He may have been a comic genius, but the word “genius” is a seriously devalued term, ruined for descriptive purposes by generations of publicity men. It is enough to say that for most of his highly successful 60

years of life his songs, dances (“Big Boots’’ in particular), and characterisation were so good as to put him at the very top of his profession. However, this book is by no means as good as its subject. It is written (by two people) in two parts, one part dealing with his career, and the other with his personal life. This division is a recipe for easy writing, but difficult reading, particularly where, as here, the direction of Tich’s career was in large measure influenced by his private concerns.

The first part is intelligently and tightly written. The second part is a boring account of what should have been highly interesting, because it concerns the secret private life of a very well-known public figure. There are duplications in both parts of the book, and they are not too accurate on occasions. Either Little Tich left the Australian tour in 1926 because of the boorish behaviour of the Adelaide audience (part 1) or of the Sydney audience (part 2). The book is really two books. One is good. The other, although a fond account, is indifferent.