Interview with Robert Cormode about his time performing in the White Boys play (Ny Guillyn Baney)
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Date(s): 1970s
Transcript: RC - Mr Cormode
MK: – Margaret Killip
MK: Well, what do you remember about the White Boys Mr Cormode?
RC: In the first place I go back 60 odd years. When I first started I was a boy of 11. I continued in the White Boys for four Christmases. One Christmas in particular we went to Andreas, done the houses along the road. Course there weren't so many in those days you know. We went around the houses and then we got eventually came to Andreas Village. Well the best place to do anything, naturally, was the pub, The Grosvenor. Well we got there and we came out and we were wending our way back when we got clubbed with sods. So, of course that ruined our uniforms you see. I was in a long hat like an Admiral's hat all done with paper and the other men had round hats and they were done with this crinkly paper. That was the dress like and they had white trousers, white coats and black and white trousers. Now I had an old frock tail coat and black trousers and I was the doctor.
MK: Did they have belts?
RC: Yes they had belts. A chap, Jack [Stoddard?] his brother Harry was a tinsmith. Now he made beautiful tin belts about three and a half, four inches wide and he had big stars planted on them. They only cost us a shilling each I think. Well Jack himself he made the swords for us and the point of the sword so far back had a bit of ink red ink on it or some such thing to act as blood. So that was how we first started out. I was always black. I was a black man. Face black, hands black up to me arms. I was the doctor. When we went into a pub, course the pubs was the last thing we done in the week. Always ended up in the main pubs in the town on Christmas Eve. I was the first to come in. At least not actually the first to enter the place, but I was the first to start up the vole. And I came in and my part was:
"I open the door and I enter in. I make my fate to fortune win, weather I rise or weather I fall, I do my duty to please you all. Room room give us room, a room to let us in, we are not of the ragged set but of the royal brin. Fill up these fires and give us light for in this house you'll see a fight. If you don't believe me what I say step in King George and clear away."
Now there was four actors apart from myself. My part then, I had to sort of get out of the way. And King George his son, St. George, was alongside of him about three feet apart and the other two actors were about the same distance the other way see. Well then King George said:
"I am the King of England and from England have I sprung. Many are the noble deeds and wonders that I've done. Full fourteen years in prison I was kept and then into a cave I leapt. Was there I met my grievous wound. And if you don't believe me what I say step in St. George and clear away."
Then of course St. George came in, but I can't remember all he said, but one part of it was:
"...dear sorry fellow dare challenge me to fight. I so great I have fought lords and dukes and I made the earth to quake."
Then of course they come to sword acting you see. While St. George, the opponent he lunges at him and the sword goes between his arm and his body and he pulls it out and here it is tipped with blood. So of course the father, King George, he is distressed and his cry was:
"Oh doctor, is there a doctor to be found that can cure my son St. George of his dead and deeply wound."
I come in:
"Oh yeh my master yeh there is a doctor to be found who can cure St. George of his dead and deeply wound."
"What can you cure doctor?" King George says then.
"All pains within, all pains without. The brig, the palsy and the gout. I can pledge my life to cure a scolding wife."
"And what medicine do you carry doctor?"
"A bottle of the highcockalonium..."
(what the devil that means I don't know, but anyway it was cold tea as far as I was concerned)
"...a little of this and he'll fight again."
So of course he was supposed to take a drink out of the bottle and then he got up. Then of course they all start to fight then. This chap this side took him on the opposite corner. And this was the way it was done. But I can't remember for the life of me what the other two opponents said. Well it went on for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour or more and they were talking you know. It came then to them finishing the fight. So I had to come back in then. I said:
"I'm little Doctor Foney. I'm the man that carries the money. Two little leather bags down to me knees, put a few shillings in will you if you please."
And of course I was round with the tin can you see, an old tin of some sort, collecting money from the people in the pub. And then of course one of them, before we left, he sang a solo. Now the fellow in the first troupe I was with was a chap by the name of Tommy Corlett, better known as Tommy Sulby. He sang the solo but I can't remember what it was.
