Wee Georgie Wood - Revision history

Kurt at 21:39, 15 February 2023

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	\| name = Wee Georgie Wood		\| name = Wee Georgie Wood
	\| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire\|OBE]]		\| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire\|OBE]]
	\| image = Wee Georgie Wood ~~(1924)~~.jpg		\| image = Wee Georgie Wood.jpg
	~~\| image_upright = 0.75~~
	\| alt =		\| alt =
	\| caption = ~~Wood in 1924~~		\| caption =
	\| birth_name = George Wood Bamlett		\| birth_name = George Wood Bamlett
	\| birth_date = {{birth date\|1895\|12\|17\|df=y}}		\| birth_date = {{birth date\|1895\|12\|17\|df=y}}

Kurt at 21:24, 15 February 2023

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	==Biography==		==Biography==
	~~[[File:George Bamlett, grocer, arrested for assault (21962905846).jpg\|thumb\|right\|Wee Georgie's father, George Bamlett]]~~
	He was born in [[Jarrow]], [[County Durham]], but within a few weeks of his birth moved to [[South Shields]] where his father owned a [[pawnbroker]]'s shop.<ref name=baker>Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, {{ISBN\|978-1-78383-118-0}}, pp.81-83</ref> His parents were George Bamlett and Georgina, ''née'' Wood, who divorced in 1908 on account of his father's adultery.<ref>England and Wales Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1918, ''Georgina Bamlett v. George Bamlett''</ref> He had a form of [[dwarfism]], as an adult reaching a height of {{convert\|4\|ft\|9\|in\|m\|abbr=on}}, and retaining an [[voice change\|unbroken voice]].		He was born in [[Jarrow]], [[County Durham]], but within a few weeks of his birth moved to [[South Shields]] where his father owned a [[pawnbroker]]'s shop.<ref name=baker>Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, {{ISBN\|978-1-78383-118-0}}, pp.81-83</ref> His parents were George Bamlett and Georgina, ''née'' Wood, who divorced in 1908 on account of his father's adultery.<ref>England and Wales Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1918, ''Georgina Bamlett v. George Bamlett''</ref> He had a form of [[dwarfism]], as an adult reaching a height of {{convert\|4\|ft\|9\|in\|m\|abbr=on}}, and retaining an [[voice change\|unbroken voice]].

