1912 – The Man In The Velvet Suit

Yard sale season is in full swing now, and I finally let Mrs. Huntington out of the cellar after her last excursion as I talked about here.

She rushed home with a great find today,  much better than that box of shoe lasts’.  It was a nice gesture, although I’m more inclined to believe that she stopped off at an antique store to find something adequate enough to warm me to the idea of yard sales every weekend again.

Anyhow, she returned with an old Billy Williams record.  He was a very popular Music Hall performer, called “The Man In the Velvet Suit”, from the early days of the 20th Century.

Williams was born in 1878 as Richard Isaac Banks.  An Australia native, he moved to England where his fame was made in London’s Music Halls, as well as at the listening end of phonograph horns all over the world.

Here’s a photo of him:

Sadly, Billy Williams passed away suddenly in 1915, at the height of his popularity,  proving once again that…. well, it proves something witty which eludes me at the moment.

 One of his most popular numbers, “When Father Papered The Parlour”, was written by the English songwriters, Robert Patrick Weston and F.J. Barnes. 

Now a lot of folks who’ve never heard of Weston have probably heard “I’m Henery the Eighth, I Am”.  That was another, early, Weston song which was revived by Herman’s Hermits.

But, back to “When Father Papered The Parlour”,  Mrs. Huntington and I have always loved this song.  It’s just hilarious and probably best epitomizes Williams’ onstage persona.  Here it is, have a listen!  I’ve tossed in the lyrics so you can sing along!

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Lyrics

Father Papered The Parlour But He Had No Right To Do So!

Our parlor wanted papering, and Pa says it was waste
To call the paperhangers in, and so he made some paste.
He got some rolls of paper,  a ladder and a brush
And with me Mother’s nightgown on, at it he made a rush.

When Father papered the parlour
You couldn’t see Pa for paste
Dabbing it here and dabbing it there!
There was paste and paper everywhere
Mother was stuck to the ceiling
and the kids were stuck to the floor
You never saw such a blooming family So ’stuck up’ before.

What do you think of poor old Father?

Soon dad fell down the stairs and dropp’d the paperhanger’s can
On little sister Mary sitting there with her young man,
The paste stuck them together, as we thought t’would be for life,
We had to fetch the parson in and make them man and wife.

When Father papered the parlour
You couldn’t see Pa for paste
Dabbing it here and dabbing it there!
There was paste and paper everywhere
Mother was stuck to the ceiling
and the kids were stuck to the floor
You never saw such a blooming family So ’stuck up’ before.

We’re never going to move away from that house any more
For Father’s gone and stuck the chairs and table to the floor,
We can’t find our piano, though it’s broad and rather tall,
We think that it’s behind the paper Pa stuck on the wall.

When Father papered the parlour
You couldn’t see Pa for paste
Dabbing it here and dabbing it there!
There was paste and paper everywhere
Mother was stuck to the ceiling
and the kids were stuck to the floor
You never saw such a blooming family So ’stuck up’ before.

Billy Williams recorded that in 1912, and he sure sounded like he had a good time doing it.  We often wonder what he might have been like on stage.  His Music Hall performances are legendary and it’s a shame that such an incredible talent had his life cut short.

Someday we’ll share some more Billly Williams, we have quite a bit.  As for now, I’m off to do some painting.  I gave up wallpaper a long time ago.

Phineous Zivick Huntington
June 2, 2007

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 2nd, 2007 at 8:51 pm and is filed under Years 1910 to 1919. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.