Then another troupe I was in was down in College Street. And we used to practise in old Jane Duffy's attic. Jimmy Duffy was in the troupe and there was Harry Dodds and George Surridge and Charlie Cowell. Charlie had a wonderful voice and he used to take the solo part, a beautiful voice at Charlie. Then of course we would be practising up there. This particular night we came down from old Jane Duffy's attic and the boys was wanting money for a drink. None of them had any money. Of course I was too young to take drink. Jimmy Duffy, he got up on a chair looking in the cupboards it was wide open, there was no doors, but the old lady had it draped nice with curtains and this fancy paper on the thing. Jimmy looking for money set the whole lot a fire. Curtains, paper, oh it was an awful spot. Oh we cleared out that night, we got out. But we were back again the next night just as large as life. I don't know how Jimmy went on whether he got a hiding or not I don't know, but we were all back the next night practising again. It was great times though.
MK: You mentioned some of the names of the men that were in the White Boys, were they fishermen or what did they do?
RC: No no, Charlie Cowell was a chef. He was taught by a Mrs Ellington in a house which is now part of Beach Hotels Ltd. A wonderful cook he was too, Charlie and then...
MK: Just already working men?
RC: Just already working men, everyday men.
MK: Where did they get the play from, who taught it to them in the first place?
RC: Well I don't know that. You see old Willy Kewley now he was a man of, well I suppose he'd be creeping on toward the 90 mark now. Well he was in it maybe when I was only a baby. Course in those days you know they had the Mollag Band going round. And then there was something else, Hunt the Wren, that was a great thing in those days. In my younger day they were gradually dying out you see the Mollag Band. They used to go round with bladders, sheep's bladders or pigs bladders on sticks and they would be clouting people you see and making them give them some money.
MK: In the streets?
RC: In the streets, aye.
MK: How did they dress?
RC: That's now something I couldn't tell. I never actually seen them at all.
MK: But they didn't have any play or any song or anything?
RC: No there was no play or song. Not to my knowledge, never heard it anyway. One time we set off, the last year I was with them. We hired a trap from big Freddy Surridge. He had stables at The Swan Hotel, and it was going to cost us something like ten bob. Well we set off and the first house we called at was Clifton. That's half way up Slieau Lewaigue. We went on from there to the Rest and be Thankful. Went into the Rest And Be Thankful and we done our act there. Then the next house was Creg ny Molt, I don't know who was in it. I don't know who was in it After that we went on then to the Glen Mona. Course that was always a pub. We went on then from there when we finished to the house that Edward Cregeen is living in now. We were in there - Ballashellag. From there then we went on to the Dhoon Glen Hotel, we were in there doing it too. Of course there was no where then after that until we got down to Laxey. Well we done the pubs, the Bridge and the Glen and the other two pubs up the road. Well now we decided, well at least the boys decided, we would go down there past the co-op you know the road going down there, to the Shore Hotel. Well I didn't know cause I was only a youngster, it was all double-dutch to me. We were going down and the next thing we got clubbed with sods. Our uniforms were all dirty and our hats was all smashed. Anyway we went back and they dumped me in Brown's Cafe in what we used to call Ham & Egg Terrace. So I was in there. The lady of the house I didn't know anything about them. She kindly gave me a dish of hot water and I washed all the black off me and I was as right as rain then. Sat there talking, only a little chap you know. They very kindly give me something to eat. The boys went off, they were going for a drink. They landed back eventually. Now whether they spent the money in drink or whether we didn't earn enough to pay for the trap, I do not know, but we didn't pay for the trap. So we set off for home and on the way up, it'll be Skindscoe Farm I suppose and the other farm where Robert Quayle used to work, what's that one called just down side the rocks?
MK: Ballaragh?