	From the age of five, he started performing in [[Concert party (entertainment)\|concert parties]] as an entertainer, and at the age of 13 was still able to perform in the guise of a five-year-old.<ref name=baker/> For much of his career he was guided and managed by his mother, Georgina ({{nee}} Wood), and by his teens he had become the family's main earner. He joined the Levy and Cardwell company touring around music halls, performed in [[pantomime]]s, and in 1908 made his first solo appearance onstage doing impressions of music hall stars [[Vesta Tilley]] and [[George Lashwood]]. In 1914, he was in a company that toured Australia.<ref name=behind>[http://www.its-behind-you.com/dollyharmer.html Nigel Ellacott, "Dolly Harmer and 'Wee' Georgie Wood", ''It's Behind You'']. Retrieved 19 February 2021</ref> He was originally billed as 'the Boy Phenomenon', but he dropped the name after one theatre mistakenly advertised him as 'the Boy Euphonium'.<ref name="London Secret">{{cite book \|last=Bushell \|first=Peter \|title=London's Secret History \|url=https://archive.org/details/londonssecrethis0000bush \|url-access=registration \|publisher=Constable \|date=1983 \|pages=[https://archive.org/details/londonssecrethis0000bush/page/179 179–180]}}</ref>		From the age of five, he started performing in [[Concert party (entertainment)\|concert parties]] as an entertainer, and at the age of 13 was still able to perform in the guise of a five-year-old.<ref name=baker/> For much of his career he was guided and managed by his mother, Georgina ({{nee}} Wood), and by his teens he had become the family's main earner. He joined the Levy and Cardwell company touring around music halls, performed in [[pantomime]]s, and in 1908 made his first solo appearance onstage doing impressions of music hall stars [[Vesta Tilley]] and [[George Lashwood]]. In 1914, he was in a company that toured Australia.<ref name=behind>[http://www.its-behind-you.com/dollyharmer.html Nigel Ellacott, "Dolly Harmer and 'Wee' Georgie Wood", ''It's Behind You'']. Retrieved 19 February 2021</ref> He was originally billed as 'the Boy Phenomenon', but he dropped the name after one theatre mistakenly advertised him as 'the Boy Euphonium'.<ref name="London Secret">{{cite book \|last=Bushell \|first=Peter \|title=London's Secret History \|url=https://archive.org/details/londonssecrethis0000bush \|url-access=registration \|publisher=Constable \|date=1983 \|pages=[https://archive.org/details/londonssecrethis0000bush/page/179 179–180]}}</ref>
			[[File:George Bamlett, grocer, arrested for assault (21962905846).jpg\|thumb\|right\|Wee Georgie's father, George Bamlett]]
	In 1917, he met fellow performer Dolly Harmer (born Sarah Elizabeth Caron, 1867–1956). She was the daughter of Pierre Caron, who performed as Peter Harmer, and had worked in music halls since the 1880s. She and Wood established a working relationship in which she played Wood's mother, continuing to perform in the role for over 35 years. Together they performed [[sketch comedy\|comedy sketches]] in which she would try to persuade him to behave properly. They toured together, worldwide, but usually performed in separate pantomimes during the winter months.<ref name=behind/><ref name=baker/> They appeared in [[Royal Variety Performance]]s in 1927 and 1931.<ref>[https://www.royalvarietycharity.org/royal-variety-performance-home/artistes "Artistes at the Royal Variety Performance", ''Royal Variety Charity'']. Retrieved 19 February 2021</ref>		In 1917, he met fellow performer Dolly Harmer (born Sarah Elizabeth Caron, 1867–1956). She was the daughter of Pierre Caron, who performed as Peter Harmer, and had worked in music halls since the 1880s. She and Wood established a working relationship in which she played Wood's mother, continuing to perform in the role for over 35 years. Together they performed [[sketch comedy\|comedy sketches]] in which she would try to persuade him to behave properly. They toured together, worldwide, but usually performed in separate pantomimes during the winter months.<ref name=behind/><ref name=baker/> They appeared in [[Royal Variety Performance]]s in 1927 and 1931.<ref>[https://www.royalvarietycharity.org/royal-variety-performance-home/artistes "Artistes at the Royal Variety Performance", ''Royal Variety Charity'']. Retrieved 19 February 2021</ref>

Kurt at 21:23, 15 February 2023

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	~~{{short description\|British actor and comedian}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=August 2016}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=August 2016}}~~
	{{Infobox person		{{Infobox person
	\| name = Wee Georgie Wood		\| name = Wee Georgie Wood
	\| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire\|OBE]]		\| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire\|OBE]]
	\| image = Wee Georgie Wood (1924).jpg		\| image = Wee Georgie Wood (1924).jpg
			\| image_upright = 0.75
	\| alt =		\| alt =
	\| caption = Wood in 1924		\| caption = Wood in 1924
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	==Biography==		==Biography==
	[[File:George Bamlett, grocer, arrested for assault (21962905846).jpg\|thumb\|~~left~~\|Wee Georgie's father, George Bamlett]]		[[File:George Bamlett, grocer, arrested for assault (21962905846).jpg\|thumb\|right\|Wee Georgie's father, George Bamlett]]
	He was born in [[Jarrow]], [[County Durham]], but within a few weeks of his birth moved to [[South Shields]] where his father owned a [[pawnbroker]]'s shop.<ref name=baker>Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, {{ISBN\|978-1-78383-118-0}}, pp.81-83</ref> His parents were George Bamlett and Georgina, ''née'' Wood, who divorced in 1908 on account of his father's adultery.<ref>England and Wales Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1918, ''Georgina Bamlett v. George Bamlett''</ref> He had a form of [[dwarfism]], as an adult reaching a height of {{convert\|4\|ft\|9\|in\|m\|abbr=on}}, and retaining an [[voice change\|unbroken voice]].		He was born in [[Jarrow]], [[County Durham]], but within a few weeks of his birth moved to [[South Shields]] where his father owned a [[pawnbroker]]'s shop.<ref name=baker>Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, {{ISBN\|978-1-78383-118-0}}, pp.81-83</ref> His parents were George Bamlett and Georgina, ''née'' Wood, who divorced in 1908 on account of his father's adultery.<ref>England and Wales Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1918, ''Georgina Bamlett v. George Bamlett''</ref> He had a form of [[dwarfism]], as an adult reaching a height of {{convert\|4\|ft\|9\|in\|m\|abbr=on}}, and retaining an [[voice change\|unbroken voice]].

