Harry Weldon

My missus’s tightly bound, she’s all tightly bound Ultramarine

The early letters of Lowry have several references to music hall stars such as Stanley Lupino and Milton Hayes. We can only presume from the detail of the letters that Lowry was aware of these stars because he had seen them either on trips to local theatres or when he was on holiday on the Isle of Man or Devon. Lowry mentions several local theatres with music hall traditions in his works including the Argyle and Hippodrome Theatres in Birkenhead and the Olympia in Liverpool.



The above song is an unidentified one performed by Harry Weldon at the Derby Castle theatre in Douglas on the Isle of Man. This reference probably relates to a Lowry family holiday made in 1923 to the island.



Harry Weldon was a big star in music hall and variety, and first appeared in London in 1900, coining the catchphrase “S’No Use!” and creating a popular song from it. Harry Weldon initially came to fame as part of Fred Karno's Company when he played opposite Charlie Chaplin in the sketch "The Football Match". Harry Weldon then used the character of Stiffy, the Goal Keeper, as the mainstay of his solo act. Other characters developed including his boxing skit "The White Hope”. Apparently he cut a very strange figure with his centre-parted wig, eccentric clothes, eyes that always seemed to be shut and a voice of whistling sibilance. He had a unique style, and frequently used the conductor of the orchestra as an extra part in his performance. Harry Weldon's conversational style and his use of the absurd may have appealed to the young Lowry. He worked until he died in 1930 aged forty-nine.

Here is one of his performances:



You can hear some of his recording on a CD called The White Hope



You can hear one of Weldon's songs ''The Policeman' on a podcast here

You can see Harry's daughter Maisie performing impressions of her father below:

MAISIE WELDON (on sleeve as WELDOM) (issue title RIGHT TURN)

My Sweet Hortense

A gramophone was going somewhere, playing My Sweet Hortense. The street was mainly unlighted, but there were dim lamps in some of the windows. Girls called to us as we passed by. Ultramarine

Lowry refers to the popular song My Sweet Hortense in Ultramarine as Dana trawls his way through the red light district of Dairen.

The other day I met a jay his name was Hezekiah
I had to grin to hear him chin about his hearts desire
I said I bet your little pet is just a real vampire
He answered hey there pal she ain't that kinda gal.

Oh! oh! oh! my sweet Hortense She ain't good lookin' but she's got good sense
Before I kiss Hortense I always buy a nickles worth of peppermints
Rain makes flowers pretty I hear I hope it pours on her for a year
That would be immense Yer never met a gal like sweet Hortense
Oh! oh! oh! my sweet Hortense She ain't good lookin' but she's got good sense
Before I kiss Hortense I always buy a nickles worth of peppermints

And by the way I'd like to say he took 'er to the preacher
The preacher said come right ahead Im mighty glad to meet yer
He whispered Hez the good book says that you're a lucky creature
And when he kissed the bride we're even Hezie cried.

Oh! oh! oh! my sweet Hortense She ain't good lookin' but she's got good sense
Before I kiss Hortense I always buy a nickles worth of peppermints
She's got dandy teeth in her mouth one points north and the other points south
Say they're both immense Yer never met a gal like sweet Hortense
Oh! oh! oh! my sweet Hortense She ain't good lookin' but she's got good sense
Before I kiss Hortense I always buy a nickles worth of peppermints

The lyrics were written by Joe Young & Sam Lewis with music by Walter Donaldson

Victor Vorzanger's Famous Broadway Band, Stanley C. Holt's Quintette, Jack Hylton, Fred Douglas, The Vocalion Dance Orchestra, Fred Whitehouse amongst countless others recorded the song. Therefore it is impossible to determine what version Lowry was referring to in Ultramarine.

I haven't been able to find any recordings to date of the song so I have decided to post a song by Victor Vorzanger's Famous Broadway Band to perhaps give an idea of what it may have sounded like:



I couldn't resist thinking what Fred Douglas may have made of the song which may have appealed to Malc:

Stanley Lupino

We don't have precise details of exactly how many trips Lowry made to music halls in Birkenhead, Liverpool, Cambridge or London. However, there are clues scattered amongst his work and his early letters that he was very familiar with music halls which was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920's.

In a letter to his teenage friend Carol Brown in early May 1926, Lowry mentions Stanley Lupino who was a comedian who Lowry must have seen in pantomine or at a music hall.

And then you fairly rubbed it in about being in love with love and not with me. Do I need telling that? Why, as Stanley Lupino says, Why Naow. Collected Letters of Malcolm Lowry Volume 1

Stanley Lupino (15 May 1893 - 10 June 1942) was an English actor, dancer, singer, librettist, director and short story writer.

Lupino began his career as an acrobat and made his stage debut in 1913 and first became known as a music hall performer and played in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Between the wars, Lupino wrote and performed in several shows, including Phi-Phi (1922) and From Dover Street to Dixie (1923) at the London Pavilion, and several at the Gaiety Theatre in London, including Love Lies (1929), Hold my Hand (1932), and Sporting Love (1934), which ran for 302 performances. He also wrote and starred in So this is Love (1929) at Drury Lane. He also performed extensively for BBC radio. Later, he turned to screenwriting and films, although he also continued on stage in works like Lady Behave (1941).

STANLEY LUPINO

Lupino was a member of the celebrated theatrical Lupino family. His father was actor George Lupino. He was the brother of actor Barry Lupino and the father of Ida Lupino. Lupino published From the stocks to the stars: an unconventional autobiography in 1934. Wikipedia