Old Mother Riley
Old Mother Riley was a music hall act which originally ran from about 1934 to 1954 played by Arthur Lucan, and from 1954 to the 1980s played by Roy Rolland.[1][2]
Old Mother Riley was an Irish washerwoman and charwoman character, devised by Lucan (born Arthur Towle).[1][3] His wife Kitty McShane played Old Mother Riley's daughter, Kitty.[1] It was essentially a drag act but also a double act. The couple played music halls, theatres, and broadcast on radio and appeared in films. Lucan was voted sixth biggest British box-office star by the Motion Picture Herald in 1943.[4][5] They also gave Jimmy Clitheroe his break in 1939 in an Old Mother Riley pantomime called The Old Woman who Lives in a Shoe,[6] and then the following year a part in their film, Old Mother Riley in Society. The Film Fun comic included an “Old Mother Riley” strip cartoon in the 1940s.
Roy Rolland was Lucan's understudy and stand-in, and after Lucan's death in 1954 he continued to play the Old Mother Riley character in pantomime, on television and in cabaret until the 1980s.[1]
The Old Mother Riley films
Made on a minuscule budget, but extremely profitable, 15 of the 17 films made by Arthur Lucan featured him as Old Mother Riley:
- Stars on Parade (1936)
- Kathleen Mavourneen (1937)
- Old Mother Riley (1937)
- Old Mother Riley in Paris (1938)
- Old Mother Riley, MP (1938)
- Old Mother Riley Joins Up (1939)
- Old Mother Riley in Society (1940)
- Old Mother Riley in Business (1941)
- Old Mother Riley's Circus (1941)
- Old Mother Riley's Ghosts (1941)
- Old Mother Riley Overseas (1943)
- Old Mother Riley Detective (1943)
- Old Mother Riley at Home (1945)
- Old Mother Riley's New Venture (1949)
- Old Mother Riley Headmistress (1950)
- Old Mother Riley's Jungle Treasure (1951)
- Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952) – stars Bela Lugosi.
At the time of Lucan's death he was scheduled to film Old Mother Riley's Trip to Mars.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Old Mother Riley homepage
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.brent.gov.uk/media/7031206/Arthur%20Lucan%20-%20the%20man%20who%20was%20Old%20Mother%20Riley.pdf
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Robert V Kenny, The Man Who Was Old Mother Riley - The Lives and Films of Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane, BearManor Media, 2014, 428pp. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Man-Who-Mother-Riley/dp/1593937717