RC: Ballaragh. Well the boys raided the fields and the trap - there were two doors and a bottom door in it. They shut the bottom door and they filled the whole boot, the bottom part, where your legs would normally be, with turnips, cabbage and carrots and spuds. And that's the only way we paid for that trap. We got home at one o'clock in the morning. Poor mother was nearly frantic. Where in the name of fortune had we got to? It was very enjoyable, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But trying to revive it after the war, this is the first world war of course, went to the police station to see what was the position, two of us. We found out that we'd have to have a license, a street trader's license and that was going to cost £5. So that knocked it on the head. And its never been revived since...never. It's a pity really because it was really good entertainment. And when we were going along the streets you know in Ramsey here, from one pub to another, a flock of youngsters would be following behind, and who was the doctor? They couldn't tell me at all because I was black you see and me own brother, the fellow you were talking to you yesterday and George... Now George was in them one time. That was when we were over in the Fowler Street crowd. They wouldn't give away who I was.
MK: They wouldn't?
RC: No, they wouldn't tell the children that it was Robert Cormode that was doing it.
MK: Was there any secrecy as to who took each part?
RC: Oh no, no no, They could tell who the other fellows were. They knew that one was George Cormode and Tommy Corlett and Eddy Kennish and Bobby Callow. But who was the doctor, they couldn't tell.
MK: You were so well disguised.
RC: Yes, they couldn't penetrate the burnt cork on me face. It was great fun. When we were in Parliament Street side group we used to parade, we used to practice down in Collins Lane. It's off Parliament Street. It used to be called the Gullad. Well there were three houses down there and we used to practice in one. Had permission from the late Josiah Norton to go in and practice. Then eventually after the war finished, the first world war finished, he converted it into workshops for his tailors. And now its been re-converted back into a small dwelling house.
MK: How old were the rest of the men... you would be a small boy?
RC: Well, I was 11. I'm 77 and eight months practically now. Well my eldest brother George, he'd be 85 now...84 and they were round about that age.
MK: Around their 20s.
RC: Yes they would be. Or less than that around about the 18 mark.
MK: But when you tried to revive it you were quite a lot older'?
RC: Oh yes I was 22 or 23.
MK: And would you have got men who would have taken part?
RC: Oh yes we could have got them. Yes we could have got them all right. But then there was nobody prepared to pay £5. Because you might be lucky and earn it and you might not. Course that was the law, if we wanted it we'd have to pay.
MK: Were people generous, did they give very much?
RC: Well in those days yes they were compared with the amount of money they were having. You'd go into a pub and there'd be perhaps nearly a dozen fellas in drinking. They might come out with half a crown or 3 bob you see. So really
MK: That was a lot!
RC: It was a lot of money. And of course there was far more pubs in Ramsey then. There's about six or seven closed down since those days.
MK: When you went to a house or farm, what would you do, knock?
RC: You'd knock at the door and somebody would come and whoever was the leader of the troupe went and asked would they accept the White Boys in the house. Well we never got a refusal, never got a refusal, always invited in and you always come out with eighteen pence or perhaps two shillings.
MK: Did you get anything to eat or drink in the house?
RC: Yes with some houses you would get a cup of tea and a mince pie. They were really generous the people in those days. Very very generous.
MK: When did you start to do it Mr Cormode?
RC: Do you mean to practise?
MK: No to go round, or to practise and then to go round.
RC: Oh you'd be practising for a week or maybe two weeks before Christmas week and then you went out a week before the Christmas. The whole week before the Christmas to do it. Now Christmas you see this year is falling on a Monday or a Sunday. Well you'd start on Monday of that week and then you'd have right up to Saturday night. And if it fell say in the middle of the week you'd start in the middle of the week previous to go out on the houses.
MK: You'd start very early in the evening I suppose.
RC: Oh yes you had to to get round as many places as possible you had to do it.
MK: And you'd give a full performance everywhere you went?
RC: Everywhere we went.
MK: You must of got worn out?
RC: Well it was very good. It was very enjoyable. And if you were getting just a drink of something here and there. Sometimes you would go into a pub.
