George formby jr.

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George formby jr. OBE , since 1946 OBE , (born May 26, 1904 as George Hoy Booth in Wigan ; † March 6, 1961 in Preston , Lancashire ) was a British actor , film producer and ukulele player, one of the most popular in the 1930s and early 1940s British Isles Comedian.

Live and act

The son of the stage comedian George Formby sr. (1875–1921) showed enthusiasm for equestrian sports at an early age and became a jockey . In this role he was brought in front of the camera for the first time in 1915 with the lead role of the young horse lover Tony Dawson in the social and sports drama By the Shortest of Heads . Nevertheless, Formby did not decide to take up acting professionally until he was 17, followed in the footsteps of his father, who died that year (1921), and appeared as an entertainer and joker in music halls .

Formby during a troop support appearance in France in 1940

The ukulele, and occasionally a mandolin or banjo , and pomadized jet black hair soon became his trademarks. His idiosyncratic comedy, the nasal, shrill voice as well as the unmistakable Lancashire slang and the typical phrases soon shaped the so-called 'Formby Style'. After he had made a name for himself in his profession as a stage entertainer, the producer John Blakeley brought him back to film in 1933. Soon the man with the distinctive wide-mouthed frog smile and the large, shy and innocent-looking eyes developed into a considerable box-office magnet. Formby comedies were not exactly original or particularly witty, but enjoyed great popularity with the local audience. Between 1934 and 1945 he was England's most popular film comedian, and in 1939 even the biggest domestic box-office magnet in all film genres. This popularity was also used by the British propaganda machine and used Formby as part of the Entertainments National Service Association during the war (at home as on the mainland and in North Africa) for troop support.

On the screen, Formby usually embodied the shy admirer of a girl whom he tries to conquer in a more or less awkward way. Almost all of his characters were called George (albeit with different surnames). At the beginning of the Second World War Formby had reached its peak of popularity, until the end of his career in 1945, the native French Marcel Varnel was to remain his in-house director. Especially in his early war film productions, Formby repeatedly made jokes at the Nazis' expense. In the spy comedy Let George Do It, for example, probably his most popular film in his home country, he meets Adolf Hitler in a dream sequence , hits him hard on the nose and scolds him as a 'talker'. Attempts to succeed with his films in the USA , however, failed; his understanding of humor seemed too particularly British.

After Varnel's death in 1947, Formby withdrew from film and devoted himself entirely to his stage program. In 1952 he suffered his first heart attack , his wife Beryl died on Christmas Eve 1960. As a result, Formby's health deteriorated, the comedian died after suffering a second heart attack a good ten weeks after her. Around 100,000 people lined the street when his coffin was brought to its final resting place in Warrington Cemetery.

Filmography

  • 1915: By the Shortest of Heads (short film)
  • 1933: Boots !, Boots!
  • 1934: Off the Dole
  • 1935: George breaks all records ( No Limit )
  • 1936: Keep Your Seats Please
  • 1936: Feather Your Nest
  • 1937: Keep Fit
  • 1937: I See Ice
  • 1938: It's in the Air
  • 1938: Trouble Brewing
  • 1939: Bravo, George! ( Come On George )
  • 1939: Let George Do it
  • 1940: Spare a Copper
  • 1941: Happiness must have ( Turned Out Nice Again )
  • 1941: South American George
  • 1942: Much Too Shy
  • 1942: We'll Meet again (production manager only)
  • 1942: Get Cracking
  • 1943: Rhythm Serenade (only production management)
  • 1943: Bell-Bottom George
  • 1944: He Snoops to Conquer
  • 1945: I Didn't Do it
  • 1945: George in Civvy Street

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary. The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , pp. 58f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Formby, George Jr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Formby, Georg junior; Booth, George Hoy (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Wigan
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1961
Place of death Preston , Lancashire