Joe O'Gorman
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Joseph George O'Gorman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Bowler | 24 July 1890||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1927 | Surrey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FC debut | 18 May 1927 Surrey v Glamorgan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last FC | 10 June 1927 Surrey v Leicestershire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: CricketArchive, 9 August 2015 |
Joseph George O'Gorman (24 July 1890 – 26 August 1974) was a British entertainer and cricketer. With his brother Dave (1894–1964) he formed a song, dance and comedy act called the O'Gorman Brothers. Starting by touring the variety halls of England, in the 1930s they also became popular in the United States and earned a fortune.[1]
The entertainer
In becoming entertainers, the two brothers were following in the footsteps of their father, also called Joe O'Gorman (1863–1937). He was an Irishman who moved to England in 1879, where he had considerable success as a comedian. In both 1898 and 1901 he was elected King Rat of the Grand Order of Water Rats and he was also the first chairman of the newly formed Variety Artistes' Federation.[2] He had a double act with Joe Tennyson; they were known as The Two Irish Gentlemen or The Patter Propagators.[3]
In 1907 Joe and Dave began appearing as the O'Gorman Brothers, their act including acrobatic dancing, singing and comedy. They had considerable success, and toured South Africa in 1913 and visited Berlin, Vienna and Budapest the following year. Eventually the format settled into that of a comedy
They toured the United States in 1931 and 1932 for
During
They appeared in the 1946
In 1956 Dave followed his father in being elected King Rat. He died eight years later.[2]
The cricketer
Both brothers were keen amateur cricketers, playing for clubs including Honor Oak and Richmond.[1] In club cricket Joe took over 1.500 wickets.[5] Both brothers also played for the Surrey second eleven, where Joe in particular was very successful. As a result, in May 1927 he was selected to play two games at The Oval for the Surrey first team, making his debut at the relatively late age of 36. A leg-spinner described as having a "great repertoire of deliveries", he took four wickets, including one with his first ball in first-class cricket. Batting at number nine, he had three not out scores of 31, 20 and 42. His variety commitments meant that he was unable to play in the next - away - match. He made only one further appearance for the first team, the following month, when he was out for 13. This left him with the freakishly high career first-class batting average of 106.[1]
His grandson, Tim O'Gorman also played first-class cricket.[1]
References
- ^ ISBN 9780956851154.
- ^ a b c d e f "O'Gorman Brothers". Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- Sunday Telegraph. p. 27.
- ^ "Variety Parade (1936)". IMDb. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ISBN 9780747020103.
External links
- Musical Hall Guild: Joe O'Gorman senior Retrieved 11 August 2015
- History for Sale: Dave O'Gorman Retrieved 11 August 2015
Further reading
- Brian O'Gorman (Joe's son), Laughter in the Roar: Reminiscences of Variety and Pantomime, 19 November 1998, ISBN 9780953407804.