The Clarkson Rose Page
Clarkson Rose was born in Dudley, Worcestershire in 1890 as Arthur C. Rose. He made his first
appearance on stage in 1905 at the Mechanics Institute, Dudley with the billing: "A.C Rose - Comedian".
Later he formed his own concert party and was to present his own Summer Show "Twinkle" at seaside resorts
for over forty years. He appeared in repertory in Liverpool and took to the London stage in the West End in "Trelawney
of The Wells" in 1915. In 1918 he met Olive Fox, and they married, forming a double act as "Fox and Rose",
a partnership that lasted 46 years. "Twinkle" was first presented on Ryde Pier in 1921 whilst Rose continued
to appear in Variety tours. He was principal comedian in pantomimes from 1918 and whilst playing the "Alhambra"
in 1927 he was engaged to play his first Pantomime Dame at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham. He appeared as Mrs Crusoe
in "Robinson Crusoe" co-starring with Robb Wilton. The following year he appeared in the Royal Variety
Performance at the London Coliseum, dressed in the attire of a Victorian Dame, singing "The Girls Of The Old
Brigade".
Rose was possibly the most famous pantomime dame of all and comedian John Inman who saw Rose in panto, described
him thus: "He was a very grand dame, he was a big man. His dames were very posh, very grand - very masculine
but very grand." He appeared as Dame for the Melville Brothers at the Lyceum Theatre London for three years
consecutively between 1936 and 1938.He had the honour of making the final curtain speech at the Lyceum on the night
it closed. He always claimed his favourite role was Widow Twankey, in "Aladdin". Clarkson Rose's produced
and appeared in pantomime for many years and his last was at Leicester in 1967. He died on 23rd April, 1968.
During his very active career, Clarkson Rose also produced dozens of songs on 78, many of them
in company with Olive Fox. The entire output, between 1922 and 1931 was on the Zonophone label and many of the
records, although popular with collectors, are quite difficult to track down.
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The Alpine Milkman
1 - The Alpine milkman
3:25
2 - Oh Chalie, take it away 2:38
3 - Over the garden wall 2:52
4 - Same again (with Olive Fox) 3:08
5 - All by yourself in the moonlight 3:08
6 - And then we won't go home (with Olive Fox) 3:24
7 - Felix kept on walking 2:32
8 - Dada, dada 2:30
9 - I love me 3:11
10 - I want to be alone with Mary Brown 2:43
11 - Sitting on a five barr'd gate 3:07
12 - The average man 3:01
13 - The gag song 3:12
14 - There's a good time coming 2:50
15 - The same to you upholstered 3:20
16 - Tilly took a tramp in the wood 3:18
Total running time 48 minutes 51 seconds
These tracks are taken direct from 78 rpm records and in order to maintain the authentic sound,
have not been engineered in any way.
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Not available
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Please send your cheque or postal order to:
Chris Gavin, PO Box 368, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire AB34 5LZ |
An additional charge may be required to send overseas, please email Chris
Gavin for information. |