Fred Evans (comedian)
Encyclopedia
Fred Evans was a British
music hall
and silent film
comedian
, who became famous around the time of the First World War for portraying his character Pimple in more than 200 short movies. He was described as "second only in popularity to Chaplin
in Britain at the height of his career," and as displaying "a proto-Pythonesque
humour of the absurd." Critic Barry Anthony wrote that "in many ways the topical skits of Pimple have more in common with The Crazy Gang
, Benny Hill
, the Goons, Monty Python
or topical sketch shows like French and Saunders
and The Fast Show
than with the classic Hollywood silent comedies."
into a family of music hall and circus
performers. His grandfather, also named Fred Evans, was a popular clown
who staged harlequinade
s; his uncle Will Evans was a leading music hall comedian; and his parents were members of several touring musical troupes. He was a childhood friend of Charlie Chaplin, and as a child performed with his brother Joe as part of his parents' pantomime
act, the Florador Quartet. Fred and Joe then worked together and individually in music hall, and for Sanger's Circus, before joining filmmakers Cricks and Martin in 1910. Evans' early screen appearances were as Charley Smiler, a disaster-prone 'dude
' character dressed in frock coat
, waistcoat
and spats.
In 1912, Fred and Joe Evans began working at the Ec-Ko studios in Teddington
, and set up their own production company, Folly Films. Unable to use the Charley Smiler character because of legal threats from Cricks and Martin, Evans devised a new character, Pimple, an accident-prone clown with a tight jacket, baggy pants, big boots, cricket cap, and lank strands of hair around a central parting. The films were scripted by Joe Evans. Early films were often chases; in Pimple and the Snake (1912), Pimple tries to retrieve a snake that has escaped from the zoo, but instead chases a lady's feather boa
, causing chaos. By 1913, the comedies were increasingly spoof
s of popular films, plays and novels. For example, a series of Lieutenant Pimple films poked fun at the screen exploits of the swashbuckling Lieutenant Daring, hero of more serious melodramas. Pimple's Battle of Waterloo (1913) was a merciless parody
of the recent epic film
The Battle of Waterloo
, which had been characterised by location filming and (for the period) lavish production values. Pimple's version made a virtue of its low-budget filming in the backyard of their premises at Eel Pie Island
to ridicule the earlier production. In Pimple in The Whip (1917), another parody, the Evans brothers used pantomime horse
s and a man wearing a horse head and carrying a stick in each hand to represent the front legs, to re-enact the original movie's thrilling race scenes. The films also made use of jokey and pun
ning intertitle
s.
The films were extremely successful in Britain, and by 1915 the Evans brothers were producing some six titles each month, most of which are now lost. Evans promoted the films by travelling around the country to present them, sometimes also performing a live act as part of a mixed programme. He also toured as part of an Army
campaign to promote and raise funds for servicemen fighting the war, but in 1916 received a medical discharge from the forces. He continued to make films but his popularity declined. He returned to performing in the music halls, and had his performances filmed, but was declared bankrupt in 1920. His last films were made in 1922.
Evans later appeared in revues with his wife and daughters, and worked as a film extra
in the 1930s, eventually reuniting with his brother Joe — who had worked in the United States — to present a puppet show in the Second World War. He died in 1951 after performing in a circus.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
and silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, who became famous around the time of the First World War for portraying his character Pimple in more than 200 short movies. He was described as "second only in popularity to Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
in Britain at the height of his career," and as displaying "a proto-Pythonesque
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
humour of the absurd." Critic Barry Anthony wrote that "in many ways the topical skits of Pimple have more in common with The Crazy Gang
The Crazy Gang
The Crazy Gang were a group of British entertainers, formed in the early 1930s. In the mature form the group's six men were Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen, Jimmy Nervo, Teddy Knox, Charlie Naughton and Jimmy Gold...
, Benny Hill
Benny Hill
Benny Hill was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.-Early life:...
, the Goons, Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
or topical sketch shows like French and Saunders
French and Saunders
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....
and The Fast Show
The Fast Show
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...
than with the classic Hollywood silent comedies."
