Chevalier, Albert

The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre | 1996 | 700+ words | Copyright

Chevalier, Albert (1861–1923), one of the outstanding stars of the British music-hall. After a successful and varied career in comedy, burlesque, and melodrama, he was persuaded by his friend Charlie Coborn (see MUSIC-HALL), already a well-known name in the entertainment world, to go on the ‘halls’. He made his first appearance at the London Pavilion in 1891 singing his own composition ‘The Coster's Serenade’ and was immediately successful. Although he later presented other characters, including a Chelsea Pensioner, a yokel, and a curate, it was as a Cockney that he gained his immense popularity, with ‘Knocked 'Em in the Old Kent Road’, ‘The Narsty Way 'E Sez It’, ‘It Gits Me Talked Abaht’, ‘Appy’ ‘Ampstead’, and above all ‘My Old Dutch’, for which he wrote the words himself, his brother supplying the music. Chevalier was also the author of a number of sentimental ballads and sketches and of one unsuccessful play, The Land of Nod (1898). He was one of the few music-hall stars who never appeared in pantomime.

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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Chevalier, Albert." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Chevalier, Albert." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-ChevalierAlbert.html

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Chevalier, Albert." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-ChevalierAlbert.html

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