Wee Georgie Wood
Wee Georgie Wood | |
---|---|
Born | George Wood Bamlett 17 December 1895 Jarrow, County Durham, England |
Died | 19 February 1979 Bloomsbury, London, England | (aged 83)
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Comic entertainer, actor |
Years active | 1900–1953 |
Spouse |
Ewing Eaton
(m. 1932; div. 1936) |
George Wood Bamlett OBE (17 December 1895[1] – 19 February 1979), known professionally as Wee Georgie Wood, was a British comic entertainer and actor who appeared in films, plays and music hall revues. He had a lengthy career of over fifty years, based on exploiting the childlike appearance that he retained in adulthood.
Biography
He was born in Jarrow, County Durham, but within a few weeks of his birth moved to South Shields where his father owned a pawnbroker's shop.[2] His parents were George Bamlett and Georgina, née Wood, who divorced in 1908 on account of his father's adultery.[3] Georgie had a form of dwarfism, as an adult reaching a height of 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m), and retaining an unbroken voice.
From the age of five, he started performing in concert parties as an entertainer, and at the age of 13 was still able to perform in the guise of a five-year-old.[2] For much of his career he was guided and managed by his mother, Georgina (née Wood), and by his teens he had become the family's main earner. He joined the Levy and Cardwell company touring around music halls, performed in pantomimes, and in 1908 made his first solo appearance onstage doing impressions of music hall stars Vesta Tilley and George Lashwood. In 1914, he was in a company that toured Australia.[4] He was originally billed as 'the Boy Phenomenon', but he dropped the name after one theatre mistakenly advertised him as 'the Boy Euphonium'.[5]
In 1917, he met fellow performer Dolly Harmer (born Sarah Elizabeth Caron, 1867–1956). She was the daughter of Pierre Caron, who performed as Peter Harmer, and had worked in music halls since the 1880s. She and Wood established a working relationship in which she played Wood's mother, continuing to perform in the role for over 35 years. Together they performed comedy sketches in which she would try to persuade him to behave properly. They toured together, worldwide, but usually performed in separate pantomimes during the winter months.[4][2] They appeared in Royal Variety Performances in 1927 and 1931.[6]
Wood has been termed "a brilliant
He married an American entertainer, Ewing Eaton, on 7 April 1933,[8] though the marriage was brief and in later years Wood refused to speak of it.[2][9] On another occasion, a girl's mother begged him to end a relationship, saying: "Let's face it Georgie, you're a midget." Wood never forgot the remark; reportedly he could never recount the story without bursting into tears, though with age and experience, "he learned to treat his shortness with a degree of humour".[5]
He supported charitable causes and in 1936 was appointed chairman or 'King Rat' of the Grand Order of Water Rats. However, he wrote a book, Royalty, Religion and Rats!, which gave away some of the organisation's secrets, and as a result was expelled from it, only being readmitted in 1970.[2]
During the
Wood and Harmer performed together until 1953, when they made a mutual decision to retire.
Wood died at Gordon Mansions in Bloomsbury, London, on 19 February 1979, aged 83.[5]
In popular culture
The Wee Georgie Wood Railway is a tramway in Tasmania named after him.
Wee Georgie Wood is mentioned at the end of the song "
Selected filmography
- Convict 99 (1919) - James, the office boy
- Two Little Drummer Boys (1928)
- The Black Hand Gang (1930)
References
- ^ England and Wales Civil Registration Birth Index, March quarter 1896, volume 10a, page 804
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78383-118-0, pp.81-83
- ^ England and Wales Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1918, Georgina Bamlett v. George Bamlett
- ^ a b c d Nigel Ellacott, "Dolly Harmer and 'Wee' Georgie Wood", It's Behind You. Retrieved 19 February 2021
- ^ ISBN 9780094647305.
- ^ "Artistes at the Royal Variety Performance", Royal Variety Charity. Retrieved 19 February 2021
- ISBN 0-413-48960-4, p.42
- ^ New York Marriage License Indexes 1907-2018
- ^ ISBN 1-86105-206-5, pp.201-202
- ^ Sunderland Echo, 24 June 1946, p. 4
Further reading
- Wood, Georgie (1948). I had to be Wee. London: Hutchinson & Co. (autobiography)
External links
- Wee Georgie Wood at IMDb