Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire

Subject: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Feb 19 - 11:17 AM

I see this lot is being sold in Etwall. Presumably, that will be in Charles Hanson's auction room that features so much in the TV show Bargain Hunt.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-47143600?SThisFB&fbclid=IwAR2HL2mu0eerSBQ0OhLG7BAMh1KXsJTuBy9KDe-4csQDaHxKN5BlR

Wish I could be there. My Dad used to cut George's hair - the barbershop was opposite the music hall in St Helens. Iu sed to visit the site of George's house in Wroxham. Its a ruin now - but the place has ghosts. Max Miller was a frequent guest...

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: Tunesmith
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 06:10 AM

Here's a bit of trivia. Some 80 yrs ago, George Formby was the highest paid singer/entertainer in the UK, and similarly so was Bing Crosby in the States.
Now, here's the trivia. Formby and Crosby are two towns, a few miles apart, just north of Liverpool.UK.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Feb 19 - 01:29 PM

George Formby snr was an even bigger star in his day.

GF jnr's name was added to his father's huge gravestone as an aside.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 Feb 19 - 01:42 PM

George's father died of tuberculosis. Very sad.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 Feb 19 - 05:56 PM

George Formby Senior - real name James Lawler Booth - was a huge star in his day, earning around £300 a week in the 1920s, which was quite an amount for the times.

If you listen to late records of George senior and early records of George Junior, the similarity is remarkable. George Senior's line as he came on stage coughing (for real) was "It's not the cough that carries you off - it's the coffin they carry you off in." and, of course, his funny walk with hat and cane inspired the young Charie Chaplin and his tramp persona.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 12 Feb 19 - 06:08 PM

George Sr. could not have been as big a star as George Jr. No way! George Jr sold far more records and was a huge film star!
Why do people say such daft things.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 12 Feb 19 - 06:48 PM

Well! I'd never heard of Formby Sr. Thanks.

"... Marie Lloyd, the influential music hall singer and actress, said that she would only watch two acts: his and Dan Leno's."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby_Sr

I don't really mind which one was the most successful and I'm not sure what I'd use to measure it.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 12 Feb 19 - 07:01 PM

How about the fact that George Jr was the biggest movie star in the Uk, sold millions of records And, in the 1930s was earning £100,000.00 a year ( that,s millions in today's money).
There's no comparison!

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: Mr Red
Date: 13 Feb 19 - 03:39 AM

Has anyone seen GF snr's gravestone?

It is anything but modest. GF jr formed the act he did to be as different from his dad as possible. Comparisons were made in his day, and he felt it.

The Ukulele banjo (cf uke) was chosen to reach to the gods with its volume, and be different from dad.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 13 Feb 19 - 04:05 AM

The question I was replying to was regarding "Who was the bigger star?"
And, that was clearly George Jr.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Feb 19 - 04:24 AM

I don't think anyone is trying to make comparisons about the Formbys father and son - and I don't know why you seem so obsessed with it.

They were both at the top of their games, in their own different times, and comparisons are odious. The mass media in the world inhabited by George Junior - records, radio, film, etc. - didn't exist to the same extent in George Senior's day. But the father was at the top of his profession until TB carried him off, in the same way that the son was at the top of his. And fame is not just measured by money.

One thing is for sure: George Junior was not destined for showbusiness but for the world of horse racing. His father didn't want him on the stage - "One fool in the family is enough" - but the son was so annoyed by the number of imitators of his father after the father's death, that he decided he could do the act better. Which he could and, as I said earlier on, the early stage work of George Junior mirrors the father's, even down to the records. It was when Beryl came along that the Formby act changed radically.

Subject: RE: Formby treasure trove in Derbyshire
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 13 Feb 19 - 04:53 AM

Will, read what was written! I am just putting the record straight!
George Sr - at the peak of his career - was never as big a star as George Jr.
Of course, George Jr benefitted tremendously from the arrival of "talking movies". On any particular night, George would have been seen by millions and millions of cinema goers.( George Sr, on the other hand, would been restricted to the number of people who could fit in to one theatre) And, of course, the record business was a lot more developed in George Jr's day.
   And, of course, the UKE.
   God knows how many people took up the uke because of George Jr ( his dad didn't play the uke), and how much money George made from the sale of ukes with George's name on them.