Joe O'Gorman

Joseph O'Gorman (24 May 1863–1 August 1937) was an Irish-born comedian. He formed a popular and innovative double act in British music halls with Joe Tennyson, Tennyson and O'Gorman, in the 1880s and 1890s, before becoming a solo performer. He was also an organiser of theatrical artistes, and was the father of Joe and Dave O'Gorman, "The O'Gorman Brothers".

Life and career He was born in Dublin, developed skills as a dancer and singer, and came to England in 1879. He formed a duo with Horace Wheatley, and then, from 1881, with Joseph Tennyson (born in Manchester, 12 July 1861–5 September 1926). As Tennyson and O'Gorman, they became one of the leading music hall acts in Britain, developing the idea of cross-talking. Earlier minstrel acts had used the idea of "Mr Interlocutor" bantering with the other performers, but Tennyson and O'Gorman had both performers at centre stage, Tennyson as the comic and O'Gorman as the foil.

They wore top hats and frock coats and were often billed as "The Two Irish Gentlemen", countering the racist idea that the Irish were all roughly-dressed and ignorant. As well as performing comic sketches, they sang and danced as a duo, and were also known as "The Patter Propagators". Their most successful song, "The Wild Man of Poplar (A Very Pop'lar Ditty)", was a cumulative tale starting with "The Wild Man of Poplar has just come to town" and continuing through ten permutations ("the wife of the Wild Man.....", "the child of the wife of the Wild Man...", etc.). They toured extensively, including several visits to the United States, Canada and Australia, before ending their partnership in 1901. Tennyson later performed in a double act with William Wallis, and from 1915 worked as a solo act.

O'Gorman became a solo performer, and was also actively involved in the organisation of music hall performers. He was a founder member of the charitable organization, the Grand Order of Water Rats. He was elected King Rat in both 1898 and 1901, and was later Chief Booker of the Water Rats. With the growth of the music hall and theatre circuit in Britain, and the need to protect performers against undue exploitation by theatre agents and owners, O'Gorman was involved, with Wal Pink and others, in establishing the Variety Artistes' Federation, becoming the first chairman of the trade union. He led the performers in the Music Hall Strike of 1907, which resulted in important legal victories, but this in turn led to him finding work hard to get as agents and theatre owners turned against him. O'Gorman was also involved, with Joe Elvin, in setting up Brinsworth House in Twickenham, a care home for retired entertainers which opened in 1911.