George Formby - Fanlight Fanny (1935)

George Formby, Jr., (May 26,1904 - March 6,1961)


was an English singer and comedian, famous for playing the ukulele and performing a variety of light, comical songs. He would eventually become a popular star of stage and screen.

Formby was born in Wigan, Lancashire, as George Hoy Booth, the eldest of seven surviving children (four girls and three boys). His father (James Booth) was George Formby, Sr. (1875-1921) one of the great music hall comedians of his day, fully the equal of his son's later success.

On the death of his father in 1921, Formby abandoned his career as a jockey and started his own music hall career using his father's material. He allegedly took up the ukulele, for which he was later famous, as a hobby; he first played it on stage for a bet.

Formby endeared himself to his audiences with his cheeky Lancashire humour and folksy north of England persona. In film and on stage, he generally adopted the character of an honest, good-hearted but accident-prone innocent who used the phrases: "It's turned out nice again!" as an opening line; "Ooh, mother!" when escaping from trouble; and a timid "Never touched me!" after losing a fistfight.

What made him stand out, however, was his unique and often mimicked musical style. He sang comic songs, full of double entendre, to his own accompaniment on the banjolele, for which he developed a catchy musical syncopated style that became his trademark. Some of his best-known songs were written by Noel Gay. Some of his songs were considered too rude for broadcasting.

George Formby had been making phonograph records as early as 1926; his first successful records came in 1932 with the Jack Hylton Band, and his first sound film Boots! Boots! in 1934 (Formby had appeared in a sole silent film in 1915). The film was successful and he signed a contract to make a further 11 with Associated Talking Pictures, earned him a then-astronomical income of £100,000 per year. Between 1934 and 1945 Formby was the top comedian in British cinema, and at the height of his movie popularity

Formby appeared in the 1937 Royal Variety Show, and entertained troops with ENSA in Europe and North Africa during World War II. He received an OBE in 1946. He had received a Stalin Prize in 1944, prompted by the popularity of his films in the USSR. His most popular film, and still regarded as probably his best, is the espionage comedy Let George Do It.

Formby suffered his first heart attack in 1952. His wife Beryl died of leukaemia on 24 December 1960 and he planned to marry Pat Howson, a 36-year-old schoolteacher, in the spring of 1961. However he had a second heart attack before then and died in hospital on 6 March 1961.


George Formby - Fanlight Fanny (1935)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• George
• Formby
• 30's

[randomdave30]

@GenericGene Could he play the ukelele wearing boxing gloves?

[leeperryismerry]

can't find it online?

[GenericGene]

I think their are one of the same - Formby was a pro boxer -

[leeperryismerry]

Boxer = George Foreman

Musician = George Formby

[roybo1930]

Not Only Are The Lyrics Great!! But The Tune Is Just Awsome. Thank You For Posting.

[GenericGene]

Some would relate George Formby and think of the famous boxer, this is a great post of the entertainer, the info details are superb - Gene