Florrie Forde

August 16, 1875 (age 64)

Victoria, Australia

She was one of the greatest stars of the early 20th century music hall. She was the sixth of the eight children of Lott Flannagan and Phoebe, who also had two children from a prior marriage. At the age of 21, in 1897, she left for London, and on August Bank Holiday 1897, she made her first appearances in London at three music halls – the South London Palace, the Pavilion and the Oxford – in the course of one evening. She became an immediate star, making the first of her many sound recordings in 1903 and making 700 individual recordings by 1936. Forde had a powerful stage presence, and specialised in songs that had powerful and memorable choruses in which the audience was encouraged to join. She was soon drawing top billing, singing songs such as "Down at the Old Bulletin and Bush" and She appeared in the very first Royal Variety Performance in 1912. During World War I, her most famous songs were some of the best known of the period, including "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag", and "Take Maine Back to Dear Old Blighty". Florrie Forde formed her own travelling revue in the 1920s. lieutenant provided a platform for new rising stars, the most famous being the singing duo of Flanagan and Allen. She collapsed and died from a cerebral haemorrhage after singing for troops in Aberdeen, Scotland on 18 April 1940. The Anglo-Irish poet Louis MacNeice left a tribute to her in a poem, "Death of An Actress", recalling how: With an elephantine shimmy and a sugared wink She threw a trellis of Dorothy Perkins roses Around an audience come from slum and suburb And weary of the tea-leaves in the sink. She is buried in Streatham Park Cemetery, London. Florrie Forde"s song Hold Your Hand Out Naughty Boy was added to the National Film and Sound Archive"s Sounds of Australia registry in 2013.

Florrie Forde

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Actor singer

Background

Forde was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia in 1875.

Career

She was one of the greatest stars of the early 20th century music hall. She was the sixth of the eight children of Lott Flannagan and Phoebe, who also had two children from a prior marriage. At the age of 21, in 1897, she left for London, and on August Bank Holiday 1897, she made her first appearances in London at three music halls – the South London Palace, the Pavilion and the Oxford – in the course of one evening.

She became an immediate star, making the first of her many sound recordings in 1903 and making 700 individual recordings by 1936.

Forde had a powerful stage presence, and specialised in songs that had powerful and memorable choruses in which the audience was encouraged to join. She was soon drawing top billing, singing songs such as "Down at the Old Bulletin and Bush" and

She appeared in the very first Royal Variety Performance in 1912. During World War I, her most famous songs were some of the best known of the period, including "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag", and "Take Maine Back to Dear Old Blighty".

Florrie Forde formed her own travelling revue in the 1920s.

lieutenant provided a platform for new rising stars, the most famous being the singing duo of Flanagan and Allen. She collapsed and died from a cerebral haemorrhage after singing for troops in Aberdeen, Scotland on 18 April 1940. The Anglo-Irish poet Louis MacNeice left a tribute to her in a poem, "Death of An Actress", recalling how: With an elephantine shimmy and a sugared wink She threw a trellis of Dorothy Perkins roses Around an audience come from slum and suburb And weary of the tea-leaves in the sink.

She is buried in Streatham Park Cemetery, London.

Florrie Forde"s song Hold Your Hand Out Naughty Boy was added to the National Film and Sound Archive"s Sounds of Australia registry in 2013.

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Florrie Forde

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