OMG, in the UK they give plaques for “Comic Heritage”? What a civilized nation!
December 4 was the birthday of British comedian and actor Jimmy Jewel (1909-1995). The name is virtually unknown in America — I surely hope he is remembered in Britain, for he conquered every medium, and was with us until (what I consider) not long ago. He was still chugging after my first son was born, for example, which I find amazing to contemplate.
For Jewel was third generation music hall performer, a true creature of the halls. He made his stage debut at the age of four in his dad’s Yorkshire based revue. The elder comedian (also named Jimmy Jewel) wrote, produced, directed, starred in and created the sets, props, and costumes for this act, and showed his son all the ropes. Jimmy Junior went away to boarding school for a time, then returned to the troupe, initially as a stage manager and scenery shifter. A vacancy for a comedian caused his dad to draft him for the show in 1925, which is when he learned to tap, soft shoe, and clog. He was then 16. By the early ’30s he had gone solo, performing an act wherein he did impressions of Maurice Chevalier and Jack Buchanan and sang hoary old numbers like “Annabelle Lee”. After this he teamed up with his Uncle Fred and a Little Person named Willie Lancet in a sketch called “We’re All In It and Up To Our Necks”.
1934 proved the turning point for Jewel. That is the year he teamed up with his first-cousin Ben Warriss (1909-1993) as Jewel and Warriss. The two had been brought up as brothers, were raised in the same house, and Warriss had started out in the same family act as Jewel. It seems logical that they would form an act, but they seem not to have resorted to it until an opportunity for a double act arose and they concocted something on the quick. It worked so well they remained a performing partnership for 32 years.
Warriss played a sharp-tongued man-about-town, while Jewel was the low-comedy bufoon, a dichtomy very much in the mold of Williams and Walker and Abbott and Costello (they actually bought a routine from the latter). Morecambe and Wise cited the pair as a major influence on their act. The pair worked for years on the international music hall and variety circuits, and in the panto, and occasional movies. They headlined at Val Parnell’s London Palladium, and starred in a revue with Tessie O’Shea. They played 7 Royal Variety Performances, and 12 seasons in Blackpool. In 1947 they had a hit show on BBC radio called Up the Pole (it was set at the North Pole), with occasional guest appearances by Julie Andrews, then a child star. It ran through 1952.
Meanwhile they became staples of television as well. They played TV variety shows (including ones in the U.S. like The Ed Sullivan Show) as an act, but also had their own starring programs such as Turn It Up (1951), Double Cross (1956), and It’s a Living (1962). In 1966 the pair went their separate ways, mostly out of a difference in career goals. Warriss essentially wanted to keep on like they were doing — a music hall and panto comedy act. He continued in that vein as a solo.
But Jewel had aspirations to pursue acting. From 1968 through 1972 he co-starred with fellow music hall vet Hylda Baker in the sit-com Nearest and Dearest. Fans of The Avengers may remember a 1968 episode in which he played a murderous quick-change artist named Maxie Martin. In 1970 he had a supporting role in the film The Man Who Had Power Over Women with Rod Taylor. From 1972 to 1976 he co-starred in another sit-com Spring and Autumn with Larry Martyn. Ironically, “Spring” (Martyn), 25 years Jewel’s junior, would die before “Autumn” did. (He passed in 1994). Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Jewel continued to star in West End and regional stage productions of legit plays, and to guest star on TV series.
In 1981 Jewel starred in another sit-com Funny Man, in which he played a fictionalized version of his music hall father. His autobiography Three Times Lucky was published the following year. Some later stuff included roles in the films The Krays (1990), in which he played the pugilism loving grandad of the title characters, and American Friends (1991), in which he played Michael Palin’s father. His last screen appearance was a 1993 episode of Lovejoy.
For more about the history of variety entertainment, including English music hall, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, And please stay tuned for my upcoming Electric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.