The Original Hamburgers

The Original Hamburgers

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Events has provided me with another amusing wander down an undiscovered lane on the Information Highway.

A kind gentleman who collected all sorts of unusual things once let me loose with my camera in his garden when he saw me peering over his fence. This metal sign was on the gate to his backyard. We’d gone to the village to see a “boat graveyard” so this was a real plus.

It shows an event which, judging by the names of the Radio stars identified in the small print at the bottom, must have taken place in the 1930’s. They are Norman Evans, Nat Gonella and Sandy Powell. I’ve so enjoyed reading about them and have added some information about them below.

The Original Hamburgers ©HelenBushe

Sandy Powell 

In the 1930s he began to work on the radio, always introducing his show with catchphrase Can You Hear Me, Mother? Powell said that the catchphrase originated on an occasion when he had dropped his script and was killing time at the microphone while rearranging the pages. It is also attributed to his mother’s coercion and her hardness of hearing, during his early career. At his next booking, the theatre manager asked him to say it again as everyone was saying it now. He also appeared in a number of films during the 1930s, usually as himself. In 1939 he was voted the fifth most popular British star at the local box office.- wikipedia

Nat Gonella

Nathaniel Charles (Nat) Gonella (7 March 1908 – 6 August 1998) was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist and mellophonist born in London, perhaps most notable for his work with the big band he founded, The Georgians, during the British dance band era.

His vocal style was reminiscent of Louis Armstrong, though the voice was often eclipsed by his achievements as a band leader and trumpeter. Gonella has been a major influence on other British jazz trumpeters, including Humphrey Lyttelton and Digby Fair-weather.- wikipedia

Norman Evans

Norman Evans (11 June 1901 – 25 November 1962) was a variety and radio performer, born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England.

Evans was discovered by fellow Rochdale entertainer Gracie Fields. The act for which he is best remembered was “Over the Garden Wall”, in which he played Fanny Fairbottom, a toothless hatchet-faced Lancastrian housewife gossiping over a garden wall, The routine was the inspiration for Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough’s later Cissie and Ada characters. The one-sided conversations would embrace local gossip, including scandal about the neighbours and personal medical complaints, including silently mouthing words deemed too rude to be spoken out loud, and accompanied with a range of facial contortions and glances round for supposed eavesdroppers. Another famous stage sketch was “The Dentist” in which Evans played both patient and dentist, and in which he employed a large screen.

His first appearance on the London stage was alongside a young Betty Driver. Evans was the only pantomime dame to receive top billing at the London Palladium. – Wikipedia