Ernest Augustus Elen (22 July 1862 – 17 February 1940) was an English music hall singer and comedian. He achieved success from 1891, performing cockney songs including "Arf a Pint of Ale", "It's a Great Big Shame", "Down the Road" and "If It Wasn't for the 'Ouses in Between" in a career lasting over thirty years.
Born in Pimlico, London, Elen had worked as a barman and a draper's assistant and had packed eggs for the Co-op before becoming a singer. He began busking at an early age and found a position singing in a minstrel troupe. His solo success began in 1891 when he started performing in public houses, singing songs in a manner similar to many cockney fruit sellers of the time, known as costermongers - from the old word 'costard', meaning apple. Because of this, he became known as a "coster comedian". For the stage persona he had created, Elen dressed in a coster uniform of striped jersey, peaked cap turned towards one ear and a short clay pipe in the side of his mouth. His characters adopted a persona of being constantly bad-tempered and pugnacious. In 1907 he starred in a short film called Wait Till the Work Comes Round.
In his later years, Elen went to America during the English music hall strike. He performed the same act as he did in the UK, but box-office sales show that he was less successful than his friend, the singer Albert Chevalier, and so he returned to the UK. He then made several appearances as a top attraction in music halls across London. He appeared on stage occasionally in the 1930s, albeit briefly, and he appeared in the 1935 Royal Command Performance. He retired in 1914, shortly after returning from America. He made occasional appearances on stage and film before his death in 1940 aged 77.[citation needed]
Ernest Augustus Elen (22 July 1862 – 17 February 1940) was an English music hall singer and comedian. He achieved success from 1891, performing cockney...
entertainers such as Marie Dainton, Marie Lloyd, Arthur Roberts, Joe Elvin and GusElen were strong advocates of the strike, though they themselves earned enough...
'ouses in Between" by Edgar Bateman and George Le Brunn (1894, sung by GusElen – "With a ladder and some glasses you can see to Hackney Marshes") "If...
Daisy Dormer (1883–1947) Leo Dryden (1863–1939) T. E. Dunville (1867–1924) GusElen (1862–1940) G. H. Elliott (1882–1962) Kate Everleigh (1864–1926) James...
songs at the turn of the century, with performers such as Marie Lloyd, GusElen and Albert Chevalier establishing the image of the humorous East End Cockney...
my little pal Cover of GusElen's If It Wasn't for the 'Ouses In Between also known as The Cockney's Garden Cover of GusElen's The Coster's Mansion, 1899...
at the turn of the 20th century, with performers such as Marie Lloyd, GusElen and Albert Chevalier establishing the image of the humorous East End Cockney...
In Between" (music by George Le Brunn; lyrics by Edgar Bateman) sung by GusElen. "If You Want to Know the Time, Ask a Policeman" (Edward Rogers and Augustus...
Dan W. Quinn on Columbia Records "Down The Road" (w.m. Fred Gilbert) – GusElen on Berliner Gramophone "Eli Green's Cakewalk" (w.m. David Reed & Sadie...
stars included: Marie Lloyd, Harry Champion, George Formby, Vesta Tilley, GusElen, Little Tich, Gracie Fields and Flanagan and Allen. Musical hall composers...
act in music halls in around 1902, doing impersonations of such stars as GusElen and Vesta Victoria. In her early career, she perfected an impression of...
Lloyd hosted for fellow members of the music hall profession including GusElen, Dan Leno and Eugene Stratton. In October 1888, Lloyd returned from maternity...
depicts Baron's childhood. The celebrated cockney music hall performer GusElen sang a song entitled If It Wasn't for the 'Ouses In Between which included...
Elsie Carlisle and Sam Browne, Will Mahoney, Arthur Reece, Kate Carney, GusElen, Florrie Forde, Harry Champion, Harry Roy and his band 15 29 October 1937...
hymn-writer, 80 February 2 – Nikolay Kedrov Sr., composer, 68 February 17 – GusElen, music hall singer, 77 February 28 – Arnold Dolmetsch, musical instrument...
Costello Arthur Henry Cross VC Desmond Dekker Daisy Dormer June Duprez GusElen Florrie Forde Will Hay William Jex Frank Howard Kirby VC, CBE, DCM Charlie...
amateur actor before turning professional doing impersonations of Dan Leno, GusElen, Joe Elvin, Albert Chevalier and other music hall stars in working men's...
programmes of music hall acts, such as Veterans of Variety which featured GusElen, Vesta Victoria, Charles Coborn, and Vesta Tilley, among others. He died...
also wrote other successful songs, notably "Down The Road" (1893) for GusElen, and "At Trinity Church I Met My Doom" (1894) for Tom Costello. However...
Noel Edmonds: 1979 Jimmy Edwards: 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955 (London), 1960 GusElen: 1935 El Granadas and Peter: 1946 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1973...
Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America, accessed 2 October 2014 "GusElen Grave Restored", the Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America, accessed...
entertainers including Marie Dainton, Marie Lloyd, Arthur Roberts, Joe Elvin and GusElen, all of whom were active on picket lines outside both London and provincial...
sings his lead vocal in a Cockney accent, similar to the music hall singer GusElen, a favourite of his father. Partway through the song, he changes to a more...
Bradfield "I Want To Be A Military Man" Leslie Stuart/Owen Hall 1900 2 GusElen "If It Wasn't for the 'Ouses in Between" Edgar Bateman/George Le Brunn...
figure in the Music Hall War of 1907, alongside, among others, Joe Elvin, GusElen and Marie Lloyd. At the Colonial Theatre in New York in March 1909 Dainton...
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