<Archive obituary> Mr. Norman Evans, the Lancashire comedian
Michael Rhodes
<The Times, November 26, 1962>
<MR. NORMAN EVANS>
Mr. Norman Evans, the Lancashire comedian, died yesterday in hospital
at Blackpool. He was 61.
He began working in a mill when he was 14 and later became a
commercial traveller for a textile firm. Later his comic gifts were
appreciated by Miss Gracie Fields, who encouraged him to try his luck
as a professional performer. In 1934 he had a great personal success
at Alhambra Theatre, and from then on he was seen and heard regularly
on the stage, on the radio, and on television. He had appeared in two
Royal Variety performances and was a popular pantomime dame. In 1955
he lost an eye after a road accident.
END
Michael Rhodes
> <Archive obituary>
>
> <The Times, November 26, 1962>
>
> <MR. NORMAN EVANS>
>
> Mr. Norman Evans, the Lancashire comedian, died yesterday in hospital
> at Blackpool. He was 61.
Here he is. He was a superb comic:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/n/normanevansshowt_1299002352.shtml
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Michael Rhodes
(please remove x to e-mail me)
Mike CJ
news:beb1d3e8.03112...@posting.google.com...
I remember seeing him on TV in the early 1950s on a tiny black & white screen,
he certainly made me laugh. Apparently the late comedian Les Dawson learnt a
lot from Norman Evans.
Mike.
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Michael Rhodes
> I remember seeing him on TV in the early 1950s on a tiny black & white screen,
> he certainly made me laugh. Apparently the late comedian Les Dawson learnt a
> lot from Norman Evans.
> Mike.
His forte was appearing in drag as a hatchet-faced, toothless old
woman leaning over a garden wall and gossiping with a fictitious
neighbour. (In other words, the discussions were one-sided.) These
conversations embraced everything from local scandal to the price of
groceries, but _she_ gained most mileage from descriptions of medical
problems and operations. Evans endowed the character with a wonderful
array of exaggerated facial contortions and embroidered every routine
with quick glances around, as if to check for eavesdroppers, before
launching into the most intimate revelations. These usually involved
the silent mouthing of words deemed particularly embarrassing. Dawson
copied this to great effect, often in sketches with the actor Roy
Barraclough.