Old Mother Riley- Arthur Lucan. The Cinema Museum | nigelthedame Old Mother Riley- Arthur Lucan. The Cinema Museum August 15, 2013 Arthur Lucan – Old Mother Riley In a couple of months time the London Cinema Museum will dedicate a day to the career and films of Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane. A one-day conference celebrating the Life and Films of Arthur Lucan , and the centenary of his marriage to Kitty McShane SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER 2013 Not strictly a “Pantomime” double act, as they rarely appeared in a pantomime, preferring to tour the variety halls with their act, which was pure pantomime in itself. Arthur Lucan was the archetypal dame character, and his wife Kitty the “principal girl” in their “Mother-Daughter” sketches. Their most famous sketch was “Bridget’s Night Out”, which fortunately has survived on film. The sketch involves the long suffering Lucan waiting for “Me Daughter Kitty” to come home. When she does the sketch encompasses double talk comedy, pathos, and a large dose of pure slapstick as a row ensues.

Lucan as his washerwoman character destroys every piece of china on the set- hurling plates, cups and jugs until one piece remains intact..until of course he forgets he’s holding it and smashes it. The moment he realises..not daring to look , holding just the handle as he feels for the non existent jug is pure theatrical magic. On stage Mother Riley and Kitty were constantly rowing. Unfortunately, their off stage rows were bigger than anything they could ever hope to produce on stage. As the undoubted headliners of the Variety Circuit in the 1930’s and ‘40’s they were soon to become film stars. They were to make fifteen films, during which time Mother Riley went to Paris, became an MP, went into the army, ran a circus, was stranded in the jungle, and finally in 1952 scared the life out of Bela Lugosi as “The Vampire”! This last film was without Kitty, by now the on screen/stage relationship had become very bitter indeed. Their Double act was formed in Ireland .

Arthur Lucan was born Arthur Towle in Boston, Lincolnshire in 1887.He toured Ireland as a red nosed baggy trousered clown character, before meeting his subsequent partner, Kitty McShane (born Dublin 1897) in 1913.Arthur created their name “Lucan & McShane” after the Lucan Dairy in Dublin. It was in a small Dublin pantomime that Lucan first put on the costume of the old Irish washerwoman. It was a character he would continue to play until his death in 1954. The Dame in that panto was ill, and Lucan stepped into the role as Dame in “Little Jack Horner”. When they began touring their act their characters were simply “Mother” and “Kathleen”. They brought the act to England in 1919, with a “Family Row” sketch called “Come Over”. Arthur’s catchphrase to Kathleen was a constant “Come over..” An extract goes: Mother “And did he kiss you?” Kathleen: “Yes, and I liked it, and I kissed him back” Mother: “Come over…..WHERE did he kiss you?

Kathleen: “Between the Post Office and the Railway Station” Eventually renamed “Old Mother Riley and her Daughter, Kitty” they appeared at the Alhambra in London in 1925. By 1932 they were starring at the London Palladium, with a dishevelled Mother Riley claiming “Every man before wedlock should be padlocked!” “Bridget’s Night Out” appeared in the Royal Command Performance of 1934. Mother Riley waits for her Daughter to return after a date..”She’s left me all alone and she knows I can only read the clock when it strikes!” The clock strikes….”Oh dear. It’s One O’Clock three times!” By 1937 Lucan and McShane were top of the bill in every major variety house in the country. The first “Mother Riley” film was made. Lucan and McShane were among the highest paid entertainers in the land. On stage Kitty offers to stay at home with Mother. Mother decides to celebrate..”I’ll give you a party. I’ll open a tin of sardines!” Offstage Arthur was a careful man with his money, with the exception of spending it on alcohol.

Kitty made wise investments with her share. In this bill for Leicester, Roy Rolland can be seen billed as part of their touring company. Roy would understudy Arthur, and later play opposite Kitty when she formed a separate variety bill. Kitty made certain Willer Neal received second billing- he played her lover both on and off stage in the role of “Danny Boy”. Lucan and McShane became headliners in every area of Variety- in theatres week after week, on radio and in pantomime. In 1939 they gave Jimmy Clitheroe his major break, casting him in their pantomime « The Old Woman Who Lives In A Shoe » and in the following year in their film « Old Mother Riley in Society ». Their film career brought fame and fortune. These films, over seventeen of them became favourites with children as well as adults. In the 1960’s, after Arthur had died, and when the films were often over twenty years old, they were still repeated in cinemas in Saturday matinees as an added feature, and on television.

The final film in 1952 had Hollywood’s Dracula, Bela Lugosi as guest artiste, before the ailing Hollywood star undertook his own gruelling UK tour in the play and in variety halls. The Films of Arthur Lucan & Kitty McShane Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952) – stars Bela Lugosi . with Dora Bryan. At the time of Lucan’s death he was scheduled to film Old Mother Riley’s Trip to Mars As the years passed Arthur was to lose control of his money, his act, even his very name as Kitty took the reigns. By the end of his career Lucan didn’t even own the rights to call himself “Old Mother Riley”. Kitty was touring their sketches with Arthur’s former understudy, Roy Rolland. At one point there could be two “Old Mother Riley” shows touring the country- one with Kitty, one with Arthur. Such was the case when Arthur met his end, collapsing in the wings of the Tivoli Theatre in Hull. His partnership with Kitty had broken up in 1951.

By the time of their last film they would each come into the studio to record their shots on separate days to avoid speaking to each other. Kitty’s investments had fallen apart- a Beauty parlour she opened lost £40,000, and Arthur owed the Inland Revenue £15,000. Since 1951 He had paid Kitty three quarters of his income. Arthur began to slide into bankruptcy and the bottle. During the stage “Pantomime” “Old Mother Riley In Paris” in Hull Tivoli, Arthur died of heart failure, just before his first entrance. Roland Watson, the chief electrician carried Arthur ‘s body to his dressing room, and Frank Seton, Arthur’s cover was told to get into costume immediately. Whilst attempts were made to telephone Kitty to break the news, Ellis Ashton playing the Mayor announced “A slight delay to the programme”. The show went on with the majority of the audience in ignorance. I have a revue from the paper the next day that begins “despite the tragic death of Arthur Lucan, “Old Mother Riley” it was a splendid show.. costumes bright and…” The show indeed must go on!

