George Cooke Caricatures

George Cooke was a caricatures artist who drew Edwardian music hall performers for the Grand Theatre of Varieties, in Hanley Worcestershire. He compiled them in a series of albums.


This is the frontispiece for the first of several albums of caricatures of music hall performers by George Cooke. The Dame figure in a roundel is probably a caricature of Cooke himself. The performers below represent the comedian Edwin Boyde, right, and the mimic Leo Tell, left. [link]


Carl Hertz, or Leib Morgenstern, when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 9 January 1905. He was billed as ‘The Famous Carl Hertz. In his gigantic show of Marvellous Illusions and Surprises. The most elaborate and sensational conjuring show ever presented. Assisted by Mlle. Dalton’. His acts at Hanley included making a birdcage and canary disappear and discovering the canary in the pocket of an audience member. He also performed there the ‘mystifying movements of a clock dial, which stops at any time spectators may desire, and records the numbers of a throw of a dice before the dice have actually been used’. [link]


Juno Salmo, ‘The Golden Mephisto’, when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley. This was either during the week of 2 January 1905 or 16 April 1906. The contortionist Juno Salmo was known as the homme grenouille or ‘frog-man’ when he performed in Paris with the Nouveau Cirque in a frog costume. He dislocated his shoulders, hopped around the aquatic part of the ring and did acrobatic contortions on a trapeze that appeared to be made of bamboo. He is seen here doing a similar act, but balancing on a pole dressed as a yellow devil. [link]


Comedian Edwin Boyde performing the sketch ‘Bread and Jam’ at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 12 December 1904. He was billed enthusiastically as ‘London’s Greatest Comedian’. From all the principal London music halls’. [link]


The Three Meers when they were performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 17 October 1904. They were billed as ‘An Eccentric Wire Act. Fifteen Minutes of Continuous Laughter’. [link]


Woody Kelly as a whiskered tramp character. He was performing at the Grand Theatre, Hanley, during the week of 10 June 1907. The act was billed as ‘Kelly and Gilette in the sketch “Fun in a Billiard Room”’. [link]


Dr Carl Hermann when he was topping the bill at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 26 February 1906. He was billed as ‘The Man who Tamed Electricity! The Human Resistance Coil! The Modern Miracle Worker! Hypnotist! Electrician! Scientist! Performs the Feat of Passing over 10,000 Volts of Electricity Through his Body! The Sensation of the Century! Doctor Amazed! Scientists Puzzled!’. [link]


Comedian Will Manning of Manning’s Entertainers. He was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 19 December 1904. The company had appeared there the previous March, and now they were billed as ‘The Welcome Return of Manning’s Entertainers in the Convulsing Carnival of Uproarious Mishaps’. [link]


Comedian George Gilbey when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 26 December 1904. He was billed as ‘Mr George Gilbey. From the Principal London Variety Theatres’. [link]

Caricature of the contortionist George Antill, who performed at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 15 August 1904. He was billed as ‘Comedian. The Evening Shadow’. [link]

Morris & Morris when they were performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 1 August 1904. They were billed as ‘a pair of real good comedians’. When they appeared previously at the Grand in September 1903, the review noted that, ‘Their fun in the trapeze is equal to anything that has been seen here’. [link]


Comic duo Burns & Evans performing spoof acrobatics at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 8 August 1904. They were billed as ‘American comedians, as Alfonso and Gasten in "Funnambulism" [link]


Caricature of the American performer Wieland when he was topping the bill at the Hippodrome, Stoke-on-Trent, during the week of 24 July 1905. He was billed as ‘The Great Wieland. America’s Foremost Comedy Juggler’. [link]


Sam Mayo, ‘The Immobile One’, when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 29 May 1905. He was billed as ‘the Original Immobile Comedian’. [link]
And here is a 1922 song that I very much enjoy by Sam Mayo, called Things Are Worse In Russia

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all of these come from the Victoria and Albert Museum [link]