Biography
Evans was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
into a family of music hall and circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
performers. His grandfather, also named Fred Evans, was a popular clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
who staged harlequinade
Harlequinade
Harlequinade is a comic theatrical genre, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th centuries...
s; his uncle Will Evans was a leading music hall comedian; and his parents were members of several touring musical troupes. He was a childhood friend of Charlie Chaplin, and as a child performed with his brother Joe as part of his parents' pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
act, the Florador Quartet. Fred and Joe then worked together and individually in music hall, and for Sanger's Circus, before joining filmmakers Cricks and Martin in 1910. Evans' early screen appearances were as Charley Smiler, a disaster-prone 'dude
Dude
A dude is an individual, typically male. The female equivalent, which is used less often, is "dudette" or "dudess". However, "dude" has evolved to become more unisex to encompass all genders, and this was true even in the 1950s....
' character dressed in frock coat
Frock coat
A frock coat is a man's coat characterised by knee-length skirts all around the base, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The double-breasted style is sometimes called a Prince Albert . The frock coat is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at the back, and some features...
, waistcoat
Waistcoat
A waistcoat or vest is a sleeveless upper-body garment worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear, and as the third piece of the three-piece male business suit.-Characteristics and use:...
and spats.
In 1912, Fred and Joe Evans began working at the Ec-Ko studios in Teddington
Teddington
Teddington is a suburban area in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London, on the north bank of the River Thames, between Hampton Wick and Twickenham. It stretches inland from the River Thames to Bushy Park...
, and set up their own production company, Folly Films. Unable to use the Charley Smiler character because of legal threats from Cricks and Martin, Evans devised a new character, Pimple, an accident-prone clown with a tight jacket, baggy pants, big boots, cricket cap, and lank strands of hair around a central parting. The films were scripted by Joe Evans. Early films were often chases; in Pimple and the Snake (1912), Pimple tries to retrieve a snake that has escaped from the zoo, but instead chases a lady's feather boa
Feather boa
A feather boa is a fashion accessory that is usually worn wrapped around the neck like a scarf.-Construction:A boa can be made of fur, but it is usually made instead from various types of feathers. Ostrich, marabou, chandelle, and turkey are the most common feathers used, although non-feather boas...
, causing chaos. By 1913, the comedies were increasingly spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
s of popular films, plays and novels. For example, a series of Lieutenant Pimple films poked fun at the screen exploits of the swashbuckling Lieutenant Daring, hero of more serious melodramas. Pimple's Battle of Waterloo (1913) was a merciless parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the recent epic film
Epic film
An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...
The Battle of Waterloo
British and Colonial Films
British and Colonial Films was a British company making predominantly silent films, which operated in London between 1908 and 1924. It was also known by the abbreviation B & C....
, which had been characterised by location filming and (for the period) lavish production values. Pimple's version made a virtue of its low-budget filming in the backyard of their premises at Eel Pie Island
Eel Pie Island
Eel Pie Island is an island in the River Thames in England at Twickenham, in the Borough of Richmond upon Thames, London. It is situated on the Tideway and can be reached only by footbridge or boat...
to ridicule the earlier production. In Pimple in The Whip (1917), another parody, the Evans brothers used pantomime horse
Pantomime horse
A pantomime horse is atheatrical representation of a horse or other quadruped by two actors in a single costume who cooperate and synchronize their movements...
s and a man wearing a horse head and carrying a stick in each hand to represent the front legs, to re-enact the original movie's thrilling race scenes. The films also made use of jokey and pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
ning intertitle
Intertitle
In motion pictures, an intertitle is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action, at various points, generally to convey character dialogue, or descriptive narrative material related to, but not necessarily covered by, the material photographed.Intertitles...
s.
The films were extremely successful in Britain, and by 1915 the Evans brothers were producing some six titles each month, most of which are now lost. Evans promoted the films by travelling around the country to present them, sometimes also performing a live act as part of a mixed programme. He also toured as part of an Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
campaign to promote and raise funds for servicemen fighting the war, but in 1916 received a medical discharge from the forces. He continued to make films but his popularity declined. He returned to performing in the music halls, and had his performances filmed, but was declared bankrupt in 1920. His last films were made in 1922.
Evans later appeared in revues with his wife and daughters, and worked as a film extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
in the 1930s, eventually reuniting with his brother Joe — who had worked in the United States — to present a puppet show in the Second World War. He died in 1951 after performing in a circus.