When Peter Robbins and I played Panto at Hull New Theatre we asked members of the stage crew for information on the site of the Tivoli- now a bakers and cafe, and were shown the plaque, and the memorabilia inside the cafe. We were taken to where the stage door would have been, and were fortunate that season to meet up with Roland Watson, who told us about Arthur’s funeral, which he attended. We visited the grave with its very modest stone (raised I believe by public subscription) with an epitaph that commended Arthur for the laughter of children everywhere. In recent times this stone has been replaced and a much grander memorial erected in its place, with a quote from one of Arthur’s films. Arthur was buried in Hull- at a time of day that made it impossible for most work colleagues to attend- Arthur’s « Ladies » – his front row fans attended, as did Kitty (arriving with one of arthur’s costumes according to Roland, which she placed on the coffin ), and the ceremony was kept short. Kitty continued to tour with Roy Rolland before retiring.

Roy Rolland Roy played the role for a further twenty three years on and off, and brought the character of Mother Riley to a new generation of young people in appearances in Junior Showtime on Television. Sometimes billed as « Old Mother Kelly » he appeared in a sketch alongside Danny La Rue, recreating Lucan and McShane, with Danny La Rue as Kitty. Roy lived in Rhyl at the end of his touring career, and while I was appearing at the Gaiety Theatre there in the late ‘70’s he would call in sometimes during the matinees, or between shows, perch in the dressing room and talk about his days with Kitty. Dennis Gifford wrote the Obituary of Roy Rolland Following in a film star’s footsteps is not an easy task, even for what today passes for a professional lookalike. But when that star was an old Irish washerwoman in bonnet, shawl and button-boots on the outside, and a man who never showed his private face to the public on the inside, then the substitute performer is a rare one indeed. Such a man was Roy Rolland.

For the younger generation who never saw the famous comedian Arthur Lucan as the original Old Mother Riley, except perhaps in a foggy film re-run on early Channel 4, but instead grew up with Yorkshire Television’s Junior Showtime in the Seventies, the other Old Mother Riley will be an hilarious memory, even if they never knew she was really a man called Rolland. Rolland was born in 1921 in Oldham, Lancashire, and thus, like his Mrs Riley predecessor, was never Irish: Lucan was born Arthur Towle in Boston, Lincolnshire. Despite being 34 years younger than Lucan, when Rolland was in his Riley make-up, white wig with a bun and a big bump on the end of his nose, the two comedians could have done a perfect twin sister act. Of course, Rolland had a master of make-up to show him how, for he had spent some valuable apprentice time both on stage and in film studio as Lucan’s stand-in, doubled for some active scenes, and gone on stage for his guv’nor when Lucan’s liquor consumption rose to an excess, an occurrence ever more frequent in Lucan’s later life.

The teenage Rolland, always in love with show business, started as a lowly cast member of concert parties and seaside summer shows around the North of England. Never making much of a name for himself, it was not until he happened by chance to meet Lucan around 1950 that he got his big break. In 1952 Lucan made his final film, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire, a horror comic starring Bela Lugosi, the original screen Dracula who was touring England at the time. This was Lucan’s only film without his lifetime co-star, Kitty McShane, who had grown too old and overweight to play Ma Riley’s daughter. Dora Bryan was cast instead, and Rolland was Lucan’s stand-in. The Lucan and McShane team finally split assunder with Kitty retiring into drunken management and Lucan into drunken performance. On the evening of 17 May 1954, at the Tivoli Theatre, Hull, as the chorus girls cried “Here comes Old Mother Riley!” Lucan dropped dead in the wings. The understudy Frank Seton took over, and McShane soon sent for Rolland.

For a while Rolland topped the touring bills as both Old Mother Riley and Old Mother Kelly, a name-change that seems to have happened after some contretemps with McShane. She died in 1964, after which Rolland moved to Rhyl. Here at the Gaity Theatre he starred in locally popular revues with a pantomime every Christmas. Naturally he played the dame, who naturally was called Old Mother Riley, but now and then he made a change by portraying a fashionably-frocked Old Mother Goose. In 1974, Jess Yates, then in charge of children’s programmes at Yorkshire Television, was producing a weekly variety show called Junior Showtime. Bobby Bennett, a clever young impressionist (his Hughie Green was especially brilliant), played the host, and tiny Bonnie Langford was his smart little stooge. Inspired perhaps by seeing Rolland at Rhyl, Yates popped him into a regular sketch in the heart of the show. Old Mother Riley, music-hall queen of the Thirties, film star of the Forties, was back in action, a telly star of the Seventies.

Riley entered from her cottage in Paradise Row, waved farewell to Ivy Ginochie, her neighbour, and sang “I’ll Be Your Long Dead Liver From Loverpool” as she made out her shopping list: “Half of best end of duck and three quarters of silverside of goose!” I was the script-writer, drawing on my many memories of the original. But there was one major difference between Lucan and Rolland, despite the arms that wagged like railway signals and funny flat feet. Rolland was completely unable to manage the proper Riley gabble-talk, much of which I still recall from Lucan’s 1942 radio series. “Good evening, Mr and Mrs Wavelength, long, short and medium, Home and Forces and the cat’s- whisker. It’s me, I’m here and I’m taking the air!” After the Jess Yates scandals and the disappearance of Junior Show Time, Rolland found himself a guest star in Danny La Rue’s Summer Show at the Blackpool Opera House. Here the two masters of drag played Mother Riley and her daughter Kitty in the remarkable recreation of the first great Lucan and McShane sketch from the 1930s.

