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Caricature
Cooke, George - Enlarge image
Caricature
- Date:
25 October 1904 (drawn)
- Artist/Maker:
Cooke, George (artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pen and ink and wash on paper
- Museum number:
S.392:25-2002
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This caricature is of Gilbert Girard when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 24 October 1904. He was billed as the ‘Phenomenal Animal and Instrumental Imitator’. 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. Also on the bill that week were Joe Peterman’s company in The Belle of New York and Cliff Ryland. They were also drawn by Cooke. Gilbert Girard performed in the halls in the early 1900s billed as an ‘Animal and Instrumental Mimic’, and at London's Canterbury Music Hall in 1906 as ‘The Human Harp’. This image shows that his animal impressions included a dogfight and a cat courtship. In February 1910 he was still advertising himself in Great Britain in The Performer magazine as an animal and instrumental mimic. But by 1919 he was on Broadway in America, in Penny Wise (1919) and later in Twelve Miles Out (1925).
