- Marriott Edgar
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Marriott Edgar (1880–1951), born George Marriot Edgar in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, was a poet, scriptwriter and comedian best known for writing many of the monologues performed by Stanley Holloway, particularly the 'Albert' series. In total he wrote sixteen monologues for Stanley Holloway, whilst Holloway himself wrote only five.
His parents were Jennifer née Taylor, a native of Dundee, and Richard Horatio Marriott Edgar (1847–1894), only son of Alice Marriott (1824–1900), proprietress of the Marriott family theatre troupe. Richard was born in Manchester, Lancashire, near Christmas 1847 as Richard Horatio Marriott; both his two sisters, Adeline Marriott (b.1853) and Grace Marriott (b.1858) were also born in Lancashire. Later all three children chose to take the surname of their mother's "husband", Robert Edgar (there seems to be no record of a Robert Edgar - Alice Marriott marriage as of yet), and they retained this surname throughout their lives - Richard married and died as Richard Horatio Edgar rather than under his birth surname of Marriott (possibly suggesting Robert Edgar was the biological father of at least one of Alice's three children). Their marriage was registered in St George, Southwark, Surrey in the second quarter of 1856.
Richard and Jenny married in March 1875, with Richard being unaware that he had fathered an illegitimate namesake son, Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace, with his "honorary sister", widowed actress Mrs Mary Jane "Polly" Richards, after a brief sexual encounter when they were both extremely drunk at a back-stage party in 1874. Polly had invented an obligation in London to hide her pregnancy and give birth in secret on 1 April 1875, almost a month after Richard and Jenny married. This son became the famous journalist, novelist, playwright and screenplay writer Edgar Wallace.
Richard and Jenny Taylor's children were Alice Marriott Edgar (b.1876, London), twins Richard and Jennifer Marriott Edgar (b.1878, London), following which they relocated to Scotland, where George was born, then they returned to Southern England and London once more, having Joseph Marriott Edgar in 1884 and Adeline Alice Edgar in 1886, both in London.
George Marriott Edgar was five years younger than his famous, elder paternal half-brother. Marriott Edgar was a talented performer, poet and writer in his own right, and excelled once he had joined up with Holloway. They went to Hollywood at the start of the 1930s, Edgar having dropped his first name for his "professional" appellation of Marriott Edgar. During the few months of 1931–1932, the two half-brothers, Marriott Edgar and Edgar Wallace encountered each other in Los Angeles. Wallace had learned of his paternal semi-siblings' existence from his niece, Miss A Grace Donovan, who was the only child of his only maternal semi-sibling, Polly Richards' daughter, Mrs Josephine Catherine Richards Donovan (1868–1894). However, there is only evidence of Wallace definitely meeting Marriott Edgar, and as far as is known he never met any of his other half-brothers and sisters by his father - Wallace and Marriott's mutual father, Richard H Edgar, died in 1894, the same year as Wallace's half-sister Josephine C.R. Donovan, and when their mutual grandmother Alice Marriott "Edgar" died in 1900, Wallace was in South Africa as a war correspondent for the Daily Mail.
When Marriott Edgar wrote his most famous The Lion & Albert monologue, he named the lion Wallace in what is now generally recognised to be a fraternal in-joke nod to his brother. Marriott outlived Edgar Wallace by 19 years.
Monologues
The monologues should be performed in a Northern English accent. They include possibly the most well known, The Lion and Albert, and I'll Tell of the Battle of Hastings
External links
Categories:- 1880 births
- 1951 deaths
- Scottish poets
- People from Kirkcudbright
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