“Bridget’s Night Out” began with Riley lamenting the lateness of Kitty’s homecoming. The clock strikes three: “One o’clock three times!” The finale is a melee of smashed crockery as a huge dresser full of plates and dishes is reduced to rubble. It was the last laugh of British music-hall and of Rolland. Roy Rolland, comedian: born Oldham, Lancashire 29 June 1921; died Rhyl, Clwyd 16 August 1997. Frank Seton was the actor called upon to take to the stage as Old Mother Riley as Arthur Lucan’s body was being taken to his dressing room. I had the joy and pleasure of working with Frank in two pantomimes, and he told me that despite everyone asking about “That” night- it had been a small part of a wonderful career, and was, of course a long time ago for a man that very much lived in the present. Frank Seton- an obituary by Brian Lake.

Obit When Arthur Lucan dropped dead in the wings of the Tivoli Theatre, Hull, on Monday 17 May 1954, Frank Seton stepped into the costume of Old Mother Riley, the music-hall, pantomime, radio and cinema character who had been created by Lucan in 1934. Roy Rolland, chief understudy for the part, was not present on the night and after only a short break Seton took to the boards. He was described in the Hull Daily Mail the next morning as “a repertory and touring actor” who “acquitted himself so well” it was “a miracle”. Seton himself said afterwards: “You can’t really take over a part like Old Mother Riley. It is entirely [Lucan’s] own characterisation. You just can’t mimic him.” Frank Seton was born Francis Poupart in 1918, in Walton-on-Thames, south-west of London, into a family of market gardeners who became one of the biggest firms in the old Covent Garden, with impressive premises in Long Acre, turning over £80m in 1995, the company’s centenary year.

Attracted to acting rather than an active role in the family business, he took the stage name of Frank Seton from the book that happened to be in his hand in 1937 when he completed his Diploma at Rada. His first professional performance was later that year in Southampton (where, coincidentally Poupart’s had a branch); his last was in a touring production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1997. Seton’s career of 60 years spanned music hall, repertory, touring, pantomime, television and film. He was rarely top of the bill – Toad of Toad Hall in 1984 was one exception – but rarely out of work. Well over a hundred appearances in television through the 1950s to 1980s made him a familiar face, without becoming a familiar name. His credits are impressive for viewers of a certain age: Dixon of Dock Green, Quatermass and the Pit, Z Cars, three small parts in Doctor Who (including a Sea Devil), Compact, The Two Ronnies, Rumpole, Ghost Squad, No Hiding Place.

In between times, Frank Seton travelled extensively, “collecting” theatres as football fans sometimes “collect” grounds. A voracious reader, he also collected books – often purchased from bookshops while on provincial tours. By the late 1980s, the collecting became more focused on the women writers of the 19th century – Mrs Braddon, Mrs Oliphant, Fanny Trollope and Mrs Gore being particular favourites – all this well before the burgeoning of modern academic “Women’s Studies”. Latterly, his interests shifted to obscure male writers such as the long-forgotten G.P.R. James, whose turgid historical romances following in the footsteps of Sir Walter Scott received much warmer critical reviews from Seton – no doubt heralding a revival of interest in the not too distant future. Perhaps it is wrong to say he was a “collector”, for his library, from first edition to cheap reprint, contained only books to read. He was a genuinely nice person, someone who it was always a pleasure to anticipate meeting, always a pleasure to meet – full of generous gestures, jokes and bonhomie.

While undertaking renovations to his house in London, he acted the part of a workman (not so difficult for a man who had played “walk on” parts), looking busy but not fooling a real handyman who commented to one of Seton’s relations: “I don’t know why you employ that bloke – he doesn’t DO anything.” A recent note sent, by post of course, to Jarndyce bookshop reads: Advance Warning. An elderly book collector who is in such a low state that he has been reduced to buying NEW books will put his nose round the door . . . in search of a tonic. Can you put a spring in the step of this old party? Alas, no more. Brian Lake Kitty died ten years after Arthur in March, 1964. They leave behind a legacy of films and the memorable “Bridget’s Night Out” as an example of comic genius and timing at its zenith. In the 1980’s Maureen Lipman and Brian Murphy appeared as Lucan and McShane in the excellent play ater- “On Your Way Riley!” Arthur’s Blue Plaque in Forty Lane, Wembley, London.

Recently one of the last living connections with Arthur Lucan’s life in variety theatre dies. Dr Robert Kenny published this obituary of Slim Ingram, Stage Manager: CYRIL (SLIM) INGRAM 1925-2013 Many senior members of the profession will learn with sadness of the passing of Slim Ingram, peacefully at his home in Blackpool on 15 June, aged 88. Cyril Ingram, always known as Slim, started life in the theatre at the age of ten, doing odd jobs for his uncle who was the manager of the New Theatre, Northampton. In the 1940s he embarked on his long career in stage management and direction. Slim was a gifted all-rounder and during more than half a century in the business he worked with a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of artists in comedy, variety and pantomime. In his later years Slim was manager of the St Helens Theatre Royal, but his involvement in pantomime did not end until the early 1990s when he appeared in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Bradford Alhambra, with a young Max Boyce who became a firm friend.

The theatre was Slim’s life, and well into his seventies he continued to work as company manager both touring and in the theatres in Blackpool for Brian Connelly, Cannon & Ball, Hale & Pace and of course Max Boyce, working for International Artistes. But perhaps Slim’s most abiding claim to fame was as company manager and stage director for the two Gaston and Andrée touring shows between 1952 and 1954 which starred Arthur Lucan as Old Mother Riley, without his wife Kitty McShane, from whom he had split acrimoniously. Arthur collapsed in the wings of the Tivoli Theatre Hull on Monday 17 May 1954 while waiting to go on. Slim carried him to his dressing room where he died. Slim’s last letter to the stage in June 1997 was an attempt to correct some erroneous impressions about Arthur’s last years.

