Sir Harry Lauder | |
|---|---|
 Lauder in 1909 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Henry Lauder |
| Born | (1870-08-04)4 August 1870 Portobello,Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | 26 February 1950(1950-02-26) (aged 79) Strathaven,Lanarkshire, Scotland |
| Occupation(s) | Singer,actor,comedian |
| Years active | 1894-1935 |
| Spouse | Ann Vallance (m. 1891; died 1927) |
Sir Henry Lauder (/ˈlɔːdər/; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)[1] was a Scottish singer, comedian and actor. Popular in bothmusic hall andvaudeville theatre traditions; he achieved international success.
He was described bySir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador",[2][3][4] who "by his inspiring songs and valiant life, rendered measureless service to the Scottish race and to the British Empire."[5] He became a familiar worldwide figure deploying hiskilt andcromach (walking stick) as icons ofScottishness to huge acclaim, especially in America. Among his most popular songs were "Roamin' in the Gloamin'", "A WeeDeoch-an-Doris", "The End of the Road" and, a particularly big hit for him, "I Love a Lassie".
Lauder's understanding of life, its pathos and joys, earned him his popularity.[6]Beniamino Gigli commended his singing voice and clarity. Lauder usually performed in full Highland regalia—kilt,sporran,tam o' shanter, and twisted walking stick, and sang Scottish-themed songs.[7] By 1911 Lauder had become the highest-paid performer in the world, and was the first artist from both Britain and Scotland to sell a million records; by 1928 he had sold double that.[8] He raised vast amounts of money for thewar effort during theFirst World War, for which he wasknighted byGeorge V in 1919. He went into semi-retirement in the mid-1930s, but briefly emerged to entertain troops in theSecond World War. By the late 1940s he was suffering from long periods of ill-health; he died in his native Scotland in 1950.
Lauder was born on 4 August 1870 in his maternal grandfather's house inPortobello, Edinburgh, Scotland,[9] the eldest of seven children.[10] By the time of the 1871 census he and his parents were living at 1 Newbigging Veitchs Cottages,Inveresk. His father, John Lauder, was the grandson of George Lauder ofInverleith Mains & the St Bernard's Well estate, Edinburgh.[11] He claimed in his autobiography that his family were descendants of the feudal barons the Lauders ofthe Bass;[12] and his mother, Isabella Urquhart MacLeodnée McLennan, was born inArbroath to a family from theBlack Isle.[11] John and Isabella married on 26 August 1870.[13] Lauder's father moved toNewbold, Derbyshire, in early 1882 to take up a job designingporcelain, but died on 20 April from pneumonia. Isabella, left with little more than John's life insurance proceeds of £15, moved with the children to be with her family in Arbroath.[14] To finance his education beyond age 11, Harry worked part-time at aflax mill. He made his first public appearance, singing, at a variety concert at Oddfellows' Hall in Arbroath when he was 13 years old, winning first prize for the night (a watch).[15]
In 1884 the family went toHamilton, South Lanarkshire, to live with Isabella's brother, Alexander, who found Harry employment at Eddlewood Colliery at tenshillings per week; he kept this job for a decade.[16]
On 8 January 1910, theGlasgow Evening Times reported that Lauder had told theNew York World that, during his mining career:
I was entombed once for 6 long hours. It seemed like 6 years. There were no visible means of getting out either – we had just to wait. I was once right next to a cave-in when my fire boss was buried alive. As we were working and chatting a big stone twice as big as a trunk came tumbling down on my mate from overhead, doubling him like a jack-knife. It squeezed his face right down on the floor. God knows I wasn't strong enough to lift that rock alone, but by superhuman efforts I did. This gave him a chance to breathe and then I shouted. Some men 70 yards away heard me and came and got him out alive. A chap who worked beside me waskilled along with 71 others at Udston, and all they could identify him with was his pin leg. I wasn't there that day.
