Not on display

Caricature

ca. 1917 (drawn)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Caricature of George Formby from the fourth album that the commercial artist George Cooke used for his caricatures of music hall and variety performers.

It contains caricatures drawn from 1910 to 1919. Originally from Yorkshire, George Cooke specialised in designing illustrated publicity material for performers. These included flyers, letterheads, posters and newspaper advertisements. He was based at the Grand Theatre for several years. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1894. Cooke later moved to Blackpool, where he drew performers at the Palace Theatre.

By 1917 Cooke appears to have moved to London, where he established Cooke’s Publicity Agency at 453 The Strand. We know that he had considered a move to London for some time, since in May 1906, when he was still in Hanley, a note from him was printed in the variety artistes’ magazine The Performer. It read:

Phil Ray says my work’s too good for Hanley; I ought to be in London. But I want money to start with. Who’ll give me some! Griff can’t afford now he’s two families to keep. But he wishes me luck. Many thanks, old friend. GEORGE COOKE, Caricaturist, Hanley.

Phil Ray and Griff were both performers whose caricatures feature in Cooke’s albums.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pen, ink, watercolour and gouache on paper
Brief description
Caricature of the music hall performer George Formby, ca.1917, by George Cooke.
Physical description
Pen, ink, watercolour and gouache portrait of the head of the music hall performer George Formby Senior, wearing a black bowler hat, his white-painted face seen above a black line. In the lower left hand corner of the paper there is a full-length silhouette portrait of him as a shepherd with a crook.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26cm
  • Width: 19.4cm
Marks and inscriptions
'Faithfully yours / George Formby / Palace Blackpool / July 12th 1917' (Written in ink on front of page.)
Subject depicted
Summary
Caricature of George Formby from the fourth album that the commercial artist George Cooke used for his caricatures of music hall and variety performers.

It contains caricatures drawn from 1910 to 1919. Originally from Yorkshire, George Cooke specialised in designing illustrated publicity material for performers. These included flyers, letterheads, posters and newspaper advertisements. He was based at the Grand Theatre for several years. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1894. Cooke later moved to Blackpool, where he drew performers at the Palace Theatre.

By 1917 Cooke appears to have moved to London, where he established Cooke’s Publicity Agency at 453 The Strand. We know that he had considered a move to London for some time, since in May 1906, when he was still in Hanley, a note from him was printed in the variety artistes’ magazine The Performer. It read:

Phil Ray says my work’s too good for Hanley; I ought to be in London. But I want money to start with. Who’ll give me some! Griff can’t afford now he’s two families to keep. But he wishes me luck. Many thanks, old friend. GEORGE COOKE, Caricaturist, Hanley.

Phil Ray and Griff were both performers whose caricatures feature in Cooke’s albums.
Collection
Accession number
S.395:47-2002

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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