David Morris (5 July 1896 – 8 June 1960) was a British

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

comedian who made a successful transition to radio and television.

Biography

He was born on 5 July 1896, son of Samuel Morris and Lily Reubens. Samuel, a tailor, lived at 110 Wilson Street,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. His first stage appearance was on 10 December 1908 at the

Oxford Playhouse The Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F. G. M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road (Oxford), W ...

, Middlesbrough and his first London appearance in 1913 at the London

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

. He started with a juvenile troupe, "Phil Reece and his Stable Lads",Roy Hudd and Philip Hindin, ''Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts'', Robson Books, 1998, , pp.127-128 then as a

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

comic. He was called up into the Army in World War 1 and resumed his stage career in 1918, touring constantly in variety and revue. He lived in the

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

area from the early 1930s, and in 1940 began a thirteen-year run in the resort's summer season shows, starting at the

North Pier North Pier is the most northerly of the three coastal piers in Blackpool, England. Built in the 1860s, it is also the oldest and longest of the three. Although originally intended only as a promenade, competition forced the pier to widen its ...

, as a northern comic in his famous straw hat and very thick glasses. He had extremely bad eyesight as a result of having been gassed in the trenches in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and thus was not conscripted for the Second World War. After nine years, he refused to go on playing matinees and transferred to a long run at the Blackpool Palace for George and Alfred Black. He worked as a sketch comic, also doing some

stand-up Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

material.Roger Wilmut, ''Kindly Leave the Stage: The Story of Variety 1919-1960'', Methuen, 1985, , pp.199-201 In 1948, he toured with ''Paradise on Parade'' after a summer season at the

South Pier, Blackpool South Pier (originally known as Victoria Pier) is one of three piers in Blackpool, England. Located on South Promenade on the South Shore, the pier contains a number of amusement and adrenaline rides. It opens each year from March to November an ...

. In January 1950, he was resident comedian of the

BBC North BBC North (Group) is an operational business division of the BBC. It is also a brand that has been used by the BBC to mean: *The large ''BBC North'' region, centred on Manchester, that was active from the late 1920s until 1968 and was based u ...

Country variety feature, ''Variety Fanfare''. He also toured with his own stage show, ''The Dave Morris Show'', for several years. In 1950

Joe Gladwin Joseph Gladwin (22 January 1906 – 11 March 1987) was an English actor, best known for his roles as Fred Jackson in Coronation Street, Stan Hardman in '' Nearest and Dearest'', and Wally Batty in the world's longest-running sitcom, ''Last o ...

joined him as "Cedric", a '

feed Feed or The Feed may refer to: Animal foodstuffs * Animal feed, food given to domestic animals in the course of animal husbandry ** Fodder, foodstuffs manufactured for animal consumption ** Forage, foodstuffs that animals gather themselves, su ...

', and stayed with him for ten years. The radio series ''Club Night'' was launched in the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

north region on 7 November 1950 where it ran for 52 editions until 6 June 1955. The programme was set in a fictitious workingmen's club "'oop north." With his trademark cigar, straw hat and glasses, Dave Morris was the somewhat loudmouthed 'know all' club treasurer, ably assisted by Gladwin as Cedric and by

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

comedian Fred Ferris as 'The Wacker' whose primary ambition seemed to be to scrounge a drink. The scripts were written by Morris with James Casey and Frank Roscoe. He moved to television for six programmes of the sitcom ''

The Artful Dodger ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''Th ...

'' from 28 September to 2 November 1959. The show was based on ''Club Night'' and used the character he developed there. It also featured Joe Gladwin as his comic foil. Morris died in Blackpool in 1960, aged 63. "Famous Blackpool Entertainers: Dave Morris", ''Blackpool Postcards'', 18 October 2012
Retrieved 16 February 2021 Writer

Roger Wilmut Roger Wilmut (born 1942) is a British writer and compiler of books on British comedy. Wilmut attended Warwick School, and began his 'day job' as studio technician for the BBC on leaving school in 1961. Wilmut claims to have drifted into a car ...

said of him:

Morris has been largely forgotten since his death... partly because of his relative lack of appeal in
the south The United Kingdom has a well developed and extensive network of roads totalling about . Road distances are shown in miles or yards and UK speed limits are indicated in miles per hour (mph) or by the use of the national speed limit (NSL) symbol ...

f England F, or f, is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet and many modern alphabets influenced by it, including the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of all other modern western European languages. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounc ...
and also because no recordings seem to have survived of him; he was one of the finest
northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...
comedians.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Dave British male comedians British music hall performers People from Middlesbrough 1896 births 1960 deaths 20th-century British comedians Comedians from North Yorkshire Military personnel from North Yorkshire British Army personnel of World War I British Army soldiers