Tom Foy - Postcards, 1913
Title
Tom Foy - Postcards, 1913
Date
26 December 1913
Description
Promotional postcard of Tom Foy, star of Jack Horner, the Theatre Royal Pantomime for 1913.
What's the story?
Tom Foy starred as Simple Simon in Jack Horner, the Theatre Royal Pantomime, which ran from 26 December 1913 to 7 February 1914.
There was a very positive review of the show and Tom Foy in the Nottingham Evening Post on 27 December 1913 …
“ ‘Jack Horner’ met with an enthusiastic reception upon its production last night at the Nottingham Theatre Royal, before what is known as ‘a typical Boxing night audience’ … Tom Foy, the famous little Yorkshire comic, already a prime favourite with Nottingham audiences by reason of his appearances at the Empire … What a roar of welcome greeted his entrance as Simple Simon, with his familiar ‘I’m coom’ … ‘Jack Horner’ in fact is almost all Tom Foy, but last night’s audience seemed as though they could never have enough of him and certainly his comicalities never staled, but were merry and bright to the end.”
As this review shows, Tom Foy was a celebrated comedian and panto performer at the start of the twentieth century.
This postcard forms part of a large scrapbook collection donated to the Theatre Royal archive by Diane Meadwell from Sandiacre. Her great grandfather was Bernard Hill, the former landlord of The Sun Inn on Parliament Street and who later became the Stage Door Keeper at the Theatre Royal. Bernard’s daughter Edith also worked at the Theatre Royal as an usherette.
Whilst in his stage door job, Bernard collected a large number of postcards of the numerous artists who performed at the venue, many of which he got them to autograph, as well as writing the date and if necessary, the show on the reverse, making the future archivist’s job that little bit easier. We have then been able to cross-reference this information with the list of Theatre Royal shows being compiled by volunteer researcher Lynn Whitley.
We are grateful to Diane for sharing her family memories with us and for donating such a valuable resource to the archive.
There was a very positive review of the show and Tom Foy in the Nottingham Evening Post on 27 December 1913 …
“ ‘Jack Horner’ met with an enthusiastic reception upon its production last night at the Nottingham Theatre Royal, before what is known as ‘a typical Boxing night audience’ … Tom Foy, the famous little Yorkshire comic, already a prime favourite with Nottingham audiences by reason of his appearances at the Empire … What a roar of welcome greeted his entrance as Simple Simon, with his familiar ‘I’m coom’ … ‘Jack Horner’ in fact is almost all Tom Foy, but last night’s audience seemed as though they could never have enough of him and certainly his comicalities never staled, but were merry and bright to the end.”
As this review shows, Tom Foy was a celebrated comedian and panto performer at the start of the twentieth century.
This postcard forms part of a large scrapbook collection donated to the Theatre Royal archive by Diane Meadwell from Sandiacre. Her great grandfather was Bernard Hill, the former landlord of The Sun Inn on Parliament Street and who later became the Stage Door Keeper at the Theatre Royal. Bernard’s daughter Edith also worked at the Theatre Royal as an usherette.
Whilst in his stage door job, Bernard collected a large number of postcards of the numerous artists who performed at the venue, many of which he got them to autograph, as well as writing the date and if necessary, the show on the reverse, making the future archivist’s job that little bit easier. We have then been able to cross-reference this information with the list of Theatre Royal shows being compiled by volunteer researcher Lynn Whitley.
We are grateful to Diane for sharing her family memories with us and for donating such a valuable resource to the archive.
Type
Postcard
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Researchers: David Longford / Lynn Whitley
