Will Fyffe

Will Fyffe (February 16, 1885, Dundee, Scotland – December 14 1947) was a popular music-hall entertainer in the United Kingdom in the early years of the 20th Century, best known for his song I Belong To Glasgow, even though the east coast city of Dundee was his hometown. He was a major Scottish artist, appearing on stage, radio, television and film.

Early life and Career

Will Fyffe, comedian and actor, was born on 16 February 1885 at 36 Ferry Road, Dundee, the eldest child of John Fyffe (1864–1928), who was a ship's carpenter, and a music teacher, Janet Rhynd Cunningham (1858–1949).

His father was interested in theatrical entertainment and ran a touring company, with which the young Will gained valuable experience as a character actor. He made his debut as Little Willie in East Lynne. He played the aged Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet when only 15, and later toured his own productions of Shakespearean plays all over Scotland.

Although he became well-known as an actor for the breadth of his characterisations, it was as a music hall artist that he achieved real success establishing himself as a comedian and singer. He created a succession of comic characters - often old men, shepherds, engineers, and local dignitaries. His characterisations of the Bridegroom in his nineties, the Engineer, and the proud new father inYou can come and see the Baby, were memorable. Fyffe also developed a successful stage partnership with Harry Gordon, playing opposite him in pantomime for many years.

I Belong to Glasgow

It was when Fyffe wrote and recorded the song I Belong to Glasgow that he became a world wide star. According to Albert Mackie's The Scotch Comedians (1973) Fyffe got the inspiration for the song from a drunk he met at Glasgow Central Station. The drunk was "genial and demonstrative" and "laying off about Karl Marx and John Barleycorn with equal enthusiasm". Fyffe asked him: "Do you belong to Glasgow?" and he replied: "At the moment, at the moment, Glasgow belongs to me."

He was so popular that a variety theatre in Glasgow ran a 'Will Fyffe' competition, with dozens of entrants singing I belong to Glasgow. Heavily disguised as himself, Will entered for a bet. He won second prize!

Fyffe also wrote many other popular songs including Sailing Up the Clyde and She was the Belle of the Ball. According to theatre manager and historian Walter Macqueen-Pope: "Will Fyffe was a man of great honesty and integrity, and this comes across in his songs when heard today." As a character actor he was much in demand in the British film industry, appearing in dozens of productions, the last of which, The Brothers, was released shortly after his death.

One of the lines in I Belong to Glasgow reads ' We went in a hotel, where we did very well.' It was by falling from a hotel room window that Will Fyffe met his death. After an operation on his right ear in 1947 Fyffe went to recuperate at his own hotel in St Andrews. He fell from the window of his suite on 14 December and died in the local cottage hospital from the injuries he received, and from shock,. He was buried at the Lambhill Cemetery in Glasgow three days later..

Filmography

1948 - The Brothers
1944 - Give Me the Stars
1944 - Heaven Is Round the Corner
1940 - Neutral Port
1940 - The Prime Minister
1940 - They Came by Night
1940 - The Mysterious Mr. Reeder
1940 - For Freedom
1939 - The Missing People
1939 - Rulers of the Sea
1938 - Owd Bob
1938 - To the Victor
1937 - Sez O'Reilly to MacNab
1937 - Spring Handicap
1937 - Cotton Queen
1936 - Annie Laurie
1936 - Love in Exile
1936 - Men of Yesterday
1936 - Well Done, Henry
1936 - Debt of Honour
1936 - King of Hearts
1935 - Rolling Home
1934 - Happy
1930 - Elstree Calling

References

External links

Will Fyffe on Time Out
Will Fyffe on Fandango