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	==External links==		==External links==
	* {{IMDb name\|0940079}}		* {{IMDb name\|0940079}}

	~~{{Authority control}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Wee Georgie}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Wee Georgie}}

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{{short description|British actor and comedian}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Wee Georgie Wood
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]
| image = Wee Georgie Wood (1924).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Wood in 1924
| birth_name = George Wood Bamlett
| birth_date = {{birth date|1895|12|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Jarrow]], [[County Durham]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|2|19|1895|12|17|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Bloomsbury]], London, England
| nationality = British
| other_names =
| spouse = {{marriage|Ewing Eaton|1932|1936|end=div}}
| known_for =
| occupation = Comic entertainer, actor
| years_active = 1900–1953
}}

'''George Wood Bamlett''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (17 December 1895<ref>England and Wales Civil Registration Birth Index, March quarter 1896, volume 10a, page 804</ref> – 19 February 1979), known professionally as '''Wee Georgie Wood''', was a British comic entertainer and actor who appeared in films, plays and [[music hall]] revues. He had a lengthy career of over fifty years, based on exploiting the childlike appearance that he retained in adulthood.

==Biography==
[[File:George Bamlett, grocer, arrested for assault (21962905846).jpg|thumb|left|Wee Georgie's father, George Bamlett]]
He was born in [[Jarrow]], [[County Durham]], but within a few weeks of his birth moved to [[South Shields]] where his father owned a [[pawnbroker]]'s shop.<ref name=baker>Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, {{ISBN|978-1-78383-118-0}}, pp.81-83</ref> His parents were George Bamlett and Georgina, ''née'' Wood, who divorced in 1908 on account of his father's adultery.<ref>England and Wales Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1918, ''Georgina Bamlett v. George Bamlett''</ref> He had a form of [[dwarfism]], as an adult reaching a height of {{convert|4|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}, and retaining an [[voice change|unbroken voice]].

From the age of five, he started performing in [[Concert party (entertainment)|concert parties]] as an entertainer, and at the age of 13 was still able to perform in the guise of a five-year-old.<ref name=baker/> For much of his career he was guided and managed by his mother, Georgina ({{nee}} Wood), and by his teens he had become the family's main earner. He joined the Levy and Cardwell company touring around music halls, performed in [[pantomime]]s, and in 1908 made his first solo appearance onstage doing impressions of music hall stars [[Vesta Tilley]] and [[George Lashwood]]. In 1914, he was in a company that toured Australia.<ref name=behind>[http://www.its-behind-you.com/dollyharmer.html Nigel Ellacott, "Dolly Harmer and 'Wee' Georgie Wood", ''It's Behind You'']. Retrieved 19 February 2021</ref> He was originally billed as 'the Boy Phenomenon', but he dropped the name after one theatre mistakenly advertised him as 'the Boy Euphonium'.<ref name="London Secret">{{cite book |last=Bushell |first=Peter |title=London's Secret History |url=https://archive.org/details/londonssecrethis0000bush |url-access=registration |publisher=Constable |date=1983 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/londonssecrethis0000bush/page/179 179–180]}}</ref>

In 1917, he met fellow performer Dolly Harmer (born Sarah Elizabeth Caron, 1867–1956). She was the daughter of Pierre Caron, who performed as Peter Harmer, and had worked in music halls since the 1880s. She and Wood established a working relationship in which she played Wood's mother, continuing to perform in the role for over 35 years. Together they performed [[sketch comedy|comedy sketches]] in which she would try to persuade him to behave properly. They toured together, worldwide, but usually performed in separate pantomimes during the winter months.<ref name=behind/><ref name=baker/> They appeared in [[Royal Variety Performance]]s in 1927 and 1931.<ref>[https://www.royalvarietycharity.org/royal-variety-performance-home/artistes "Artistes at the Royal Variety Performance", ''Royal Variety Charity'']. Retrieved 19 February 2021</ref>

