Fred Karno

Frederick John Westcott (26 March 1866 – 17 September 1941), best known by his stage name Fred Karno, was an English vaudeville impresario of the British music hall. As a comedian of slapstick he is credited with popularizing the custard-pie-in-the-face gag. During the 1890s, in order to circumvent stage censorship, Karno developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue.

Early sketches such as Jail Birds (1895), in which prisoners play tricks on warders, and Early Birds (1899), showing the poverty and realities of London's East End poor, can be seen as precursors of silent movie comedy. His innovative 1904 sketch Mumming Birds, produced for the Hackney Empire in London, became the longest-running sketch the music halls produced. Many of his comics subsequently worked in film and used Karno material throughout their work. Film producer Hal Roach stated: "Fred Karno is not only a genius, he is the man who originated slapstick comedy. We in Hollywood owe much to him."

Among the music hall comedians who worked for Karno were Charlie Chaplin and his understudy, Arthur Stanley Jefferson, who later adopted the name of Stan Laurel. These were the alumni of Karno's comedy companies, all of whom trained at his headquarters called The Fun Factory, in Vaughan Road, Camberwell, southeast London. Such was Karno's fame that his name became associated with any chaotic situation, and the disorganised volunteer soldiers of the Great War labelled themselves "Fred Karno's Army". The phrase was also adapted into a trench song in World War I, to the tune of the hymn "The Church's One Foundation". In World War II it was adapted as the Anthem of the Guinea Pig Club, the first line becoming "We are McIndoe's Army ...". The song also features in the musical comedy film Oh! What a Lovely War (1969).