Herbert Darnley
{{Short description|British music hall comedian, song writer, recording artist and theatrical producer}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Herbert Darnley
| image = Herbert Darnley (1872–1947).png
| alt =
| caption = In The Sketch, 5 August 1903
| birth_name = Herbert Walter McCarthy
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1872|5|12|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Chatham, Kent, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1947|2|6|1872|5|12|df=yes}}
| death_place = Brixton, Lambeth, England
| burial_place =
| occupation = Comedian, writer, vocalist, producer
| awards =
| spouse =
| children =
| education =
| signature =
| party =
}}
Herbert Darnley (12 May 1872 – 6 February 1947), real name Herbert Walter McCarthy, was a British music hall comedian, song writer, popular early recording artist and theatrical producer, active from the 1890s until the early 1940s, who claimed descent from Edmund Kean.
Early life
File:That's How We've Made Our Name 1898 Herbert Darnley.jpg
File:Mr Mayfair Richmond Hippodrome 1918 Herbert Darnley.jpg
Herbert was born Herbert Walter McCarthy in Chatham in Kent, England.{{Cite news |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS85657658/TTDA |title=An Actor's Bankruptcy |newspaper=The Times |publication-place=London |issue=41386 |page=5 |date=1917-01-26 |access-date=2024-05-22 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/greenroombook0000unse/page/96/mode/1up |title=The Green Room Book |publisher=T. Sealey Clark |place=London |page=96 |date=1906 |access-date=2024-05-22 |via=Internet Archive}}
Dan Leno
From the 1890s, Darnley was the major song writer for "The King's jester" Dan Leno.{{cite book|author=Anthony, Barry.|title=The King's Jester: The Life of Dan Leno, Victorian Comic Genius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_qb3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT106|year=2010|publisher=I.B.Tauris|location=London|isbn=978-0-85773-104-3|page=106}} Darnley's Mr Wix of Wickham toured in 1902,{{cite book|author=Baker, Richard Anthony.|title=British Music Hall: An Illustrated History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ruWwBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA35|year=2014|publisher=Pen and Sword|location=Barnsley|isbn=978-1-78383-118-0|page=35}} starting at the Borough Theatre, Stratford in July. It starred Leno in a male lead role as Mr Wix who performed his signature clog dance and appeared with his daughter Georgina.[https://books.google.com/books?id=_qb3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT192 Anthony, 2010, p. 192.] The production opened in New York around 1904 or 1905 with over half the song composed by Jerome Kern.{{cite book|author=Banfield, Stephen.|title=Jerome Kern|year=2006|url=https://archive.org/details/jeromekern00banf|url-access=registration|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=0-300-13833-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/jeromekern00banf/page/11 11]}}
"God Save the King"
In 1902, Darnley released a recording of "God Save the King". The introducer claimed the song to have been written by Henry Carey and that Darnley was his descendant.[https://archive.org/details/GodSaveTheKingByHerbertDarnley1902 "God Save The King" by Herbert Darnley (1902)] Internet Archive. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
Fred Karno
In 1906, Darnley was mentioned as general manager and producer in advertising for Fred Karno's companies, second only to Karno himself.{{cite book|author=Robinson, David.|title=Chaplin, the Mirror of Opinion|url=https://archive.org/details/chaplinmirrorofo0000robi|url-access=registration|year=1984|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|isbn=0-253-21160-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/chaplinmirrorofo0000robi/page/10 10]}}
Film
A Darnley ballad was adapted for a nine-minute silent film, Napoleon and the English Sailor, released by Gaumont in 1908, in which he also starred. Shortly afterwards, Gaumont produced a version of Darnley's sketch Moving In using members of his own troupe.{{cite book|author1=Gaudreault, André|author2=Nicolas Dulac|author3=Santiago Hidalgo. (Eds.)|title=A Companion to Early Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sw47z_QctNsC&pg=PA471|year=2012|publisher=John Wiley|isbn=978-1-118-29387-4|page=471}}{{Cite web |url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9fb66aed |title=Herbert Darnley |website=BFI Film Forever |publisher=British Film Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018220828/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9fb66aed |archive-date=2014-10-18 |url-status=dead |access-date=2024-05-22}}
Murder
Darnley wrote By Whose Hand?, a murder story that was staged at the Pavilion Theatre in Leicester, in 1929 in which Dolores played the lead. Darnley gave a speech in which he said he was pleased to remove Dolores from the "human wolves" of London who "were trying to tear her to pieces."{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tulsa-world-a-suicide-club-that-made-lon/147862865/ |title=A Suicide Club That Made London Gasp |newspaper=Tulsa World |page=66 |date=1929-04-21 |access-date=2024-05-22 |via=Newspapers.com}} The production toured throughout 1929, reaching Mexborough and the Theatre Royal, Sheffield.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/ordealofphilipya00whit/page/259/mode/1up |title=The Ordeal of Philip Yale Drew: A Real Life Murder Melodrama in Three Acts |first=Richard |last=Whittington-Egan |author-link=Richard Whittington-Egan |publisher=Penguin Books |place=London |isbn=0140114750 |pages=259–278 |date=1989 |access-date=2024-05-22 |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}
William Hickey
In 1934, Darnley was profiled in the William Hickey "These Names Make News" column in The Daily Express. Darnley was said to have claimed a family history going back more than 250 years in show business, including Edmund Kean and Henry Carey and to have personally started in the business aged 5. The column noted his "sweepstake attitude to life" and his many highs and lows, including owning two theatres, losing thousands in theatrical productions and sleeping rough on the embankment next to the River Thames."Wightman Selectors' Burden", William Hickey, Daily Express, 15 May 1934, p. 6.
Death
In January 1943, Darnley was playing Widow Twankey in the pantomime Aladdin and His Lamp at the Theatre Royal, Exeter which may be his last professional engagement. He died at his home in Brixton on 6 February 1947.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-express-wrote-songs-for-comics/147860953/ |title=Wrote Songs for Comics |newspaper=Liverpool Evening Express |page=1 |date=1947-02-07 |access-date=2024-05-22 |via=Newspapers.com}}England & Wales deaths 1837–2007 Transcription. findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2014. {{subscription required}}
Selected songs
- "That's How We've Made Our Name" (1898)
- "My Way Is Your Way" (1900)
- "My Next Door Neighbour's Garden"
- "What Do You Think of the Irish?"
- "Sons of Our Empire"
- "Some Mother Will Lose a Son"
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Herbert Darnley}}
- [https://archive.org/download/GodSaveTheKingByHerbertDarnley1902/31-GodSaveTheKing1902_64kb.mp3 Herbert Darnley singing "God Save the King".]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvj15UTKlL0 Herbert Darnley singing "My Next Door Neighbour's Garden".]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Darnley, Herbert}}
Category:British theatre managers and producers
Category:British music hall performers
Category:British male comedians