Harry May Hemsley (14 December 1877 – 5 April 1951) was an English

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 ...

and radio comedian. He is best known as the host of the popular radio show ''

Ovaltiney's Concert Party ''Ovaltiney's Concert Party'' was a weekly British radio show that ran on Radio Luxembourg between December 1934 and September 1939 and was sponsored by the manufacturer of Ovaltine. A new version of the show aired in 1952. Concept ''Ovaltiney' ...

'' on

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

. He was also active as a cartoonist.

Youth

Harry Hemsley was born in 1877 in

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England. He started acting at age eight, when his father, a scenic artist, had him perform on stage. In the 1890s, he was a cartoonist for the British comics magazine ''

Ally Sloper's Half Holiday ''Ally Sloper's Half Holiday'' was a British comics magazine, first published on 3 May 1884. It is regarded to be the first comic strip magazine to feature a recurring character. Star Ally Sloper, a blustery, lazy schemer often found "sloping" ...

''. He performed as

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three ...

singer in the

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

''White Coons''. In 1905, Hemsley started acting in the

stage show ''The Follies'' with his familiar act of impersonating children's voices. He did this by covering his mouth with a book, newspaper or just his hand to signal a transition. His imitations were so spot-on that later, when he went on radio, many listeners were fooled. He also did celebrity voice impressions, among them of actor

Wilson Barrett Wilson Barrett (born William Henry Barrett; 18 February 1846 – 22 July 1904) was an English manager, actor, and playwright. With his company, Barrett is credited with attracting the largest crowds of English theatregoers ever because of his suc ...

Radio

In December 1934, Hemsley presented the weekly radio show ''

'' on

, a show which ran until the outbreak of

World War II 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 ...

in September 1939. The show featured Hemsley in a series of sketches where he impersonated "his" four children Johnny, Elsie, Winnie and baby Horace, in varying falsetto voices in comic dialogues with Hemsley as "daddy". The fourth child, the baby Horace, was perpetually unintelligible, and had to be interpreted by his elder sister Winnie. This led to Hemsley's familiar

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

: "What did Horace say, ...?" The fictional family featured on

from 1934 to 1939. The show was so popular at the time that it spawned a

comic magazine Comic magazine or comics magazine may refer to: * A comic book * A comics anthology * ''Comic Magazine'', a 1986 Japanese film * Comic Magazines, the parent company of Quality Comics * British comics * List of Franco-Belgian comics magazines, Franc ...

, in which comics based on the radio characters were drawn by Harry Hemsley and S. K. Perkins. In 1940, Hemsley also made an animated commercial with his characters.

Later career

After World War II, Hemsley made other radio shows like ''Old Hearty'' (1947) and ''Hemsley's Hotel'' (1949). He lived long enough to appear on early television.

Death

He died in April 1951, at the age of 73.

References

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia page.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemsley, Harry English male comedians English radio presenters English male voice actors English comics artists British editorial cartoonists English bass-baritones British comics artists British animators British music hall performers English comedy musicians 1877 births 1951 deaths People from Swindon Comedians from Wiltshire British radio show creators