Charles Coborn
Charles Coborn | |
---|---|
Born | Colin Whitton McCallum 4 August 1852 Stepney, London, England |
Died | 23 November 1945 London, England | (aged 93)
Occupation(s) | Music hall singer and comedian |
Colin Whitton McCallum (4 August 1852 – 23 November 1945), known by his stage name Charles Coborn, was a British music hall singer and comedian. During a long career, Coborn was known largely for two comic songs: "Two Lovely Black Eyes", and "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo."
Biography
He was born in Stepney, East London,[1][2] and adopted his stage name from Coborn Road, which feeds onto Bow Road. He made his music hall debut on the Isle of Dogs in 1872, and by 1879 was being billed at the Oxford Music Hall in London as "The Comic of the Day".[3] In 1886, he heard American William J. Scanlan's song "My Nellie's Blue Eyes". Liking the melody but not the words, Coborn rewrote it as "Two Lovely Black Eyes", and began performing it regularly wearing a faded frock coat, carrying a battered umbrella and with two blackened eyes.[4] He premièred it at the Paragon Theatre, in the Mile End Road,[5] and the song was instantly successful.[4]
In 1891, he bought the rights to
Coborn's other, less successful, songs included "Should Husbands Work?", part of the music hall tradition of (normally conservative) social comment; "I've Loved Another Girl Since Then";[5] "He's All Right When You Know Him"; and "I've Never Turned Money Away", which created controversy when Coborn performed it using the stereotyped manner of a Jew in a Jewish-owned theatre (he apologised afterwards, but was banned from appearing in the venue again).[4]
He toured extensively and performed in New York City and
Recordings that he made during the 1920s can be found on the album Chairman's Choice – Music Hall Greats.[10]
His eldest son, Major
Selected filmography
- Say It With Flowers (1934)
- Variety Jubilee (1943)
References
- ^ a b "Charles Coborn". Rfwilmut.clara.net. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ "Whitton and Ritch Genealogy from Scotland". Robertwhitton.eu. 23 November 1945. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-311323-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78383-118-0.
- ^ a b c "cockney history, tower hamlets, east end of london, Charles Coborn, music hall, Bow, Mile End, Victorian". 30 October 2007. Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ The Glory of Music Hall, Neil Kellas 2007
- ^ The Times, 13 July 1893
- ^ Michael Kilgarriff (1998) Sing Us One of the Old Songs: A Guide to Popular Song 1860–1920
- ^ Coborn, C.: The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (pp. 227–8): (London: Hutchinson, c. 1928)
- ^ Bill Clark. "Chairman's Choice – Music Hall Greats – Windyridge CDR22". Musichallcds.com. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
External links
- Charles Coborn includes two recordings. You can also hear him singing "The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo", Video on YouTube
- Charles Coborn at IMDb
- Charles Coborn at AllMusic