Joe Elvin
Joe Elvin (born Joseph Peter Keegan; 29 November 1862 – 3 March 1935) was an English comedian and music hall entertainer and a Founder of the Grand Order of Water Rats, a show business charity. With other leading performers he took part in the Music Hall War of 1907, which supported less well paid music hall artistes in their strike for better pay and conditions.
Biography
Elvin was the son of Joseph Peter Keegan (1840 – 1901), an actor and music-hall artiste, and his wife, Annie Delaney. He was educated at a
Comedy career
Impresario
In December 1907 he helped found and became the first president of the
Elvin was the brother of variety artiste Frank Keegan, who died in 1951.[4] The two frequently appeared together as 'Keegan and Elvin', including at the 1887 variety performance benefit for Charles Ash at the Royal Victoria Hall in Lambeth.[5] His wife, Charlotte Keegan, was also a variety artist, performing as Mrs Joe Elvin. She died on September 8, 1916.
Grand Order of Water Rats
In 1889 Elvin was a founder with
His interests included his extensive charitable and benevolent work and a lifelong interest in horse-racing, as owner, spectator, and keen gambler. He retired in the early 1920s and a benefit concert was held for him at the London Palladium in March 1923.[1]
He appeared in the 1900 silent film The Rats.
Elvin is buried in
Notes
- ^ a b Dave Russell, 'Elvin, Joe (1862–1935)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America Volume 1 by Frank Cullen with Florence Hackman and Donald McNeilly. Published by Routledge (2006)
- ^ It's Behind You! - The Music Hall Pantomimes at www.its-behind-you.com
- ^ Sing Us One of the Old Songs by Michael Kilgarriff Archived 2007-08-08 at the Wayback Machine at freespace.virgin.net
- ^ Results at www.bl.uk
- ^ "Grand Order of Water Rats past King Rats". Archived from the original on March 1, 2001. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Music Hall and Variety Artistes Burial Places at www.arthurlloyd.co.uk