Wood has been termed "a brilliant [[raconteur]]... [and] a very funny comedian".<ref name="London Secret"/> However, according to music hall historian [[Roger Wilmut]], Wood's material "is difficult to take today – such humour as there is is swamped by a treacly sentimentality...".<ref name=wilmut>Roger Wilmut, ''Kindly Leave the Stage: The Story of Variety 1919-1960'', Methuen, 1985, {{isbn|0-413-48960-4}}, p.42</ref> He was considered to have been one of the most successful pantomime stars of his era and remained a popular performer through the 1920s and 1930s, though his style became increasingly outdated and it became more difficult for him to act the part of a child.<ref name=baker/>

He married an American entertainer, Ewing Eaton, on 7 April 1933,<ref>New York Marriage License Indexes 1907-2018</ref> though the marriage was brief and in later years Wood refused to speak of it.<ref name=baker/><ref name=hudd/> On another occasion, a girl's mother begged him to end a relationship, saying: "Let's face it Georgie, you're a midget." Wood never forgot the remark; reportedly he could never recount the story without bursting into tears, though with age and experience, "he learned to treat his shortness with a degree of humour".<ref name="London Secret"/>

He supported charitable causes and in 1936 was appointed chairman or 'King Rat' of the [[Grand Order of Water Rats]]. However, he wrote a book, ''Royalty, Religion and Rats!'', which gave away some of the organisation's secrets, and as a result was expelled from it, only being readmitted in 1970.<ref name=baker/>

During the [[Second World War]], Wood toured widely with Harmer as part of [[ENSA]], and regained some of his popularity. The pair are estimated to have played over 500 shows and travelled some 70,000 miles as entertainers during the war, and as a result Wood was awarded the [[OBE]] for services to the entertainment industry in King [[George VI]]'s [[Birthday Honours List]] in 1946, shortly after his mother's death.<ref name=behind/><ref>''Sunderland Echo'', 24 June 1946, p. 4</ref>

Wood and Harmer performed together until 1953, when they made a mutual decision to retire.<ref name=behind/> Harmer died in 1956, aged 89. Wood remained active in [[show business]] circles, and was a member of the [[Savage Club]]. He also wrote a column in the weekly ''[[The Stage]]'' newspaper. According to writer [[Richard Anthony Baker]], he was known as "an omnivorous reader with a prodigious memory, but he made sure people knew it...".<ref name=baker/> Comedian [[Roy Hudd]] described him as a "fanatical" convert to [[Catholicism]], "vociferous", "outspoken" and "self-opinionated".<ref name=hudd>Roy Hudd and Philip Hindin, ''Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts'', Robson Books, 1998, {{ISBN|1-86105-206-5}}, pp.201-202</ref>

Wood died at Gordon Mansions in [[Bloomsbury]], London, on 19 February 1979, aged 83.<ref name="London Secret"/>
[[File:Wee Georgie Wood on Blackpool's Walk of Fame Comedy Carpet, 2022.jpg|thumb|Wee Georgie Wood on Blackpool's Walk of Fame Comedy Carpet, 2022]]

==In popular culture==
The [[Wee Georgie Wood Railway]] is a tramway in [[Tasmania]] named after him.

Wee Georgie Wood is mentioned at the end of the song "[[Dig It (The Beatles song)|Dig It]]" from [[the Beatles]]' album ''[[Let It Be (Beatles album)|Let It Be]]''. He is also mentioned in the ''[[High & Dry (1987 TV series)|High & Dry]]'' episode "The Pier", in which Trevor suggests that they could hire Wee Georgie Wood at the pier theatre, and in the ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'' episode "A Short Blast of [[Fred Astaire]]" in which Pearl tells her husband Howard he's not "big enough to be Wee Georgie Wood!".

==Selected filmography==
* ''[[Convict 99 (1919 film)|Convict 99]]'' (1919) - James, the office boy
* ''[[Two Little Drummer Boys]]'' (1928)
* The Black Hand Gang (1930)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Wood |first=Georgie |date=1948 |title=I had to be Wee |location=London |publisher=Hutchinson & Co}} (autobiography)

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0940079}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Wee Georgie}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:Music hall performers]]
[[Category:People from Jarrow]]
[[Category:Male actors from Tyne and Wear]]
[[Category:Actors from County Durham]]
[[Category:English male stage actors]]
[[Category:English male comedians]]
[[Category:Entertainers with dwarfism]]
[[Category:Vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:20th-century English comedians]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism]]