MK: Well you wouldn't get anything.
RC: You would only get a lemonade or something. They might give you a bottle of lemonade which was only cheap in those days. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I often think really it was a pity that the wages weren't good in those days that you know you could afford to start up again.
MK: Yes it was a great pity. Who made your costumes and what became of them?
RC: Our own parents made them, they were your own property, you'd go and get white linen or whatever it was...
End of Side One
RC: Now the hat that I wore was of this nature you see. Only all cardboard about twice as big as this. And inside you had bits of tape fastened so that the hat wouldn't come down over your eyes. And the other men theirs were cardboard.
MK: Tall hats were they?
RC: Tall hats they had oh I suppose about 18 inches.
MK: Were they decorated?
RC: Yes usually by the different coloured paper. You'll probably understand the type. Yellow and blues and greens and purples. You cut them in strips and then you snip them with scissors all the way down. Then they were doubled and stick that on to the hat all the way round. Mix all the colours up you know and it was very very effective.
MK: It must have looked very well.
RC: Yes and I'm always sorry. Of course photography in those days you know, 60 years ago, wasn't like it is today.
MK: You just haven't got the photographs.
RC: I haven't, no, not one. You see being young you don't realise that. No you don't realise and I don't suppose anybody will have them. Leighton Stowell as I say might, but then his is a different version because a young fellow was in the shop working with me when I was working, he's passed away since, now he was in Leighton Stowell's troupe when they were down here, but they didn't go out anywhere. They just give it to the children in the school. But theirs was altogether different.
MK: He must have brought it from Castletown.
RC: He probably did do yes.
MK: Now your brother told me there was a character in it, he called him "Zelzebub"
RC: Zelzebob. He was never in it when I was in it.
MK: Was he not?
RC: No, I'll tell you, Zelzebob was in it one year and he used to open it in that time and he was the first youngster, first person, to open it. He went in and said "I am old Zelzebob and on my shoulder I carry an hob and in my hand an old tin can and I think myself a jolly old man." But he went in one night and instead of him saying his own piece he opened up with the Doctor's part. He said "I open the door and I fell in over your damned old mat." So of course the publican who had the pub, he was in a pub that night, of course as soon as he heard that "Get out!" He threw them all out, he wouldn't have them. So then of course the boys in the bar they kept up a noise and anyway they were back the next night. That was a fellow they call him Billy Collister, better known as Billy Bella He had an organ. You may have seen him in Douglas with a barrel organ on the streets. That was him Billy Bella.
MK: What sort of costume did he have?
RC: I think he only just had a costume much the same. His coat like an evening coat you know what I mean.
MK: Black?
RC: Black. Black trousers and I think he only had a bowler hat or something of that nature.
MK: Did they have the person in it that was called Little Devil Doubt?
RC: Not in my time, no I never. No in my time it was just the five, the four main actors and the doctor.
MK: You said that the trousers they wore were black and white?
RC: Yes well I don't know...when I'm, saying black and white it was much the same...you've seen the old butcher's aprons blue and white, well they were much of that nature. They might have been blue and white, but I think somehow they were black and white.
MK: Stripes?
RC: But I do know that mine was black and I had this frock tail coat as I called it.
MK: When Leighton Stowell does it he has the sword dance, they never had that had they?
RC: No we never had no sword dance. We done the acting with the swords you see our boys.
MK: And no dance of any sort?
RC: No no.. It used to take roughly half an hour or more and then you went on. The after you'd made your collection, but you always sang some, there was some song they had when we were marching out to go onto the next place.
MK: Had they any set speech when they went to take their leave. Was there anything in particular they said or just?
RC: Oh they just thanked them for their, you know, their contribution to them and went off out singing this...I forget now what it was. Some particular song they had.
MK: Where did you go as well as Laxey and Andreas?
