I have a Ukulele instruction book from 1920 published in California at a time when Ukuleles were the fashion with Bright Young Things and Vaudevillian Entertainers on both sides of the pond.

Look up Janet Klein on YouTube for someone who's done a brilliant job of recreating the music of this era. I think she's one of the best early music performers around. I'd love to see her live.


The instrument that George Formby plays is, in fact, a Banjo Ukulele, an American invention by Keech, circa 1920, which became popular on account of it having a greater dynamic range than than the Ukulele.

Formby played both that and the wooden-body sort. I'm not sure the top-end wooden-body ones are such a good idea any more, koa wood is probably being harvested unsustainably to make them.