Some Stage Stories

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6850, 4 March 1929, Page 4

Some Stage Stories

Charles Cohum Recalls Old-Time Music-Hall Ballads HO have been a popular comedian for half a century is itself an achievement. To have been the creator of those two music-hall classics, “Two Lovely Black Eyes” and “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo” is almost fame! They have been hummed and whistled and sung in every part of the globe; the Salvation Army has used the air of one for a hymn tune; an organist in Australia adapted the other as a church voluntary! Now their creator, Mr. Charles Coborn, at the age of 75, looks back upon his long association with the variety profession, and in his book, “The Man Who Broke the Bank,” gives us what amounts to an abridged history of the modern music-hall. His real name is Colin Whitton McCullum—he took the stage name of Coborn from Coborn Road. No one can fail to be interested in the account of his rise from the obscurity of public-house concert rooms, “busking” days and poorly-paid provincial engagements to West End triumphs. Resource He tells a good story of an actor who was escaping from a prison and who should have been shot by a sentry. The gun, however, would not go off. Grasping the situation and his throat at the same time, he gasped; “Heavens! What have I done? I have swallowed the file!” And thereupon he fell lifeless to the ground! There is a good story, too. of Queen Victoria. A military band was performing on the terrace of Windsor Castle, and one of the tunes so pleased her that she sent a Lady-in-Waiting to request its repetition. She then sent to ascertain the name of the melody. “When the Lady-in-Waiting returned she appeared to be reluctant to give the information. However, she was pressed to answer, and accordingly announced that the song was entitled ‘Come where the booze is cheaper.’ Her Majesty, it was said, ‘seemed troubled and perplexed.’ And I do not wonder.”