I had the good fortune to meet Slim recently while writing a new study of the lives and films of Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane, and he told me at great length of his two years as the close friend and confidante of the man critics have called ‘a comic genius.’ The information Slim gave me has helped me to revise and correct the story of Lucan’s last years, and I had hoped that Slim might be well enough to come to ‘A Celebration of the Lives and Films of Lucan and McShane’ to be held at the London Cinema Museum on 12 October. Instead, we shall show a filmed interview Slim gave some years ago to the actor Matt Grindley. The tribute at Slim’s humanist funeral on 28 June was spoken by his old friend Bobby Ball of Cannon and Ball. The opening music was the Old Mother Riley jig, and the large congregation said farewell to the strains of Monty Python’s ‘Always look on the Bright Side of Life.’ Slim was twice married, to Melody and Jill, both deceased, and he is survived by Jill’s daughter Emma.

Slim was a true theatrical old-timer, and Emma tells me that as he slipped away he murmured most appropriately, ‘Move those rostra to the back of the stage!’ Robert V Kenny If you get a chance – go along to the fascinating jewel that is the London Cinema Museum , Tucked away in Kennington London, close to the Elephant and Castle, the story of Arthur, Kitty and the magic that was « Old Mother Riley and Her Daughter, Kitty » will be revealed in what looks to be a fascinating in depth event including talks, discussions and film screenings. Speakers will include Arthur Lucan & Kitty McShane - Old Mother Riley's Past, 1941 - YouTube Arthur Lucan & Kitty McShane - Old Mother Riley's Past, 1941 Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Jan 20, 2015 Arthur Lucan (September 16, 1885, Sibsey, Lincolnshire – May 17, 1954, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire) was an English actor who gained fame as Old Mother Riley on stage, radio and also screen, with a series of comedy films between the late 1930s and early 1950s. Lucan was born as Arthur Towle, the third of seven children born to Tom Towle, a groom, and his wife Lucy Ann Mawer. When he was five years old, the family moved to nearby Boston, Lincolnshire, later making his first acting appearance at the town's Shodfriars Hall. After leaving school, he left home to pursue a career in music hall. He gained a job with a family troupe called the Musical Cliftons, and later as sidekick to a comedian called Will Pepper. Lucan was appearing in Dublin where he met and married the 16 year old Kitty McShane in 1913. The couple had one son, Donald Daniel Towle (b.

2 October 1915, Dublin –d. 1970), and became an incredibly successful double act. They achieved some success with a sketch called "Bridget's Night Out". For this he first wore drag, and began to develop the character of Old Mother Riley. Whilst in Dublin, he changed his name to Lucan, and they continued to perform as 'Lucan and McShane'. The act was so successful, they played it to the 1934 Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium, the most prestigious engagement of its time. However, their marriage proved to be a volatile union, and Lucan and McShane separated in 1951. Lucan, as 'Old Mother Riley' was last seen on stage at the Theatre Royal, Barnsley on 14 May 1954. The following Monday he was to appear in revue at the Tivoli, Hull. Ellis Aston was the first on stage to compere the forthcoming show. But Lucan had collapsed behind the scenes and died shortly after in his dressing room. He was 68 years old.

The site now houses a bakery and cafe, where there is a memorial bust of Arthur Lucan, together with various memorabilia from his career. He is buried in Hull's Eastern Cemetery. Lucan was a member of the Savage Club. In recent years, the club has held Old Mother Riley evenings, as a tribute to Lucan's talent. KITTY McSHANE..... Kathleen "Kitty" McShane (19 May 1897 – 24 March 1964) was an Irish actress, best known as the wife and acting partner of Arthur Lucan, with whom she appeared in a series of Old Mother Riley stage shows and films from the 1930s to the 1950s. Catherine McShane was born in Dublin, Ireland, the fourth of seventeen children born to Daniel and Kate McShane, of whom only seven survived to adulthood. In 1910 Arthur Lucan was touring Ireland and was playing his pantomime Little Red Riding Hood in Dublin. Here he met McShane, who successfully auditioned for a part in the show as a singer.

Aged just 16 she married the 28 year old Lucan on 25 November 1913 at the Church of St Andrews in Dublin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Instant Video Play: Arthur Lucan & Kitty McShane, 1941 - Old Mother Riley On The Farm Arthur Lucan & Kitty McShane, 1941 - Old Mother Riley On The Farm Details Arthur Lucan & Kitty McShane, 1941 - Old Mother Riley On The Farm Arthur Lucan (September 16, 1885, Sibsey, Lincolnshire – May 17, 1954, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire) was an English actor who gained fame as Old Mother Riley on stage, radio and also screen, with a series of comedy films between the late 1930s and early 1950s. Lucan was born as Arthur Towle, the third of seven children born to Tom Towle, a groom, and his wife Lucy Ann Mawer. When he was five years old, the family moved to nearby Boston, Lincolnshire, later making his first acting appearance at the town's Shodfriars Hall.

After leaving school, he left home to pursue a career in music hall. He gained a job with a family troupe called the Musical Cliftons, and later as sidekick to a comedian called Will Pepper. Lucan was appearing in Dublin where he met and married the 16 year old Kitty McShane in 1913. The couple had one son, Donald Daniel Towle (b. 2 October 1915, Dublin –d. 1970), and became an incredibly successful double act. They achieved some success with a sketch called "Bridget's Night Out". For this he first wore drag, and began to develop the character of Old Mother Riley. Whilst in Dublin, he changed his name to Lucan, and they continued to perform as 'Lucan and McShane'. The act was so successful, they played it to the 1934 Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium, the most prestigious engagement of its time. However, their marriage proved to be a volatile union, and Lucan and McShane separated in 1951.

