George H. Chirgwin

George H. Chirgwin (14 December 1854–1922) was a British music hall star billed as "the White-Eyed Kaffir", a black face minstrel act.

Chirgwin appeared in the first Royal Variety Command Performance (1912). He was noted for his unusual stage appearance and varied musical accomplishments, using a falsetto voice when singing.

Rather than using a fully blacked-up face as other blackface minstrels did, Chirgwin chose to adapt this by making one large white diamond over one eye. This meant that his stage character was only partly inside the blackface minstrel tradition, and was using the tradition in a somewhat ironical manner. And indeed his material included cockney material as well as straightforward blackface songs and sketches.

In the 1890s, Chirgwin appeared in two actuality films, Chirgwin in his Humorous Business and Chirgwin Plays a Scotch Reel.[1] He later wrote and acted in a silent drama film called The Blind Boy.[1] In his later life, he was mine host of a pub in Shepperton, Surrey.[2]

Contents

Filmography

References

Footnotes
  1. ^ a b St. Pierre, p. 40
  2. ^ Mellor, p. 73
Bibliography
  • Mellor, Geoffrey James (1970), The Northern Music Hall: A Century of Popular Entertainment, Graham, ISBN 0900409851 
  • St. Pierre, Paul Matthew (2009), Music Hall Mimesis in British Film, 1895-1960: On the Halls on the Screen, Associated University Presse, ISBN 0838641911 

Further reading

External links