- — Harry Lauder[17]
Lauder said he was "proud to be old coal-miner" and in 1911, became an outspoken advocate, "pleading the cause of the poorpit ponies" toWinston Churchill, when introduced to him at theHouse of Commons and later reported to theTamworth Herald that he "could talk for hours about my wee four-footed friends of the mine. But I think I convinced that the time has now arrived when something should be done by the law of the land to improve the lot and working conditions of the patient, equine slaves who assist so materially in carrying on the great mining industry of this country."[18]
Lauder often sang to the miners in Hamilton, who encouraged him to perform in localmusic halls. While singing in nearbyLarkhall, he received 5 shillings—the first time he was paid for singing. He received further engagements including a weekly "go-as-you please" night held by Mrs. Christina Baylis at her Scotia Music Hall/Metropole Theatre in Glasgow. She advised him to gain experience by touring music halls around the country with a concert party, which he did. The tour allowed him to quit the coal mines and become a professional singer. Lauder concentrated his repertoire on comedic routines and songs of Scotland and Ireland.[19]
By 1894, Lauder had turned professional and performed local characterisations at small, Scottish and northern English music halls but had ceased the repertoire by 1900. In March of that year, Lauder travelled to London and reduced the heavy dialect of his act which according to a biographer, Dave Russell, "handicapped Scottish performers in the metropolis". He was an immediate success at theCharing Cross Music Hall and theLondon Pavilion, venues at which the theatrical paperThe Era reported that he had generated "great furore" among his audiences with three of his self-composed songs.[1]
In 1905 Lauder's success in leading theHoward & Wyndham pantomime at theTheatre Royal, Glasgow, for which he wroteI Love a Lassie, made him a national star, and he obtained contracts with SirEdward Moss and others. Lauder then made a switch from music hall to variety theatre and undertook a tour of America in 1907. The following year, he performed a private show beforeEdward VII atSandringham, and in 1911, he again toured the United States where he commanded $1,000 a night.
In 1912, he was top of the bill at Britain's first everRoyal Command Performance, in front of KingGeorge V, organised byAlfred Butt.[20][21] Lauder undertook world tours extensively during his forty-year career, including 22 trips to the United States—for which he had his own railway train, the Harry Lauder Special, and made several trips toAustralia, where his brother John had emigrated.
Lauder was, at one time, the highest-paid performer in the world, making the equivalent of £12,700 a night plus expenses.[22] He was paid £1125 for an engagement at the Glasgow Pavilion Theatre in 1913 and was later considered by the press to earn one of the highest weekly salaries by a theatrical performer during the prewar period.[1] In January 1914 he embarked on a tour that included the United States, Australia,New Zealand andCanada.[23]
TheFirst World War broke out while Lauder was visiting Australia.[24] During the war Lauder promoted recruitment into the services and starred in many concerts for troops at home and abroad. Campaigning for the war effort in 1915, he then wrote "I know that I am voicing the sentiment of thousands and thousands of people when I say that we must retaliate in every possible way regardless of cost. If these German savages want savagery, let them have it".[25]
Following the December 1916 death of his son on theWestern Front; Lauder led successful charity fundraising efforts, organised a recruitment tour of music halls and entertained troops in France with a piano. He travelled to Canada in 1917 on a fundraising exercise for the war, where, on 17 November he was guest-of-honour and speaker at theRotary Club of Toronto Luncheon, when he raised nearly three-quarters of a million dollars worth of bonds forCanada's Victory Loan.[26] Through his efforts in organising concerts and fundraising appeals he established the charity, the Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund,[27][28] for maimed Scottish soldiers and sailors, to help servicemen return to health and civilian life;[29] and he was knighted in May 1919 for Empire service during the War.[30][31]
After the First World War, Lauder continued to tour variety theatre circuits. In January 1918, he famously visitedCharlie Chaplin, and the two leading comedy icons of their time acted in a short film together.[32]
His final tour was in North America in 1932. He made plans for a new house atStrathaven, to be built over the site and ruin of an old manor, called Lauder Ha'.[33] He was semi-retired in the mid-1930s, until his final retirement was announced in 1935. He briefly emerged from retirement to entertain troops during the Second World War and makewireless broadcasts with theBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Possibly Lauder's strongest connections were with Australia. Both Lauder, his wife and son, brother Matt and his wife, were all in Australia whenWorld War I broke out.[34][35] Their brother John had already emigrated, about 1906, toKurri Kurri (and, later,Newcastle), New South Wales,[36] and Matt's eldest son John would also emigrate there in 1920. Lauder wrote that "every time I return to Australia I am filled with genuine enthusiasm.....it is one of the very greatest countries in the world."[37]