Lucan, as 'Old Mother Riley' was last seen on stage at the Theatre Royal, Barnsley on 14 May 1954. The following Monday he was to appear in revue at the Tivoli, Hull. Ellis Aston was the first on stage to compere the forthcoming show. But Lucan had collapsed behind the scenes and died shortly after in his dressing room. He was 68 years old. The site now houses a bakery and cafe, where there is a memorial bust of Arthur Lucan, together with various memorabilia from his career. He is buried in Hull's Eastern Cemetery. Lucan was a member of the Savage Club. In recent years, the club has held Old Mother Riley evenings, as a tribute to Lucan's talent. KITTY McSHANE..... Kathleen "Kitty" McShane (19 May 1897 – 24 March 1964) was an Irish actress, best known as the wife and acting partner of Arthur Lucan, with whom she appeared in a series of Old Mother Riley stage shows and films from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Catherine McShane was born in Dublin, Ireland, the fourth of seventeen children born to Daniel and Kate McShane, of whom only seven survived to adulthood. In 1910 Arthur Lucan was touring Ireland and was playing his pantomime Little Red Riding Hood in Dublin. Here he met McShane, who successfully auditioned for a part in the show as a singer. Aged just 16 she married the 28 year old Lucan on 25 November 1913 at the Church of St Andrews in Dublin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Allan Sherman – My Son the Vampire | Iron Leg Allan Sherman – My Son the Vampire Greetings all. I don’t always have something ready for Halloween, but when I do, it’s a doozy. I must preface this post by looking backward many years to the many enjoyable lunches I spent rapping with my old buddy Voger. Though (sadly) we haven’t seen each other in years, for close to 20 years – when we both worked at a newspaper where neither of us works any longer – we took every opportunity possible to converse about pop culture of all kinds.

We weren’t that far apart in age, but both of us had what might be described as an unhealthy obsession with the old, black and white years of showbiz, from decades before either of us was born. There’s something special about the kind of bond that forms when you’re probably the only two people in a building holding hundreds that have any idea who Mr Fields and Stinky were on the old Abbott and Costello Show. One of the cooler things he introduced me to way back when, was a bizarre movie called ‘Mother Riley Meets the Vampire’ aka ‘Vampire Over London’ aka ‘My Son the Vampire’. The movie, initially released in 1952 was one of series of flicks featuring an English drag performer named Arthur Lucan, who portrayed a character named ‘Old Mother Riley’. Arthur Lucan as ‘Old Mother Riley’, and Bela Lugosi as ‘Von Housen’ He created the character as part of music hall act with his wife Kitty McShane (who often played Mother Riley’s daughter), moving on to a successful series of films (Lucan was one of the UK’s biggest wartime movie stars) and even a comic strip.

The character was so beloved, that after Lucan’s death in 1954, another actor, Roy Rolland took over the role and continued to play it on stage and TV into the 1980s. ‘Mother Riley Meets the Vampire’ was not only the last ‘Mother Riley’ film, but also a late entry into the Bela Lugosi filmography. Lugosi plays a mad scientist with an army of uranium controlled robots,who also happens to believe he’s a vampire (I mean it’s Bela Lugosi, so what did you expect…). The movie – which I saw thanks to my man Voger – is a bit of low comedy, of interest as part of the English drag continuum (see Python, Monty) and as Lugosi-ana. However, the movie had a second life, thanks in part to the rise of Allan Sherman. I’ll assume that most of you over a certain age already know/dig Allan Sherman, a kind of proto-Weird Al (with a healthy shmear of New York Jewish culture), who is best remembered these days for his big 1963 hit ‘Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter From Camp)’.

Sherman recorded a series of very funny albums in the early-to-mid 60s, composed of song parodies. Admittedly, how funny you find them will have a lot to do with the breadth of your cultural grasp (and probably your age). Many of his funniest numbers tap into NY/suburban Jewish culture, and are based on older pop songs and classical pieces. I love his records, but I was also lucky enough to have a 4th grade teacher (where are you now Mrs Teller??) who played his records for us. They made me laugh then back in 1971, and they make me laugh today. I have no idea who had the idea to resurrect an obscure British film, have Allan Sherman create a theme song for it and rename it to tie it into Sherman’s string of album titles, i.e. ‘My Son the Folksinger’, ‘My Son the Celebrity’ and ‘My Son the Nut’, but thus was born ‘My Son, The Vampire’. Opening with a bizarre percussive prelude, the song opens up into a pseudo-tango, with Sherman shouting either “BLOOD!” or “BLAAHHH!”, then launching into a fairly typical, fairly funny lyric.

The record went exactly nowhere (which is where the movie went, too), but it still makes for an interesting footnote in the Allan Sherman story, and a nice little Halloween treat. I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week. Oh, and…Goodnight Voger, wherever you are. Peace NOTE: Stay tuned for a tribute to the late, great Jack Bruce on the next episode of the Iron Leg Radio Show Comedy | Iron Leg Iron Leg Greetings all. Today I bring you a very groovy novelty 45. Those of you under a certain age will likely be unfamiliar with Michael J Pollard, and those of you under a certain (older) age, who didn’t live in the New York area will most certainly not know Jim Lowe. The intersection of these two characters makes for one of the weirdest 45s/stories in the annals of Iron Leg. We’ll start with Lowe, who was, during my 60s and 70s childhood a fixture on the huge adult contemporary radio station in NY, WNEW-AM (alongside William B Williams).

Lowe was a journeyman DJ, but he also has a lucrative sideline as a recording artist, having hit Number One in 1956 with the original version of ‘Green Door’ (later waxed instrumentally by Esquerita) and a string of pop songs and novelties into the 70s. Michael J Pollard was for a time – say 1964 to 1971 – the quirky face of young/unusual/hip Hollywood. Kind of the original ‘indie darling’, though he worked consistently in mainstream TV (Lost In Space, Star Trek) and movies (Bonnie and Clyde, Little Fauss and Big Halsy). He had a unique look, a quirky personality and the ability to portray everything from simple naivete to quiet menace. I don’t know exactly how Jim Lowe decided to build this song around Pollard, but the basic concept, i.e. a “gag” candidacy was already in the air with Pat Paulsen (of the Smothers Brothers Show) throwing his hat into the ring.

