| Abstract/Description |
Photographs : carte de visite ; 10.2 x 6.2 cm
Ted Cowan was the first in the family to become a professional Music Hall artiste; his name appears on the Tivoli Theatre bill of 1899 as 'Comic Vocalist and Dancer'. Subsequently he toured the Music Halls throughout Great Britain on his motor-cycle and side car for the rest of his working life, some sixty years in all, billed a 'Ted Cowan the Popular Quaint Comedian'. During his long career he covered all aspects of show business; music hall, pantomime musical comedy, revue, films and radio. -- Source: arthurlloyd.co.uk / The Music Hall Site Dedicated to Arthur Lloyd (online website)
Sam Mayo (1881?-1938), 'The Immobile One', was born Sam Cowan but changed his name when he became professional. His brother Edward, known as Ted Cowan another Music Hall performer, recommended him.
Leslie Baker writes:
Whilst playing the Alhambra, Sandgate, Ted suggested to the Manager, Mr. Fisher, that Sam was an 'awfully good comic' and would he a suitable replacement for another artiste who was ill. Apparently Mr. Fisher did not favour the employment of relatives so Ted conjured up the name Mayo, and so it was that Sam Cowan became Sam Mayo, making his professional debut at the Alhambra Sandgate at the age of eighteen. -- Source: Solo men of the halls (online website). Photo possibly from Jacob Howarth's "American adventure". |
Resource
Provide feedback on Ted Cowan as Barney the Guide in Howarth's American