my name is steve and you're watching the original life and sad ending channel
george formby was born george hoy booth in wigan county of lancashire england on may 26 1904. his
parents were james lawler booth and his wife eliza george's father was a very successful music hall
comedian and singer who performed under the name george formby now known as george formby senior
formby senior suffered from a lung condition thought to be asthma bronchitis or tuberculosis he
would use his coughing as part of the humor in his act in 1906 formby senior was earning 35 pounds a
week which rose to 325 pounds a week by 1920 hence the young george grew up in a somewhat well-to-do
home george was removed from school at the age of seven and sent to become a stable boy in middleham
england formby senior sent a son away to work as he was worried george would watch him
on stage and he was against the boy following in his footsteps after a year work he was apprenticed
as a jockey at epsom where he ran his first professional races at the age of 10. later in
1915 because of the first world war forum be moved to ireland where he continued as a jockey until
november of 1918. later that month he returned to england and continued working as a jockey
until 1921 although he never won a race sadly on february 8 1921 george's father george formby
senior died from his lung condition he was only 45 years old he was buried in warrington cemetery
after his father's funeral eliza his mother took the young formby to london to help him cope with
his grief while there they visited the victoria palace theater where form b senior had previously
been so successful they saw a performance by the comedian tommy dixon dixon was performing a copy
of formby seniors act using the same songs jokes costumes and mannerisms and billed himself as the
new george formby the performance prompted formby to follow in his father's profession a decision
which was supported by eliza as he had never seen his father perform live formby found the imitation
difficult and had to learn his father's songs from records and the rest of the acting jokes from his
mother in 1921 formby gave his first performance in the show he was billed as george hoy
using his mother's maiden name he explained later that he did not want the form be named to appear
in small print his father's name was used in the posters in advertising george hoy being described
as comedian son of george formby of course george was not his father and was often booed and his dad
in 1923 formby started to play the ukulele in banjo ukulele and he introduced them into his
act and changed his stage name to george formby while touring he met beryl ingham
a champion clogged dancer and actress forum b and barrel married two years later in 1924
barrel took over as george's manager and changed aspects of his act including the songs and jokes
she instructed him on how to use his hands and how to work the audience
she also persuaded him to take lessons in how to play the ukulele properly by 1932 formby signed a
three-year deal with deca records one of the songs he recorded was chinese laundry blues
telling the story of mr wu which became one of his standard songs and part of a long-running series
of songs about the character over the course of his career formby went on to record over 230 songs
with formby success on stage barrel decided in 1934 it was time for him to move into films
his first movie was boots boots form b followed this up with off the dole in 1935.
the financial success of the pictures led to formby being given a seven-year contract which
resulted in the production of 11 films where he played sort of a carefree lancashire lad among
them were no limit and keep your seats please that movie had the song when i'm cleaning windows
which was soon banned by the bbc because of the sexually suggestive lyrics however in may 1941
beryl informed the bbc that the song was a favorite of the royal family the bbc
relented and started to broadcast the song many other films followed such as feather your nest
keep fit in 1937 i see ice it's in the air come on george and turned out nice again among many others
also he had many popular songs including leaning on a lamppost
with my little stick of blackpool rock and in my little snapshot album just to name a few
formby tried to enlist for active military service however the examining board rejected
him as being unfit for medical reasons he instead toured and entertained the troops extensively
he also gave many free and charity concerts to help with the war effort he was awarded the obe
officer of the order of british empire in the 1946 kings birthday honors list for his services to the
forces during world war ii george formby's film and recordings popularity waned through the late
1940s and 1950s though he was still a huge draw on the shows and concerts he gave a heavy smoker
for me started to have health issues and suffered bouts of depression his wife beryl also had been
diagnosed with cancer and was given a short time to live form b's final televised performance was a
35 minute bbc program the friday show it aired on december 16 1960 beryl's illness was worsening on
christmas eve 1960 two hours before the premiere of his new stage show aladdin formby received a
phone call from beryl's doctor saying she was in a coma and was not expected to survive the night
formby went through with the performance and was told early the next morning that barrel had died
on valentine's day 1961 just seven weeks after beryl's death formby and a 36 year old school
teacher announced their engagement eight days later he suffered a heart attack and sadly he
died in preston england three weeks later on march 6 1961. he was only 56 years old formby was buried
alongside his father in warrington cemetery with over 150 000 mourners lining the route
shortly after formby's death a small group of fans formed the george formby society which had
its first meeting at the imperial hotel blackpool beetle george harrison was a fan of formby and
also a member of the society if you enjoyed this presentation please consider subscribing
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