The song namechecks all the mainstream candidates (though the line ‘I don’t see Dick’ seems a little odd…), then with a circus calliope and a chorus, he suggests ‘Michael J Pollard for President’. My guess – and this seems likely – is that Pollard represented a kind of lost, anchor-less youth (he is referred to in the song as a ‘hippy’) that would probably appeal to kids but bring nothing but eye-rolls and derision from their parents. Pollard himself doesn’t appear on the record, other than in an impression by Lowe in the last ten second of the song. The music is pretty groovy, in a ‘mainstream studio guys go au-go-go’ and the conceit is pretty wild. I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you next week. Peace Greetings all. I thought I come to you in the Christmas season with something different. As far as I can tell, I’ve never posted any comedy records here at Iron Leg (aside from the Homer and Jethro 45 from a few years back).

The Credibility Gap were one of the more interesting comedy troupes of the late 60s and early to mid 70s, an incubator of talent that would produce Harry Shearer, Micheal McKean and David L Lander. Shearer went on to be part of Spinal Tap (alongside McKean) and the Simpsons, with McKean and Lander making their mark as “Lenny and Squiggy”on ‘Laverne and Shirley’, with McKean going on to be a key member of Christopher Guest’s stock company. The Credibility Gap (L-R) Micheal McKean, Harry Shearer, Richard Beebe, David L Lander The Credibility Gap started out (with a bunch of different members) doing radio satire in late 1960s Los Angeles. The membership of the group evolved over the years to the point where the three members listed above – along with Richard Beebe – became the core. They made a number of albums for a few different labels (all out of print) and a couple of rare shorter pieces, like today’s selection.

‘Something for Mary’ was recorded in 1973 and released as a promo-only 45, with the stereo mix on one side and the mono on the other. It was a take-off on ‘rock operas’, whittling the pretentious construct down to its essence, clocking in a under five minutes, and telling the story of the birth of Jesus (VERY irreverently). It bounces around between musical styles and references, tipping it’s hat to ‘Tommy’, Bob Dylan, the Three Stooges, musicals like HAIR and Godspell, and popular Christmas songs. There’s even a mock-funky drum break! The vocals are supplied by McKean, Shearer, Lander and Renee Plant, with both Shearer and McKean contributing instrumentally. It’s brilliantly weird, especially considering how compact the whole thing is, which also requires that you listen multiple times to pick up on all the references. It’s very cool, and hopefully, some time in the New Year I’ll do a longer piece on the group on the Iron Leg Radio Show. I hope you dig it, Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you all next week. Peace Greetings all.

I don’t always have something ready for Halloween, but when I do, it’s a doozy. I must preface this post by looking backward many years to the many enjoyable lunches I spent rapping with my old buddy Voger. Though (sadly) we haven’t seen each other in years, for close to 20 years – when we both worked at a newspaper where neither of us works any longer – we took every opportunity possible to converse about pop culture of all kinds. We weren’t that far apart in age, but both of us had what might be described as an unhealthy obsession with the old, black and white years of showbiz, from decades before either of us was born. There’s something special about the kind of bond that forms when you’re probably the only two people in a building holding hundreds that have any idea who Mr Fields and Stinky were on the old Abbott and Costello Show. One of the cooler things he introduced me to way back when, was a bizarre movie called ‘Mother Riley Meets the Vampire’ aka ‘Vampire Over London’ aka ‘My Son the Vampire’.

The movie, initially released in 1952 was one of series of flicks featuring an English drag performer named Arthur Lucan, who portrayed a character named ‘Old Mother Riley’. Arthur Lucan as ‘Old Mother Riley’, and Bela Lugosi as ‘Von Housen’ He created the character as part of music hall act with his wife Kitty McShane (who often played Mother Riley’s daughter), moving on to a successful series of films (Lucan was one of the UK’s biggest wartime movie stars) and even a comic strip. The character was so beloved, that after Lucan’s death in 1954, another actor, Roy Rolland took over the role and continued to play it on stage and TV into the 1980s. ‘Mother Riley Meets the Vampire’ was not only the last ‘Mother Riley’ film, but also a late entry into the Bela Lugosi filmography. Lugosi plays a mad scientist with an army of uranium controlled robots,who also happens to believe he’s a vampire (I mean it’s Bela Lugosi, so what did you expect…).

The movie – which I saw thanks to my man Voger – is a bit of low comedy, of interest as part of the English drag continuum (see Python, Monty) and as Lugosi-ana. However, the movie had a second life, thanks in part to the rise of Allan Sherman. I’ll assume that most of you over a certain age already know/dig Allan Sherman, a kind of proto-Weird Al (with a healthy shmear of New York Jewish culture), who is best remembered these days for his big 1963 hit ‘Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter From Camp)’. Sherman recorded a series of very funny albums in the early-to-mid 60s, composed of song parodies. Admittedly, how funny you find them will have a lot to do with the breadth of your cultural grasp (and probably your age). Many of his funniest numbers tap into NY/suburban Jewish culture, and are based on older pop songs and classical pieces. I love his records, but I was also lucky enough to have a 4th grade teacher (where are you now Mrs Teller??) who played his records for us.

They made me laugh then back in 1971, and they make me laugh today. I have no idea who had the idea to resurrect an obscure British film, have Allan Sherman create a theme song for it and rename it to tie it into Sherman’s string of album titles, i.e. ‘My Son the Folksinger’, ‘My Son the Celebrity’ and ‘My Son the Nut’, but thus was born ‘My Son, The Vampire’. Opening with a bizarre percussive prelude, the song opens up into a pseudo-tango, with Sherman shouting either “BLOOD!” or “BLAAHHH!”, then launching into a fairly typical, fairly funny lyric. The record went exactly nowhere (which is where the movie went, too), but it still makes for an interesting footnote in the Allan Sherman story, and a nice little Halloween treat. I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week. Oh, and…Goodnight Voger, wherever you are.

