George Formby Sr.

George Formby was born James Booth in 1875 in Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire. He began his career, as a singer, in 1899 as one half of the Brothers Glenray. Three years later when his voice was changing, he added comedy to the act. While waiting for a train to an engagement, he noticed a passing freight with a number of cars labelled Formby, the name of a small town for which they were bound. Booth liked the sound of the name, added George & became George Formby star of the British Music Halls. The same year that he began his career, he met & married Eliza Hoy who bore him a son in 1904 who took the name of George Hoy. Formby made his first recordings in 1907 but, unlike other Music Hall stars of the day, he found no trouble in performing for just the microphone & no audience. He even conversed with the microphone as if it were a living person. In 1914, he made his only screen appearance in 'No Fool Like an Old Fool' & the following years his son made his screen début in 'By the Shortest of Heads' as George Formby Jnr. Formby was plagued with ill health early in life which led to one of his opening lines, 'I'm coughing better today' & 'It's not the coughin' that carries you off, it's the coffin they carry you off in!' Few people were aware that he had been stricken with consumption. In 1920, while performing in a Xmas pantomime in Newcastle, George Formby collapsed. He was taken to his hôme in Warrington where he died on February 8, 1921. He was survived by his wife & son.