Lauder was next in Australia (with his wife and her mother) in 1919, arriving atSydney on 1 March on board theOceanic Steamship Company's liner S.S.Ventura, fromSan Francisco, and he wasin situ at theHotel Australia when he was formally notified that he was to be knighted upon his return to Britain.[38][39] His next visit was in 1923 when his brother John was on hand in Sydney, with their nephew John (Matt's son), to welcome Lauder, his wife and her brother Tom Vallance, after a four-year absence from Australia.[40] He visited and stayed with his brother John in Newcastle on several occasions, two well-known visits being in 1925,[41] when he gave several performances at Newcastle's Victoria Theatre for three weeks commencing on 8 August,[42] and again in 1929[43] arriving in Newcastle for a brief visit on 25 July.[44] Lauder departed Sydney for the USA on board the liner SSVentura on Saturday 27 July 1929,[45] a ship he was familiar with. In 1934–5, his brother John spent 10 months with him in Scotland.[46]
Sir Harry Lauder's 1925 reception in South Africa has never been equalled in that country. En route to Australia, he and his wife arrived in Cape Town at Easter. Over twenty thousand people had lined the streets for hours beforehand and it was reported that every policeman in the city plus mounted police were required to keep order. All traffic came to a standstill. He played for two weeks at the Opera House to packed audiences every night, figures "which staggered the management". He moved on to Johannesburg where his reception was equally amazing, described by a reporter who said "never, as long as I live, shall I forget it!"[47][48]
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Lauder wrote most of his own songs, favourites of which wereRoamin' In The Gloamin',I Love a Lassie,A Wee Deoch-an-Doris, andKeep Right On To The End of the Road, which is used byBirmingham City Football Club as their club anthem. He starred in three British films:Huntingtower (1927),Auld Lang Syne (1929) andThe End of the Road (1936). He also appeared in a test film for thePhotokinema sound-on-disc process in 1921. This film is part of theUCLA Film and Television Archive collection; however, the disc is missing. In 1914, Lauder appeared in 14Selig Polyscope experimental short sound films.[49] In 1907, he appeared in a short film singing "I Love a Lassie" forBritish Gaumont.[50] TheBritish Film Institute has several reels of what appears to be an unreleased filmAll for the Sake of Mary (c. 1920) co-starring Effie Vallance and Harry Vallance.[51][52]
He wrote a number of books, which ran into several editions, includingHarry Lauder at Home and on Tour (1912),A Minstrel in France (1918),[53]Between You and Me (1919),Roamin' in the Gloamin' (1928 autobiography),[54]My Best Scotch Stories (1929),Wee Drappies (1931) andTicklin' Talks (circa 1932).
Lauder made his first recordings, resulting in nine selections, for theGramophone & Typewriter company early in 1902.[55] He continued to record for Gramophone until the middle of 1905, most recordings appearing on the Gramophone label, but others onZonophone.[55] He then recorded fourteen selections forPathé Records June 1906.[55] Two months later he was back at Gramophone, and performed for them in several sessions through 1908.[55] That year he made several two and four-minutecylinders forEdison Records. Next year he recorded forVictor in New York. He continued to make some cylinders for Edison, but was primarily associated with His Master's Voice and Victor.[55]
In 1910 Victor introduced a mid-priced purple-label series, the first twelve issues of which were by Lauder.[56] In 1927 Victor promoted Lauder recordings to theirRed Seal imprint, making him the only comedic performer to appear on the label primarily associated with operatic celebrities.[55][57] Lauder is one of three artists shown on Victor's black, purple, blue and red Seal records (the others beingLucy Isabelle Marsh andReinald Werrenrath).[58] His final recordings were made in 1940, but Lauder records were issued in the new format as current material when RCA Victor introduced the 45rpm record.[55][57]
Lauder is credited[by whom?] with giving the then 21-year-old portrait artistCowan Dobson his opening into society by commissioning him, in 1915, to paint his portrait. This was considered to be so outstanding that another commission came the following year, to paint his son Captain John Lauder, and again another commission in 1921 to paint Lauder's wife,[59] the latter portrait being after the style ofJohn Singer Sargent. These three portraits remain with the family. The same year, Scottish artistJames McBey painted another portrait of Lauder, today in the Glasgow Museums.[60]
In the tradition of the magazineVanity Fair, there appeared numerouscaricatures of Lauder. One is byAl Frueh (1880–1968) in 1911 and published in 1913 in theNew York World magazine,[61] another byHenry Mayo Bateman, now in London's National Gallery,[62] and one of 1926 by Alick P.F.Ritchie, for Players Cigarettes, today in the London National Portrait Gallery (ref:NPG D2675).[63]
On 19 June 1891 Lauder married Ann, daughter of James Vallance, acolliery manager in Hamilton;[9] their only son, Captain John Currie Lauder, was educated at theCity of London School followed by a degree fromJesus College,Cambridge University. John became a captain in the 8thArgyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and was killed in action on 28 December 1916 atPozières.[64][65] Encouraged by Ann, Lauder returned to the stage three days after learning of John's death.[24] He wrote the song "The End of the Road" (published as a collaboration with the AmericanWilliam Dillon, 1924) in the wake of John's death, and built a monument for him in the private Lauder cemetery inGlenbranter. (John Lauder was buried in the war cemetery atOvillers, France).
