Ernest Lotinga (19 March 1875 – 28 October 1951) was a British comedian and film actor. Lotinga became known for the Josser character whom he portrayed in a series of comedy films during the 1930s.

Biography

Lotinga was born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

into a middle class Jewish family of partly Danish origin. His father was a respected community leader who part-financed the local

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

. Ernest left school early and moved to London, where he worked as a baker's assistant and was able to watch

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 ...

performances by

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 a ...

and others. He began his stage career by performing Leno's sketches, under the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Dan Roe (or Roy), and by the late 1890s developed a strong reputation in his own right as a comedic talent. He joined a touring comedy troupe, the Six Brothers Luck, who also included Shaun Glenville, and in 1901 Lotinga married another popular music hall entertainer, the male impersonator

Hetty King Winifred Emms (4 April 1883 – 28 September 1972), best known by her stage name Hetty King, was an English entertainer who performed in the music halls as a male impersonator over some 70 years. Early life She was born in New Brighton, Ches ...

.Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, , p.232 André Vincent, "Ernest Lotinga: The Stubborn Genius", ''Mislaid Comedy Heroes'',.
Retrieved 14 December 2020 In 1909, after a poorly-received tour of the United States with the Six Brothers Luck, Lotinga left the troupe, and developed his own act as the character Jimmy Josser, an "irreverent everyman". "Josser" was a slang term for a simpleton. He maintained the Josser character in theatre tours over subsequent decades. For several years he toured widely with Hetty King, including visits to entertain troops in France during the

First World War 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 ...

, but King's infidelity with the American singer and songwriter

Jack Norworth John Godfrey Knauff (January 5, 1879 – September 1, 1959), known professionally as Jack Norworth, was an American songwriter, singer and vaudeville performer. Biography Norworth is credited as writer of a number of Tin Pan Alley hits. He wr ...

led to the pair's much-publicised divorce in 1917. Lotinga remarried in 1918, to actress Kathleen Barbor. Lotinga was a popular success. In 1924, he took a leading role in the farce ''Khaki'', which made fun of army officers and judges, taunted by Lotinga's character. The

Lord Chamberlain's Office The Lord Chamberlain's Office is a department within the British Royal Household. It is concerned with matters such as protocol, state visits, investitures, garden parties, royal weddings and funerals. For example, in April 2005 it organised t ...

described the show as "a farrago of idiocy, vulgarity and sham sentiment", and Lotinga was obliged to rewrite the script. After seeing him perform on stage in 1927,

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

wrote to

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

that Lotinga was "magnificent... the greatest living British histrionic artist, in the purest tradition of British obscenity." He was also portrayed, in character, in the final panel of the sculptural

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

by Gilbert Baynes, ''Drama Through The Ages'', on the

Saville Theatre The Saville Theatre building is a former West End theatre and cinema at 135 Shaftesbury Avenue in the London Borough of Camden. The theatre opened in 1931, and became a music venue during the 1960s. In 1970, it became a cinema, most recently a ...

Shaftesbury Avenue Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadill ...

. Ernie Lotinga, ''Jewish Lives Project''
Retrieved 14 December 2020 In 1928, Lotinga moved into

sound film A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

s, at first making a series of shorts for DeForest Phonofilms, and then, from 1931, making feature films. These included '' Doctor Josser K.C.'' (1931), '' Josser in the Army'' (1932), ''Josser's Detective Agency'' (1935), and ''

Love Up the Pole Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

'' (1936), the last of which featured

striptease A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper", "exotic d ...

performer Phyllis Dixey, who later toured with Lotinga. The films were again disparaging of authority and were censored by the Lord Chamberlain's Office, but their bawdy, knockabout humour was popular with the public. Lotinga also featured in broadcasts on BBC radio from the mid-1930s. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he toured and entertained as part of

ENSA The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...

. Although his style of humour and

wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...

became increasingly unfashionable during the 1940s, he continued to perform in theatres as the Josser character. He died in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, London in 1951, aged 76.

Selected filmography

* ''Doing His Duty'' (1928)

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

featuring Lotinga as Jimmy Josser, made in the

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofi ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...

system by British Sound Film Corporation * ''Spirits'' (1928), short film made in Phonofilm, directed by Hugh Croise * ''The Raw Recruit'' (1928), short film made in Phonofilm, directed by Hugh Croise * ''The Orderly Room'' (1928), short film made in Phonofilm, directed by Hugh Croise * ''Acci-Dental Treatment'' (1929), short film made in Phonofilm, directed by

Thomas Bentley Thomas Bentley may refer to: * Thomas Bentley (director) Thomas Bentley (23 February 1884 – 23 December 1966) was a British film director. He directed 68 films between 1912 and 1941. He directed three films in the early DeForest Phonofilm sou ...

* '' P.C. Josser'' (1931) * '' Doctor Josser K.C.'' (1931) * '' Josser on the River'' (1932) * '' Josser in the Army'' (1932) * '' Josser Joins the Navy'' (1932) * ''

Josser on the Farm ''Josser on the Farm '' is a 1934 British comedy film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Ernie Lotinga, Betty Astell and Garry Marsh. It was part of the series of ''Josser'' films featuring Lotinga and it was marked of screen Debut of W ...

'' (1934) * ''Josser's Detective Agency'' (1935) * '' Smith's Wives'' (1935) * ''

'' (1936)

References

Bibliography

* Sutton, David R. ''A chorus of raspberries: British film comedy 1929-1939''. University of Exeter Press, 2000.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lotinga, Ernie 1875 births 1951 deaths English male film actors English male comedians Comedians from Tyne and Wear 20th-century English male actors Male actors from Sunderland