RC: Well we only went out as far as Glen Tramman. We were out at Parker Mylchreests's and Johnny Vondy's. Parker Mylchreest he lived in Glen Tramman Abbey and Johnny Vondy he lived in Glen Tramman Mansion House. And then there was ...oh we went to the Druid, people by the name of Rouse they were in the Druid at the time. But I don't know who was in the house now the Raglan family are in. But there were no houses only the little farmhouse down the Garey Road. We were in the big house Ballachree. It used to be called Ash Hill at that time and old Captain McCann he was in it. And then across the road was The Woodlands, there were people by the name of Hex in that.
MK: And these were places you went to?
RC: Oh went to them all...and up Glen Audlyn into Milntown Mansion House to the Girl's School to give a display there. They were a boarding school you see belonged to the Christians. Then we went up the Glen, there were different places up the Glen. Course you crossed the old bridge in those days. It was washed away. But there was nobody up the far end, only old Mr and Mrs Corrin. Well there was just the two of them so we never went up that far.
MK: Would you say it was to more or less wealthy families that you went or would you go to anybody.
RC: We'd go to anybody. We've had various people meeting the boys and saying, "Come on and give us a turn will you?" with the White Boys. We used to go to the Children's Home. The Ballacloan Home. Of course in those days they didn't have the one they have now (Dalmeny) that used to be Dalmeny Hydro, gentleman the name of Mason, he had it built. Then when he died he donated the Hydro to the Children's Home. Then of course they separated the girls from the boys. The boys were down below and the girls were up in the top. Oh we were up all round Corbould Road and these various places out Lezayre Road and down the Mooragh. Any place where we thought we'd get a few coppers out of it.
MK: It must’ve been a busy week.
RC: It wanted some working in. Course we used to do the out lying districts first, such as Laxey, Andreas and then out Lezayre, Glen Auldyn and then you done the town area. You worked so many pubs in each night.
MK: You walked I suppose to these places?
RC: Oh yes, walked out to Andreas. We didn't walk to Laxey. We had the trap and the man was never paid for it. Only by stealing from the fields. They were great times oh my word. I wish many a time it could have been revived.
MK: It's a pity that these things seem to die away don't they.
RC: Yes. There was one old gentleman who lived in the very house now that Dr Cowley's in. Captain Clark a retired naval captain. He found out who the troupe was and he contacted Emily Clague, she had a paper shop where the present Northern Book Store is now in Parliament Street and found out that the boys come from that area, like round about. So she contacted my brother George and he wanted us out. So we had to make a special trip out to Captain Clark's. I think we got a half a crown out of him. It was very good money in those days compared like. Another good house was The Central Hotel. That's still in operation in Albion Square. You'd get in there and there was two or three rooms in The Central. You'd be in one room and you'd have to go from that to the next room. It took you an hour and a half to do The Central alone.
MK: You'd have to give three different performances?
RC: Three performances in the same pub in three different parts.
MK: When you went to a farmhouse where did you perform there? Would they have to clear a room for you?
RC: No we just have to shove the table back. In the sitting room like is where they would be sitting at night time. We would just shove the table back from the centre of the room and we would be there just the same as here and that's where we would perform. With the like of Parker Mylchreest and Johnny Vondy, well if you didn't get five bob it was a poor do. They were far better than some of the pubs really.
MK: So it really was a profitable business?
RC: Oh yes yes, it only lasted a short time like. And then of course the first thing you done in the takings, you took out what it cost for the bits of material you had to buy. But it never cost anything for my material cause I had a pair of long trousers that belonged to my brother and the coat I think I got the loan of from an uncle. So it didn't cost nothing.
MK: You wouldn't have to buy anything except for your hat perhaps.
RC: Only the paper, that was only a few pence. And a pot of this glue stuff, paste. Oh and
you'd be working like Trojans to get the hats done and everything ship-shape you know for the carry on.
MK: And would the costumes be put away and be kept year after year?
