G. Bordas (xix-xx) - Music Hall, Little Tich On Stage, Circa 1900

G. Bordas (19th-20th century)
Music Hall, Little Tich On Stage, Circa 1900
Oil on cardboard
46 x 34 cm
52 x 39.5 cm with its frame
Signed top right

Little Tich, stage name of Harry Relph, was a British music hall comic actor, born on 21 July 1867 in Cudham and died on 10 February 1928 in Hendon. Little Tich was 1.37 m tall and had six fingers on each hand. Known in particular for his characters of the "Señora", the "Gendarme", the "Percepteur", and for his "Dance of the big shoes" (over 70 centimetres), he is considered one of the precursors of clowns. He performed in France at the Alhambra. According to Louis Merlin, with his big shoes and his cane he inspired Charlie Chaplin to create the character of Charlot. The commemorative film of the Dance of the Great Shoes, made by Clément Maurice for the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre in 1900, was described by Jacques Tati as "the basis of everything that has been achieved in comedy on the screen".