Peace NOTE: Stay tuned for a tribute to the late, great Jack Bruce on the next episode of the Iron Leg Radio Show Film, stage and television UK: Old Mother Riley (4/16) Film, Stage and Television UK For discussion on screen stars. Page: Thank you received: 14 Karma: 2 They had a son named Donald Daniel Towle (1915-1970) so if you can trace his descendants, if there are any, then they might tell you. On Ancestry.co.uk there is the family tree of Arthur so I have sent a message to the person responsible so let's hope I get a reply. The administrator has disabled public write access. Old Mother Riley 27 Nov 2015 19:43 #956 john l Arthur Towle was in Ireland, staging a pantomime version of “Little Red Riding Hood”, which he had written, at the Queen’s Theatre, Dublin. He played the grandmother, and a 13 year old local girl, Catherine McShane, took the role of Red Riding Hood.

Arthur and “Kitty” soon became good friends, and against her parents’ wishes they married in 1913, as soon as she was 16. At around the same time, Arthur changed his surname to Lucan, This image is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it. Arthur and Kitty on their wedding day. The administrator has disabled public write access. Old Mother Riley 27 Nov 2015 23:04 #957 That's an awesome find. Well done. It looks like he was a serviceman. The administrator has disabled public write access. The following user(s) said Thank You: john l Old Mother Riley 27 Nov 2015 23:48 #959 john l I`ve done a print out of the photo on high gloss paper and it`s quite good a little grainy but it`s an old photo. The administrator has disabled public write access. Old Mother Riley 02 Dec 2015 00:00 #996 john l Some information and obits.

for three people who worked with Arthur Lucan,this post is a little long but well worth the read i found lots of new information. Roy Rolland Arthur Lucan`s "Old Mother Riley"understudy for many years. Frank Seton obit. Frank Seton after a short break went on stage the night Arthur Lucan died as Old Mother Riley. CYRIL (SLIM) INGRAM 1925-2013. one of the last living connections with Arthur Lucan’s life in variety theatre. Roy played the role for a further twenty three years on and off, and brought the character of Mother Riley to a new generation of young people in appearances in Junior Showtime on Television. Sometimes billed as « Old Mother Kelly » he appeared in a sketch alongside Danny La Rue, recreating Lucan and McShane, with Danny La Rue as Kitty. Roy lived in Rhyl at the end of his touring career, and while I was appearing at the Gaiety Theatre there in the late ‘70’s he would call in sometimes during the matinees, or between shows, perch in the dressing room and talk about his days with Kitty. This image is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it.

Dennis Gifford wrote this Obituary of Roy Rolland Following in a film star’s footsteps is not an easy task, even for what today passes for a professional lookalike. But when that star was an old Irish washerwoman in bonnet, shawl and button-boots on the outside, and a man who never showed his private face to the public on the inside, then the substitute performer is a rare one indeed. Such a man was Roy Rolland. For the younger generation who never saw the famous comedian Arthur Lucan as the original Old Mother Riley, except perhaps in a foggy film re-run on early Channel 4, but instead grew up with Yorkshire Television’s Junior Showtime in the Seventies, the other Old Mother Riley will be an hilarious memory, even if they never knew she was really a man called Rolland. Rolland was born in 1921 in Oldham, Lancashire, and thus, like his Mrs Riley predecessor, was never Irish: Lucan was born Arthur Towle in Boston, Lincolnshire.

Despite being 34 years younger than Lucan, when Rolland was in his Riley make-up, white wig with a bun and a big bump on the end of his nose, the two comedians could have done a perfect twin sister act. Of course, Rolland had a master of make-up to show him how, for he had spent some valuable apprentice time both on stage and in film studio as Lucan’s stand-in, doubled for some active scenes, and gone on stage for his guv’nor when Lucan’s liquor consumption rose to an excess, an occurrence ever more frequent in Lucan’s later life. The teenage Rolland, always in love with show business, started as a lowly cast member of concert parties and seaside summer shows around the North of England. Never making much of a name for himself, it was not until he happened by chance to meet Lucan around 1950 that he got his big break. In 1952 Lucan made his final film, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire, a horror comic starring Bela Lugosi, the original screen Dracula who was touring England at the time.

This was Lucan’s only film without his lifetime co-star, Kitty McShane, who had grown too old and overweight to play Ma Riley’s daughter. Dora Bryan was cast instead, and Rolland was Lucan’s stand-in. The Lucan and McShane team finally split assunder with Kitty retiring into drunken management and Lucan into drunken performance. On the evening of 17 May 1954, at the Tivoli Theatre, Hull, as the chorus girls cried “Here comes Old Mother Riley!” Lucan dropped dead in the wings. The understudy Frank Seton took over, and McShane soon sent for Rolland. For a while Rolland topped the touring bills as both Old Mother Riley and Old Mother Kelly, a name-change that seems to have happened after some contretemps with McShane. She died in 1964, after which Rolland moved to Rhyl. Here at the Gaity Theatre he starred in locally popular revues with a pantomime every Christmas. Naturally he played the dame, who naturally was called Old Mother Riley, but now and then he made a change by portraying a fashionably-frocked Old Mother Goose.

In 1974, Jess Yates, then in charge of children’s programmes at Yorkshire Television, was producing a weekly variety show called Junior Showtime. Bobby Bennett, a clever young impressionist (his Hughie Green was especially brilliant), played the host, and tiny Bonnie Langford was his smart little stooge. Inspired perhaps by seeing Rolland at Rhyl, Yates popped him into a regular sketch in the heart of the show. Old Mother Riley, music-hall queen of the Thirties, film star of the Forties, was back in action, a telly star of the Seventies. Riley entered from her cottage in Paradise Row, waved farewell to Ivy Ginochie, her neighbour, and sang “I’ll Be Your Long Dead Liver From Loverpool” as she made out her shopping list: “Half of best end of duck and three quarters of silverside of goose!” I was the script-writer, drawing on my many memories of the original. But there was one major difference between Lucan and Rolland, despite the arms that wagged like railway signals and funny flat feet.

