Formby club Leaning towards young crowd

When Robert Evans gave his teenage grandson a tape of George Formby he thought it would get thrown into the bottom of a drawer.

But 15-year-old Zack was so taken by the happy tunes that a year ago he bought a ukulele off ebay and has been playing ever since.

"My friends think I'm a bit odd playing the ukulele but at the same time they love it," said Zack, who is a pupil at Summerhill School in Kingswinford.

"There isn't anyone who can't help smiling when they listen to his music.

"It took me a few months to get to grips with playing the ukulele, which cost £100, but now I've now got an audition for TV's Britain's Got Talent."

Zack is the youngest member of the George Formby Society Stourbridge Branch, which meets at The Summerhouse in Kingswinford. Robert says: "Zack decided to join the George Formby Society after he had been playing for just three weeks.

"He likes meeting up with people who are also fans and enjoy playing their ukuleles."

Seventy years ago George Formby opened The Avion Cinema in Aldridge. Malcolm Palmer, who formed the society, says he will be going along to the old cinema, which is now a bingo hall, later this year to pay his respects to the star.

"George Formby's showbusiness career spanned exactly 40 years, beginning in 1921 and lasting until his death in 1961," said Malcolm.

"During that time he appeared in 21 films, made more than 230 records, appeared in hundreds of stage performances and entertained around three million Allied Servicemen and women during World War Two.

"Formby played several times at the Dudley Hippodrome and people have said he used to have five or six ukuleles on a grand piano on the stage.

"For every song he sang he changed the ukulele as they were all tuned up for each song.

"They were all numbered so as not to mix them up. Cleaning Windows was number one, Leaning on a Lamp Post number two, Mr. Woo number three and so on.

"Beryl his wife was also his manager and the rumour was that she was very tight and would only give him pocket money.

"I've heard that one night he and Beryl were staying at the Station Hotel in Dudley and he got out through the window and went up into the town to play darts."

By 1939 George Formby was the most popular and highest paid entertainer in Britain and was estimated to be earning more than £100,000 a year. The secret of his success was a unique combination of personality, natural ability and talent coupled with the driving force of his wife.

Gabriela La Foley is the only female member of Stourbridge George Formby Appreciation Society.

"Some people laugh when I talk about George Formby, but when I first heard him playing it was incredible and I knew I had to learn the ukulele," said Gabriela, aged 49, from Albrighton, near Wolverhampton.

"I had tried to play instruments in the past but I never took to them, even playing the guitar was difficult and it didn't feel right.

"After hearing George Formby I went to a car boot sale and unbelievably there was a ukulele there for £10. Now I have around 14 of them.

Tony Dean, 66, from Bloxwich, is a member of the George Formby Society and gained a love for his music after seeing him at the cinema.

George Formby's most popular songs include Chinese Laundry Blues, The Window Cleaner, Riding In The TT Races and, probably the most famous, Leaning On A Lamp Post. He had a second heart attack and died on March 6, 1961 at the age of 56.