RC: Yes they were put away and then of course the war came on. I think my coat and trousers they were handed down to another young fella who unfortunately was killed in the First World War, young Albert Crow. He was lost.
MK: He was somebody who played the doctor then in a later performance?
RC: He played the doctor in a later performance.
MK: How long ago would you say it was when it actually stopped, sometime during the war or before the war?
RC: Just before, they didn't have it in 1914, at Christmas 1914 because the war was on, that stopped it.
MK: But up to then they would be a performance...?
RC:...up to 1913 Christmas?
MK: And goodness knows how many years back before that.
RC Well, I was only 11 when I first started. Well that's, eleven from seventy seven is sixty six isn't it, when i first started it then, sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine.
MK: And you don't remember The Mollag Band at all then?
RC: No I don't remember The Mollag Band. That's before my time.
MK: Or The Hunt the Wren.
RC: I can just remember as a child remember that like. But I've no real recollection of it at all.
MK: How many would have that been? Would that be a group or just one or two?
RC: There would only be two or three of in that I think.
MK: Did you ever see it?
RC: No not actually see it not at all.
MK: Did they used to have carol singers going round at the same time as the White Boys. Did they have them going round to houses as they do now? Would you think they'd be there more or less at the same time?
RC: Well it was only a matter of two or three nights or so before The Christmas that the carol singers would go out. There'd be one set from St Pauls - the choir boys like. They would be out. There would only be about five or six maybe. But they would go around chiefly to certain people belonging to the church.
MK: They didn't go round indiscriminately as they seem to do now?
RC: Oh no, no no. No.We used to do a little bit of carol singing too occasionally, but not a lot.
MK: What about Hop tu Naa- was that done in your time?
RC: That was done in my time, but they used to have a big turnip cut out and on a big stick, a broom stick. Until, there was one crowd that went out, I wasn't in it, I wasn't connected with them and of course they used to thump the doors with the turnip and some of them doing bits of damage you know. So of course the police got after them and then of course it had to be regulated a little bit.
MK: How to you mean?
RC: Well, they sort of clamped down on them and wouldn't allow what we would call these days the "tough" boys to go out. There were more a selected crowds to be going out.
MK: Were these just boys or were they men.
RC: Oh they were only roughly round about 10, anything maybe up to 13 or so. After that they lost interest in it then.
MK: They had a song too hadn't they? Or something they used to sing?
RC: Well there was some song I can't remember that. I know there was something.
"Hop tu Naa Hop tu Naa I met an old woman, she was baking bonnags
I asked her for one and she gave me two that was the best old woman I ever knew,
Hop tu Naa Hop tu Naa."
And then you'd sing
"Winny the witch jumped over the ditch"
And there was something else connected with it but I can't just remember it.
MK: Just can't call it to mind, well, it’s remarkable you remember as much as that.
RC: When when mother was telling me last night that you had been here she said you'd better write down paper or I won't know anything.
I never heard any more of the time we got clubbed at all sodded as we called it in Laxey and in Andreas.
MK: I wonder why they did that.
RC: I think it was maybe that some of the village boys were a little bit jealous.
MK: You didn't see who did it?
RC: Oh know, it was dark and there were no electric lights in those days.
MK: Did you carry a light at all?
RC: No, we didn't carry no light.
MK: How did you find your way in the dark?
RC: Well the older boys they knew the Laxey area and they knew the Andreas area. But a strange thing we never got down to Kirk Bride, much nearer than Andreas in a way.
MK: Do you think they had any troupes of White Boys in Bride or anywhere outside Ramsey?
RC No there was nothing in the outside areas. I don't think they even had them in Douglas.
MK: Not as late as you had them.
RC: No. The White Boys was a thing long before I was in them.
MK: Oh it must go back a long way. That old Mr McNeill, was he Robet McNeill?
RC: Robert McNeill, yes.
MK: He told me once that he was in them and that would be farther back wouldn't it?
RC: What age would Bob McNeill be now 90 odd. He must have been.