Rolland was completely unable to manage the proper Riley gabble-talk, much of which I still recall from Lucan’s 1942 radio series. “Good evening, Mr and Mrs Wavelength, long, short and medium, Home and Forces and the cat’s- whisker. It’s me, I’m here and I’m taking the air!” After the Jess Yates scandals and the disappearance of Junior Show Time, Rolland found himself a guest star in Danny La Rue’s Summer Show at the Blackpool Opera House. Here the two masters of drag played Mother Riley and her daughter Kitty in the remarkable recreation of the first great Lucan and McShane sketch from the 1930s. “Bridget’s Night Out” began with Riley lamenting the lateness of Kitty’s homecoming. The clock strikes three: “One o’clock three times!” The finale is a melee of smashed crockery as a huge dresser full of plates and dishes is reduced to rubble. It was the last laugh of British music-hall and of Rolland.

Roy Rolland, comedian: born Oldham, Lancashire 29 June 1921; died Rhyl, Clwyd 16 August 1997. Frank Seton was the actor called upon to take to the stage as Old Mother Riley as Arthur Lucan’s body was being taken to his dressing room. I had the joy and pleasure of working with Frank in two pantomimes, and he told me that despite everyone asking about “That” night- it had been a small part of a wonderful career, and was, of course a long time ago for a man that very much lived in the present. Frank Seton- an obituary by Brian Lake. Obit When Arthur Lucan dropped dead in the wings of the Tivoli Theatre, Hull, on Monday 17 May 1954, Frank Seton stepped into the costume of Old Mother Riley, the music-hall, pantomime, radio and cinema character who had been created by Lucan in 1934. Roy Rolland, chief understudy for the part, was not present on the night and after only a short break Seton took to the boards.

He was described in the Hull Daily Mail the next morning as “a repertory and touring actor” who “acquitted himself so well” it was “a miracle”. Seton himself said afterwards: “You can’t really take over a part like Old Mother Riley. It is entirely [Lucan’s] own characterisation. You just can’t mimic him.” Frank Seton was born Francis Poupart in 1918, in Walton-on-Thames, south-west of London, into a family of market gardeners who became one of the biggest firms in the old Covent Garden, with impressive premises in Long Acre, turning over £80m in 1995, the company’s centenary year. Attracted to acting rather than an active role in the family business, he took the stage name of Frank Seton from the book that happened to be in his hand in 1937 when he completed his Diploma at Rada. His first professional performance was later that year in Southampton (where, coincidentally Poupart’s had a branch); his last was in a touring production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1997.

Seton’s career of 60 years spanned music hall, repertory, touring, pantomime, television and film. He was rarely top of the bill – Toad of Toad Hall in 1984 was one exception – but rarely out of work. Well over a hundred appearances in television through the 1950s to 1980s made him a familiar face, without becoming a familiar name. His credits are impressive for viewers of a certain age: Dixon of Dock Green, Quatermass and the Pit, Z Cars, three small parts in Doctor Who (including a Sea Devil), Compact, The Two Ronnies, Rumpole, Ghost Squad, No Hiding Place. In between times, Frank Seton travelled extensively, “collecting” theatres as football fans sometimes “collect” grounds. A voracious reader, he also collected books – often purchased from bookshops while on provincial tours.

By the late 1980s, the collecting became more focused on the women writers of the 19th century – Mrs Braddon, Mrs Oliphant, Fanny Trollope and Mrs Gore being particular favourites – all this well before the burgeoning of modern academic “Women’s Studies Latterly, his interests shifted to obscure male writers such as the long-forgotten G.P.R. James, whose turgid historical romances following in the footsteps of Sir Walter Scott received much warmer critical reviews from Seton – no doubt heralding a revival of interest in the not too distant future. Perhaps it is wrong to say he was a “collector”, for his library, from first edition to cheap reprint, contained only books to read. He was a genuinely nice person, someone who it was always a pleasure to anticipate meeting, always a pleasure to meet – full of generous gestures, jokes and bonhomie.

While undertaking renovations to his house in London, he acted the part of a workman (not so difficult for a man who had played “walk on” parts), looking busy but not fooling a real handyman who commented to one of Seton’s relations: “I don’t know why you employ that bloke – he doesn’t DO anything.” A recent note sent, by post of course, to Jarndyce bookshop reads: Advance Warning. An elderly book collector who is in such a low state that he has been reduced to buying NEW books will put his nose round the door . . . in search of a tonic. Can you put a spring in the step of this old party? Alas, no more. Kitty died ten years after Arthur in March, 1964. They leave behind a legacy of films and the memorable “Bridget’s Night Out” as an example of comic genius and timing at its zenith. In the 1980’s Maureen Lipman and Brian Murphy appeared as Lucan and McShane in the excellent play ater- “On Your Way Riley!” Recently one of the last living connections with Arthur Lucan’s life in variety theatre dies.

Dr Robert Kenny published this obituary of Slim Ingram, Stage Manager: CYRIL (SLIM) INGRAM 1925-2013 The tribute at Slim’s humanist funeral on 28 June was spoken by his old friend Bobby Ball of Cannon and Ball. The opening music was the Old Mother Riley jig, and the large congregation said farewell to the strains of Monty Python’s ‘Always look on the Bright Side of Life.’ Slim was twice married, to Melody and Jill, both deceased, and he is survived by Jill’s daughter Emma. Slim was a true theatrical old-timer, and Emma tells me that as he slipped away he murmured most appropriately, ‘Move those rostra to the back of the stage!’ Robert V Kenny author of a forthcoming study, The Man who was Old Mother Riley. The administrator has disabled public write access. Old Mother Riley 02 Dec 2015 07:49 #997

Question: Which music hall actor invented the character of Old Mother Riley, a part he was to play in 16 films?
Answer: ARTHUR LUCAN