Caricature
January 1907 (drawn)
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This caricature is of Lew Lake and Bob Morris performing their ‘Bloomsbury Burglars’ sketch at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 28 January 1907. 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.
Lew Lake (about 1874–1939) and Bob Morris (1866–1945) started on the halls as stand-up comedians. After they teamed up, they toured music halls for seven years as Nobbler and Jerry in their two-act knockabout sketch ‘The Bloomsbury Burglars’. This was about the attempted capture of two window cleaners-turned-burglars who break into a house in Bloomsbury to recover some incriminating letters. Lake and Morris later wrote and performed two sequels to this, charting the progress of some of its characters. Lake started ‘Lew Lake’s Colossal Comedy Company of Comedians’, for which he developed the sketch ‘The Rib-Nosed Baboon’. This featured 150 ‘extras’. It shows why the company claimed its ‘colossal’ status!
Lew Lake (about 1874–1939) and Bob Morris (1866–1945) started on the halls as stand-up comedians. After they teamed up, they toured music halls for seven years as Nobbler and Jerry in their two-act knockabout sketch ‘The Bloomsbury Burglars’. This was about the attempted capture of two window cleaners-turned-burglars who break into a house in Bloomsbury to recover some incriminating letters. Lake and Morris later wrote and performed two sequels to this, charting the progress of some of its characters. Lake started ‘Lew Lake’s Colossal Comedy Company of Comedians’, for which he developed the sketch ‘The Rib-Nosed Baboon’. This featured 150 ‘extras’. It shows why the company claimed its ‘colossal’ status!
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink and wash on paper |
| Brief description | Caricature of the music hall sketch performers Lew Lake (ca.1874-1939) and Bob Morris (1866-1945) as Nobbler & Jerry in 'The Bloomsbury Burglars', from an album of caricatures drawn by George Cooke. January 1907. |
| Physical description | Pen, ink and wash caricature on pink paper of Lew Lake and Bob Morris as The Bloomsbury Burglars. They are shown in light brown prison uniforms emblazoned with arrow patterns. Lew Lake is holding a mallet while Bob Morris has a pickaxe. |
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| Object history | This caricature is of the sketch performers Lew Lake (c.1874-1939) and Bob Morris (1866-1945) performing their 'Bloomsbury Burglars' sketch at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley during the week of 28 January 1907. Lake and Morris toured for seven years with their knockabout sketch 'The Bloomsbury Burglars' in which they appeared as Nobbler and Jerry. They later wrote and performed two sequels, charting the progress of some of its characters. Lew Lake first appeared in pantomime as a child at the Britannia Theatre Hoxton, and with Bob Morris also ran a boxing booth at fairs. This caricature comes from the second album of caricatures in a collection of albums owned by the Theatre Museum compiled by the graphic artist George Cooke. It is labelled by the artist 'Geo Cooke HYS BOOKE' and features music hall performers working in the early 20th century. |
| Summary | This caricature is of Lew Lake and Bob Morris performing their ‘Bloomsbury Burglars’ sketch at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 28 January 1907. 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. Lew Lake (about 1874–1939) and Bob Morris (1866–1945) started on the halls as stand-up comedians. After they teamed up, they toured music halls for seven years as Nobbler and Jerry in their two-act knockabout sketch ‘The Bloomsbury Burglars’. This was about the attempted capture of two window cleaners-turned-burglars who break into a house in Bloomsbury to recover some incriminating letters. Lake and Morris later wrote and performed two sequels to this, charting the progress of some of its characters. Lake started ‘Lew Lake’s Colossal Comedy Company of Comedians’, for which he developed the sketch ‘The Rib-Nosed Baboon’. This featured 150 ‘extras’. It shows why the company claimed its ‘colossal’ status! |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.393:39-2002 |
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| Record created | November 12, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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