Formby, George

Name	Formby
Firstname	George
Born	26.5.1904
Died	6.3.1961
Nationality
Nickname	Ukelele George

British comedian who performed in many movies „with the little ukulele in my hand“ in the 1930s and 1940s and enjoyed tremendous popularity. After the Second World War he went on tours to South Africa (where he was expelled from the country because he kissed a black girl at a gig in front of blacks), Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Rhodesia.

Formby was one of the „acceptable faces of bad behavior“ (Dessau 2011, p. 59) who were to have a lasting impact on the emerging entertainment industry (see also Stefan Raab).

George had charm and appeal, not just with the audiences but with the women he worked with.¹⁾

Many of his lyrics were slippery and on the edge of the then acceptable good taste. The BBC initially declined to send With My Little Ukulele Into My Hand because the text contains a clear sexual allusion „which clearly implied what the ukulele represented“:²⁾

She said, „Your love just turns me dizzy, come on big boy, get busy,“ but I kept my ukulele in my hand.

George Formby consistently made phallic allusions to his ukulele. In 'With my little ukulele in my hand' (1933) the last section even uses the concept of sexual naivety to explain his mystification at the power of his ukulele to attract girls.³⁾

When I'm cleaning Windows was also not broadcast until Formby performed it to the royal family without cuts – after that it was allowed to air.⁴⁾

During the Second World War, he participated in entertainment programs for the British armed forces.

Head and shoulders portrait of George Formby playing his ukulele. Taken while he and his wife were entertaining troops in Normandy. © IWM (B 8265)

Within our pluralistic society is has become increasingly difficult to sustain an identifiable common culture containing generally held values, aspirations and symbols. George Formby and his Ukulele had a cultural identity embracing men and women, rich and poor, young and old; the vocal form of Madonna does not offer the same symbolic universality.

Colin Gibson: Dissolving Wedlock. Routledge 2002, S. 216 (ISBN 9781134968282) After Formby's death in 1961 the George Formby Society was founded, which in 2018 counted 1.200 members worldwide.