- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy "The Diamond Jubilee - A Classical Celebration Album" for just £2.50. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
 Trade In this Item for up to £5.10
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The King's Jester: The Life of Dan Leno, Victorian Comic Genius for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £5.10, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Barry Anthony has learned so much more than I about the great little clown who became the King's Jester. He has brought it all together in this fascinating and so well documented story of Dan Leno's life and times.' --Roy Hudd President of the British Music Hall Society
Product Description
Who was Dan Leno? In 1901 everyone in Britain knew who he was. They had seen him live on the music hall stage, listened to his jokes on the new gramophone and watched his funny antics in some of the earliest moving pictures. Even King Edward VII was a fan and the popular press dubbed Dan Leno 'The King's Jester'. But his path to fame was a hard one: he journeyed from being a child performer in the London and Liverpool slums to a chaotic career in hard-bitten northern variety theatres. Dan became the nation's favourite comedian, but as one of the first mass media stars he suffered from this continual exposure and died at the early age of forty three. Drawing on many previously unused sources, this is first, authoritative, biography of Dan Leno. Only Charlie Chaplin, often compared to Dan in style and appearance, was to occupy a similar position in the hearts of the British public. In telling the full story of Dan's life and career on the stage and screen, Barry Anthony brings to life the everyday life of Victorian Britain, as well as Dan's unique brand of humour and its resonance with later comedians such as Spike Milligan and the Monty Python team.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A few years ago - having been interested in Dan Leno's reputation as "the funniest man on Earth" - I bought a CD of archive recordings of his work. I didn't expect them to be side-splittingly funny after a century and I was surprised to find myself laughing out loud at some of his quirky lines ("We've been out of work twelve months. They knocked the house down where we used to stand at the corner."), and marvelling at his inventiveness. In one monologue about 'The Robin' he leaves several seconds of silence, a daring use of a new aural medium.
This new book places Leno firmly in context as an important figure in British humour. Prior to him music hall was filled with larger than life 'lions comiques' such as George "Champagne Charlie" Leybourne or traditional figures like Harlequin and Pantaloon. Dan Leno created humour from real-life figures we see in our daily lives: downtrodden husbands, waiters, shop workers, gossiping housewives, even scheming politicians. He paved the way for stars such as Buster Keaton, Will Hay and Laurel and Hardy. Some of his rambling monologues sound remarkably like Frankie Howerd's material ("No. I'm wrong. Wait. No. That's right, yes. And there was a postman in it as well somewhere.") The sub-title of this book calls Dan Leno a "Victorian Comic Genius" and fulfils the promise by showing us how original and ground-breaking he really was. If his humour seems commonplace now, it is because it has become the accepted template for today's comedy.
Unfortunately Dan Leno died far too soon at the age of 43. Apart from his recordings there are only about 30 seconds of moving picture footage. These only give a tantalising glimpse of his humour, and no idea at all of how he could work to a live audience. If he had been given another 20 years of life we would have better films and recordings, another 30 and we might have had talking films (albeit of an old man).
He may seem a distant figure from a forgotten era, but this book shows why Dan Leno's memory should be preserved. The human race will always need laughter and we should be grateful to those who provide it. This book is highly recommended.
This new book places Leno firmly in context as an important figure in British humour. Prior to him music hall was filled with larger than life 'lions comiques' such as George "Champagne Charlie" Leybourne or traditional figures like Harlequin and Pantaloon. Dan Leno created humour from real-life figures we see in our daily lives: downtrodden husbands, waiters, shop workers, gossiping housewives, even scheming politicians. He paved the way for stars such as Buster Keaton, Will Hay and Laurel and Hardy. Some of his rambling monologues sound remarkably like Frankie Howerd's material ("No. I'm wrong. Wait. No. That's right, yes. And there was a postman in it as well somewhere.") The sub-title of this book calls Dan Leno a "Victorian Comic Genius" and fulfils the promise by showing us how original and ground-breaking he really was. If his humour seems commonplace now, it is because it has become the accepted template for today's comedy.
Unfortunately Dan Leno died far too soon at the age of 43. Apart from his recordings there are only about 30 seconds of moving picture footage. These only give a tantalising glimpse of his humour, and no idea at all of how he could work to a live audience. If he had been given another 20 years of life we would have better films and recordings, another 30 and we might have had talking films (albeit of an old man).
He may seem a distant figure from a forgotten era, but this book shows why Dan Leno's memory should be preserved. The human race will always need laughter and we should be grateful to those who provide it. This book is highly recommended.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The new biography of the Music Hall star - Dan Leno - by Barry Anthony must be classified as the 'definitive' biography of this great artist.
Anthony's research is impeckable. The anecdotes and personal details are informative and delightful. Also the picture he paints of what it was like to be a Music Hall performer in the heyday of that medium, gives one a sense of re-living the times and trials of the many thousands of performers of the period. Anthony also gives vivid pictures of the managements and the audiences in the various types of music-hall venue.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.The Victorian Music Hall: Culture, Class and Conflict
Anthony's research is impeckable. The anecdotes and personal details are informative and delightful. Also the picture he paints of what it was like to be a Music Hall performer in the heyday of that medium, gives one a sense of re-living the times and trials of the many thousands of performers of the period. Anthony also gives vivid pictures of the managements and the audiences in the various types of music-hall venue.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.The Victorian Music Hall: Culture, Class and Conflict
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Dan Leno was a god to me" - Charles Chaplin, 1921
This book is fantastic, I did not want to put it down. It is meticulously researched, with photos and sketches of the great comic. You would think our sense of humour has changed since Dan's time, but this book had me roaring with laughter. It is also fascinating to anyone interested in the Victorian poor, the Music Hall, pantomime, clog dancing, or Victorian London and the north. Very highly recommended.
This book is fantastic, I did not want to put it down. It is meticulously researched, with photos and sketches of the great comic. You would think our sense of humour has changed since Dan's time, but this book had me roaring with laughter. It is also fascinating to anyone interested in the Victorian poor, the Music Hall, pantomime, clog dancing, or Victorian London and the north. Very highly recommended.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > Britain
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Ireland
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Criticism & Theory
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > History of Film > Britain
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
