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Caricature
Cooke, George - Enlarge image
Caricature
- Date:
September 1906 (drawn)
- Artist/Maker:
Cooke, George (artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pen and ink and wash on paper
- Museum number:
S.393:31-2002
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This caricature is of Neil Kenyon when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 10 September 1906. It is one of the many superb caricatures of Edwardian music hall performers that were drawn by the artist George Cooke when he was based at the Grand Theatre. He compiled them in a series of albums.
A review of his performance at Hanley praised Kenyon for his song ‘Simple Sandy’, ‘so quaintly sung, and accompanied as it was by such excellent patter’.
Neil Kenyon (1873-1946) was the Scottish comedian and singer Neil McKinnon. He began his acting career touring with stock companies performing in melodrama and burlesque, and later in Shakespeare revivals produced by Osmond Tearle. He made his variety debut at the London Pavilion in 1904, with songs and musical monologues in broad Scottish dialect. These included ‘The Caddie’, ‘The Stationmaster of Dunrobin’ and ‘The Postie of Dunrobin’. He also appeared in pantomime. In 1913 he performed in a unique private Royal Variety performance for George V and Queen Mary at Lord Derby’s mansion at Knowlsey, near Liverpool.
