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From: Mike Holmans <mholmans@dircon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Nosmo King
Date: 4 Oct 1995 14:30:42 GMT

When I read the FAQs, theres the one about the woman naming a baby Nosmo King after a delivery room sign, which is categorised false. Fair enough, but it does sort of imply that no-one has ever been called Nosmo King.

But there *was* a Nosmo King. He was a music hall entertainer in the UK years ago. I know. I heard about him on a kids TV show about 25 years ago.

No, I didnt think youd be too impressed with that. So I went to the library, and looked up a history of music hall, and ... there was no mention of him. Hetty King, the drag artist, yes, but no Nosmo.

So I asked my friend Valerie, and she said, "Of course there was a Nosmo King - my dad took me to see him when I was a girl in the 40s, and dad was on a bill with him in the 30s."

But that's not much either.

However, another library yielded up _They Made Us Laugh_ by Geoff J Mellor, 1982, George Kelsall ISBN 0 9505577 4 9, which contains the following:

[start slightly edited extract]

Nosmo King 1886-1949

Vernon Watson was a popular variety artiste touring the music halls before & after WW1, but he never rose above the wines and spirits in regard to bill matter. Some years later an event occurred which was to change all that.

A former Liverpool bank clerk, H Vernon Watson very clearly showed a leaning towards things theatrical ... and it was soon evident that he had a rare talent for mimicry. In 1911, he turned professional, using his real name of Vernon Watson, doing impressions of the leading comedians of the day.

Then, when Frank Tinney, the American black-faced comedian came to the UK, Vernon Watson added an impression of him to his repertoire. He noticed that this impression gained him great applause, and when Tinney returned to the US, Watson gave thought to a different style of act based on a black-faced personality.

Opportunity for this came about in the early 20s when the manager of the music hall at which he was appearing requested him to do a second spot later in the programme for a performer who had not put in an appearance.

Watson had the black-face study ready, but was stuck for a name. Then inspiration came to his aid. The scene dock doors backstage were partly open and the two halves read "No Smo" & "king". That was it. From then on, the black-face character would be Nosmo King.

Very soon, Watson found that the 2nd spot as Nosmo went over better than the character impressions under his own name. The Nosmo King personality was developed and the stage act of Nosmo King & Hubert was billed in 1925 and onwards when his son Jack Watson joined him in the show. At this, Vernon Watson made his last bow. During WW2, Nosmo King went solo, the reason being that Hubert had joined up!.

The End came for Nosmo King early in 1949 when he died in his sleep in his Chelsea flat.

During an interview, he made two remarkable confessions. Someone pointed out that a cigar-smoking figure was hardly compatible with the name and suggested he gave up. This he found remarkably difficult, but he eventually accomplished it with the aid of snuff. The second confession was that he had never at any time set eyes on Frank Tinney!

[end extract]

Further mention of the backstage door story is also in _The Grand Order of Water Rats - a legacy of laughter_, Charlie Chester, 1984 WH Allen 0491 03251 X.

Now, I hope that this is enough to allow me to join you regular diners for the cheese and biscuits.

Mike "especially if thats a nice piece of gorgonzola I see over there"