Lauder was a devout Christian and with the exception of engagements in the United States never performed on Sundays.[66]
Lady Lauder died on 31 July 1927, at 54, a week after surgery.[67] She was buried next to her son's memorial in the private Lauder cemetery on the 14,000 acre Glenbranter estate in Argyll,[68] where her parents would later join her. Lauder's niece, Margaret (1900–1966), subsequently became his secretary and companion until his death.
Lauder bought theGlenbranter Estate on theCowal peninsula inArgyll on the 13 October 1916, then sold it to the Forestry Commission in 1921. The estate later became part of theArgyll Forest Park established in 1935.[69] The Invernoaden Estate house, in Glenbranter was demolished in 1956.[70]
He was initiated a Freemason on 28 January 1897 in Lodge Dramatic, No. 571, (Glasgow, Scotland) and remained an active Freemason for the rest of his life.[71]
He spent his last years atLauder Ha (or Hall), his Strathaven home, where he died on 26 February 1950, aged 79.[9][72][73] His funeral was held at Cadzow Church in Hamilton on 2 March.[74] It was widely reported,[75] notably by Pathé newsreels.[76] One of the chief mourners wasthe Duke of Hamilton, a close family friend, who led the funeral procession through Hamilton, and read The Lesson. Wreaths were sent fromQueen Elizabeth and Sir Winston Churchill. Lauder was interred with his brother George and their mother in the family plot at Bent Cemetery in Hamilton.[77]
In 1932 he had placed the land at Strathaven where Lauder Hall would stand, and its park, in the name of his niece and secretary, Margaret Lauder to avoid high death duties should he die, as he wanted it preserved as the family seat and a museum to himself.[78] This proved to be a wise move as although he left moveable estate of £358,971, the death duties on this amounted to £207,581. After personal bequests to family totalling £27,000 the residue went to Margaret Lauder.[79]
Lauder's first command performance before Edward VII is satirised byNeil Munro in his Erchie Macpherson story "Harry and the King", first published in theGlasgow Evening News of 14 September 1908.[80]
In the 1941 film "Babes on Broadway", Mickey Rooney, imitating Lauder, sings "She Is Ma Daisy." In the 1942 filmRandom Harvest,Greer Garson plays a member of a travelling troupe. She sings "She Is Ma Daisy" and tells jokes doing an impression of Lauder.Websites carry much of his material and the Harry Lauder Collection, amassed by entertainerJimmy Logan, was bought for the nation and donated to theUniversity of Glasgow.[81] When theA199 Portobello bypass opened, it was named theSir Harry Lauder Road.[82][83]
On 28 July 1987, theLord Provost of Edinburgh hosted a luncheon at theEdinburgh City Chambers to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of Lauder receiving theFreedom of the City attended by his great-nephew Gregory Lauder-Frost. On 4 August 2001 Lauder-Frost opened the Sir Harry Lauder Memorial Garden atPortobello Town Hall.[84]BBC2 Scotland broadcast a documentary,Something About Harry, on 30 November 2005. On 29 September 2007, Lauder-Frost rededicated the Burslem Golf Course & Club atStoke-on-Trent, which had been formally opened exactly a century before by Harry Lauder.[85]
In the 1990s, samples of recordings of Lauder were used on two tracks recorded by the Scottishfolk/dance music artistMartyn Bennett.[86]
The Corkscrew hazel ornamental cultivar of common hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') is sometimes known as Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, in reference to the crooked walking stick Lauder often carried.[87]
It is a mistake to imagine that gloom is unpopular, and that pathos is unprofitable......I have no doubt that Martin Harvey and Harry Lauder work on the same nerve......The one makes you feel funnily un-comfortable, and the other makes you feel un-comfortably funny.
Lauder's stage character — the little man in the kilt with the Balmoral, Kilmarnock or Tam o' Shanter bonnet, the long sporran, and the twisted walking-stick — was largely the product of Victorian sentimentalisation of the Highlander
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