Tom Finglass
{{Short description|Irish-born British entertainer (1879–1957)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Thomas Patrick Finglass (17 November 1879Thomas Finglass, music hall artist; 1939 England and Wales RegisterIreland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915 – 31 May 1957) was an Irish blackface tenor who had a successful career in British music hall. He was sometimes billed as The Ideal Coon.
He played the legendary blackface performer Eugene Stratton (1861–1918) in the 1940 film You Will Remember which tells the story of songwriter Leslie Stuart's (1863–1928) life.[https://books.google.com/books?id=KtZ22A3HL5AC&q=Lily+of+Laguna+stuartYou&pg=PA203 Will Remember] Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Sup Volume 7 of Hollywood classics , John Reid, 2005. {{ISBN|1411629094}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20120803092826/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6bb7a249 You Will Remember] British Film Institute. Accessed 2013[https://books.google.com/books?id=p6UV_Y76mUgC&dq=Tom+Finglass&pg=PA225 You Will Remember] John Reid, Hollywood Movie Musicals, 2006, page 225. {{ISBN|1411697626}}
Biography
Finglass was born in Dublin. In 1930, he teamed up with songwriter Fred Godfrey to create a variety act featuring Godfrey's hit songs. Finglass would sing while Godfrey played the piano. The act was extremely successful and topped the bill at venues in the 1930s.
Finglass retired from regular performing in the late 1930s and subsequently made his living in London as a hairdresser. He appeared in the 1943 film Variety Jubilee, playing Eugene Stratton. The film depicts life in a London music hall from 1892 to the 1940s.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2B4akeeB4A Variety Jubilee] at the IMDB. Accessed April 2013 He also came out of retirement briefly in 1950 to portray Stratton once more in a BBC tribute to that singer.[http://www.fredgodfreysongs.ca/Artists/finglass_tom.htm Tom E. Finglass (1880?–1957)] at Bless ’Em All: The Songs of Fred Godfrey , Barry Norris. Accessed 2013
He died in Forest Hill, London, and was survived by his wife, Irene.
References
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- S. Theodore Felstead, Stars Who Made the Halls: A Hundred Years of English Humour, Harmony and Hilarity (London: T. Werner Laurie, 1946), p. 58.
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2B4akeeB4A Lily of Laguna] sung in the 1934 film Those were the days. The film credits the singer as G H Elliott, however the artist bears no resemblance to Elliott but does resemble Finglass.
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Category:Singers from Dublin (city)
Category:Irish music hall performers
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