Dan Leno

George Wild Galvin (20 December 1860 – 31 October 1904), better known by the stage name Dan Leno, was a leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor during the late Victorian era. He was best known, aside from his music hall act, for his dame roles in the annual pantomimes that were popular at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from 1888 to 1904.

Leno was born in St Pancras, London, and began to entertain as a child. In 1864, he joined his parents on stage in their music hall act, and he made his first solo appearance, aged nine, at the Britannia Music Hall in Coventry. As a youth, he was famous for his clog dancing, and in his teen years, he became the star of his family's act. He adopted the stage name Dan Leno and, in 1884, made his first performance under that name in London. As a solo artist, he became increasingly popular during the late 1880s and 1890s, when he was one of the highest-paid comedians in the world. He developed a music hall act of talking about life's mundane subjects, mixed with comic songs and surreal observations, and created a host of mostly working-class characters to illustrate his stories. In 1901, still at the peak of his career, he performed his "Huntsman" sketch for Edward VII at Sandringham. The monarch was so impressed that Leno became publicly known as "the king's jester".

Leno also appeared in burlesque and, every year from 1888 to 1904, in the Drury Lane Theatre's Christmas pantomime spectacles. He was generous and active in charitable causes, especially to benefit performers in need. Leno continued to appear in musical comedies and his own music hall routines until 1902, although he suffered increasingly from alcoholism. This, together with his long association with dame and low comedy roles, prevented him from being taken seriously as a dramatic actor, and he was turned down for Shakespearean roles. Leno began to behave in an erratic and furious manner by 1902, and he suffered a mental breakdown in early 1903. He was committed to a mental asylum, but was discharged later that year. After one more show, his health declined, and he died aged 43.

Biography

Family background and early life

Leno was born in St Pancras, London. He was the youngest of six children, including two elder brothers, John and Henry, and an elder sister, Frances. Two other siblings died in infancy.Hogg, James
"Leno, Dan"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed November 2011 His parents, John Galvin (1826–1864) and his wife Louisa ( ''née'' Dutton; 1831–1891), performed together in a music hall double act called "The Singing and Acting Duettists". Known professionally as Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Wild,Brandreth, p. 1 they did not achieve much success, and the family struggled in poverty.Brandreth, p. 2

Having had very little schooling, and being raised by performers, Leno learned to entertain as a child. In 1862, Leno's parents and elder brothers appeared at the Surrey Music Hall in Sheffield, then performed in Manchester, Glasgow and Northampton later in the year. In 1864, at the age of four, Leno joined his parents on stage for the first time, at the Cosmotheca Music Hall in Paddington, under the billing "Little George, the Infant Wonder, Contortionist, and Posturer"."Biography of Dan Leno"
, Victoria and Albert Museum website, accessed 20 January 2012

When Leno was four years old, his alcoholic father died, aged 37; the family then moved to Liverpool, where his mother married William Grant (1837–1896), on 7 March 1866. Grant was a comedian of Lancastrian and Irish descent, who performed in music halls throughout the British provinces under the stage name of William Leno.Leno, Dan
''Dan Leno: Hys Booke''
Greening & Co. (1901), accessed 19 November 2011 He was a seasoned actor and had been employed by Charles Kean in his theatre company at the Princess's Theatre in London. In 1866, the family home in Marylebone was demolished to make way for St Pancras railway station, and as a result Leno's sister Frances was sent to live with an uncle, while his brother John, who had occasionally performed with his parents, took full-time employment. Leno, his mother, stepfather and brother Henry moved north and settled in Liverpool, where they performed in various halls and theatres, including the Star Music Hall, but they often returned to London to perform in the capital's music halls.

Early career

In 1865, Leno and his brother Henry, who first taught Leno to dance, formed a clog dancing double act known as "The Great Little Lenos". This was the first time that Leno used his stepfather's stage name, "Leno", which he never registered legally. The same year, Leno also appeared in his first pantomime, in Liverpool, where he had a supporting part as a juvenile clown in ''Fortunatus; or, The Magic Wishing Cap'' alongside his parents, who appeared as "Mr and Mrs Leno – Comic Duettists".Anthony, p. 16 On 18 July 1866, Leno, Henry and their parents appeared on the opening night of the Cambridge Music Hall in Toxteth, Liverpool, under the billing "Mr. and Mrs. Leno, the Great, Sensational, Dramatic and Comic Duettists and The Brothers Leno, Lancashire Clog, Boot and Pump Dancers". The following year, the brothers made their first appearance without their parents at the Britannia music hall in Hoxton. Although initially successful, the pair experienced many bouts of unemployment and often busked outside London pubs to make a living.Brandreth, p. 3 Tired of surviving on little or no money, Henry left the clog dancing act to take up a trade in London, forcing Leno to consider a future as a solo performer. Henry later founded a dance school. Henry was replaced intermittently in the act by the boys' uncle, Johnny Danvers, who was a week older than Leno. Leno and Danvers had been close from an early age.

Leno made his debut as a solo performer in 1869, returning to the Britannia music hall in Hoxton, where he became known as "The Great Little Leno, the Quintessence of Irish Comedians". The name was suggested by his stepfather, William, who thought the Irish connection would appeal to audiences on their upcoming visit to Dublin.Brandreth, p. 4 Arriving in Ireland the same year, the Lenos were struggling financially and stayed with William's relatives. In addition to his performances as part of the family act, young Leno appeared as a solo act under an Irish-sounding stage name, "Dan Patrick". This allowed him to earn a separate fee of 23 shillings per performance plus living expenses. The name "Dan" may have been chosen to honour Dan Lowery, a northern music hall comedian and music hall proprietor whom the Lenos had met a few months earlier. During this tour of Ireland, the Lenos appeared in Dublin in a pantomime written by Leno's father: ''Old King Humpty; or, Harlequin Emerald Isle and Katty of Killarney'' (1869), for which Leno was praised by Charles Dickens, who was in the audience and told him: "Good little man, you'll make headway!"