MK: Near 100 I should think, he was over 90 when he died.
RC: yes, I suppose a hundred years of age at least since, maybe more than that.
MK: Would there be more than one group in Ramsey at a time?
RC No there was only one group. Only the one crowd at a time.
MK: Did they carry any musical instruments, melodeons or anything like that?
RC: No we never had any. Although we had three or four boys could play the melodeon what they call the accordion now. And they played the mouth organ but I don't think I remember them playing. But the other crowds, the second to last time I was in, when we were going to Laxey, they were more content with swilling ale.
MK: What state were they in when they went to all those pubs? They must have had a good few drinks before they got to Laxey the older boys.
RC: Well there was only the two pubs you could get into the Glen Mona and the Dhoon Glen.
MK: but there were several in Laxey.
RC: Oh yes.
END
Scope & Content: Track 1: Robert Cormode, aged 77, talks to Margaret Killip recalling how 60 years ago, before the First World War, he played the part of the Doctor in the White Boys play (Ny Guillyn Baney)a traditional Manx 'mumming' play performed in the Isle of Man over the Christmas period. He talks about performing from the age of 11; playing the Doctor; first Christmas troupe visiting houses in Andreas finishing in the Grosvenor public house; clubbed with dirt sods on their way home; hats and how they were made; costumes; belts made by Harry Stoddard; swords made by Jack; timing and performance venues in week before Christmas, ending on Christmas Eve. Robert quotes from the play and he talks about passing round the collection tin; performances ending with solos; Tommy Corlett or “Tommy Sulby” singing solos; practicing with another troupe in Jane Duffy’s attic; Jimmy Duffy, Harry Dodds, George Surridge and Charlie Cowell in troupe; accidental fire at Jane Duffy’s; occupations of performers; chef Charlie Cowell trained by Mrs Edlington; passing down of play by men such as Willy Kewley; Mollag Band and Hunt the Wren; hiring of trap from Freddie Surridge from the Swan Hotel stables; setting off for Laxey houses and pubs; Clifton, Glen Mona, Edward Cregeen’s house, Dhoon Glen Hotel, Bridge, Glen and Shore Hotel; being too young to drink and therefore left at Browns Café; problem reviving the play after the First World War due to £5 licence fee; using burnt cork to play the Doctor; Farmer Street troupe of George Cormode, Tommy Corlett, Ernie Kennish and Bobby Cannell; reception on visiting houses; time spent practising.
Track 2: Robert talks about making the costumes; Leighton Stowell Castletown version of the play; ‘Selsy Bob’; Billy Collister (Billy Bella) and his street organ; properties and owners visited at Glen Tramman; Captain McCann; Milntown Mansion House boarding school; Ballacloan Children’s Home; Dalmeny Hydro and Mr Mason who built it and later donated it to The Children’s Home; Captain Clague; Central Hotel performances; costume passed down to Albert Crowe who was killed in the First World War; St Paul's choir carol singing; singing for Hop tu Naa; Bob McNeil.
Administration / Biographical History: Margaret Killip was a Manx Folk Life Survey recorder.
The White Boys play (Ny Guillyn Baney)
This traditional Manx 'mumming' play is not performed to any stable script, but it always includes a few key elements: saints, a fight, a death, a resurrection thanks to 'the Doctor' and a happy ending. This play has been seen on the streets of Manx towns and villages all over the Island during the Christmas period in the 19th Century and beyond. The play includes a special White Boys' Carol, and it concludes with a sword-dance which finishing with the distinctive holding aloft of the swords interlocked into a hexagon.
Language: English
Extent: 46 min. 3 sec.
Item name: magnetic recording tape
Collection: Sound Archive
Level: ITEM
ID number: SA 0106
Access conditions: All reasonable attempt has been made by Manx National Heritage to trace and request permission (where needed) from the copyright holder(s) in this sound recording. If however you think you are a rights holder then please contact Manx National Heritage.
Subject tags : #UOSH, #UOSHArts