In 1870, the Lenos appeared in another pantomime by Leno's father, ''Jack the Giant Killer; or, Harlequin Grim Gosling, or the Good Fairy Queen of the Golden Pine Grove'', in which Leno played the title character and featured in the variety entertainment that preceded the pantomime. Throughout the 1870s, Leno and his parents performed as "The Comic Trio (Mr. & Mrs. Leno and Dan Patrick) In Their Really Funny Entertainments, Songs and Dances". In the family act with his parents and Johnny Danvers, young Leno often took the leading role in such sketches as his stepfather's ''The Wicklow Wedding''. Another of their sketches was ''Torpedo Bill'', in which Leno played the title role, an inventor of explosive devices. His parents played a "washerwoman" and a "comic cobbler". This was followed by another sketch, ''Pongo the Monkey''. Opening at Pullan's Theatre of Varieties in Bradford on 20 May 1878, this burlesque featured Leno as an escaped monkey; it became his favourite sketch of the period.

The teenage Leno's growing popularity led to bookings at, among others, the Varieties Theatre in Sheffield and the Star Music Hall in Manchester.Brandreth, p. 20 At the same time, Leno's clog dancing continued to be so good that in 1880 he won the world championship at the Princess's Music Hall in Leeds, for which he received a gold and silver belt weighing 44.5 oz (1.26 kg). His biographer, the pantomime librettist J. Hickory Wood, described his act: "He danced on the stage; he danced on a pedestal; he danced on a slab of slate; he was encored over and over again; but throughout his performance, he never uttered a word".

1880s

In 1878, Leno and his family moved to Manchester.Brandreth, p. 22 There he met Lydia Reynolds, who, in 1883, joined the Leno family theatre company, which already consisted of his parents, Danvers and Leno. The following year, Leno and Reynolds married; around this time, he adopted the stage name "Dan Leno". On 10 March 1884, the Leno family took over the running of the Grand Varieties Theatre in Sheffield. The Lenos felt comfortable with their working-class Sheffield audiences. On their opening night, over 4,000 patrons entered the theatre, paying sixpence to see Dan Leno star in ''Doctor Cut 'Em Up''. In October 1884, facing tough competition, the Lenos gave up the lease on the theatre.

In 1885, Leno and his wife moved to Clapham Park, London, and Leno gained new success with a solo act that featured comedy patter, dancing and song. On the night of his London debut, he appeared in three music halls: the Foresters' Music Hall in Mile End, Middlesex Music Hall in Drury Lane and Gatti's-in-the-Road, where he earned £5 a week in total (£ in adjusted for inflation). Although billed as "The Great Irish Comic Vocalist and Clog Champion" at first, he slowly phased out his dancing in favour of character studies, such as "Going to Buy Milk for the Twins", "When Rafferty Raffled his Watch" and "The Railway Guard". His dancing had earned him popularity in the provinces, but Leno found that his London audiences preferred these sketches and his comic songs. Leno's other London venues in the late 1880s included the Collins Music Hall in Islington, the Queen's Theatre in Poplar and the Standard in Pimlico.Brandreth, p. 24

Leno was a replacement in the role of Leontes in the 1888 musical burlesque of the ancient Greek character ''Atalanta'' at the Strand Theatre, directed by Charles Hawtrey. It was written by Hawtrey's brother, George P. Hawtrey, and it starred Frank Wyatt, Willie Warde and William Hawtrey. The '' Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News'' praised Leno's singing and dancing and reported that: "He brings a good deal of fun and quaintness to the not very important part of Leontes." Leno accepted the role at short notice, with no opportunity to learn the script. But his improvised comedy helped to extend the life of the show. When Leno and another leading actor left a few months later, the production closed.

Music hall

During the 1890s, Leno was the leading performer on the music hall stage, rivalled only by Albert Chevalier, who moved into music hall from the legitimate theatre.Anthony, p. 97"A Slice of History"
History: Grand Order of Water Rats, Gowr.net, accessed 6 June 2019 Their styles and appeal were very different: Leno's characters were gritty working-class realists, while Chevalier's were overflowing in romanticism, and his act depicted an affluent point of view. According to Leno's biographer Barry Anthony, the two "represented the opposite poles of cockney comedy".

For his music hall acts, Leno created characters that were based on observations about life in London, including shopwalkers, grocer's assistants, beefeaters, huntsmen, racegoers, firemen, fathers, henpecked husbands, garrulous wives, pantomime dames, a police officer, a Spanish bandit and a hairdresser. One such character was Mrs. Kelly, a gossip. Leno would sing a verse of a song, then begin a monologue, often his ''You know Mrs. Kelly?'' routine, which became a well-known catchphrase: "You see we had a row once, and it was all through Mrs. Kelly. You know Mrs. Kelly, of course. ... Oh, you must know Mrs. Kelly; everybody knows Mrs. Kelly."Short, pp. 47–48

For his London acts, Leno purchased songs from the foremost music hall writers and composers. One such composer was Harry King, who wrote many of Leno's early successes.Anthony, p. 100 Other well-known composers of the day who supplied Leno with numbers included Harry Dacre and Joseph Tabrar

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