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Issy Bonn Information   


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  1st Jan 2024, 2:46 PM#1  REPORT  
Mike Wilson1

Musicologist
Member since Dec 2019
26 Points
Issy Bonn (born Benjamin Levin on the 21st April 1903) was a British comedian, singer, actor, & theatrical agent whose signature song was the well known "My Yiddishe Momme".
He was born into a Jewish family in Whitechapel London, the son of a butcher. As a boy, he started singing & entertaining, but his family disapproved of his interest in the Music Hall so he was sent to Canada to live with relatives. When he returned, he joined an existing comedy & singing group called The Three Rascals using the stage name Benny Levine & went solo in the early 1920s. He took the stage name Issy Bonn at the suggestion of BBC Radio producer John Sharman, who produced a popular programme, John Sharman's Music Hall, and made his first radio appearance on the show in 1935, billed as "The Hebrew Vocal Raconteur". He combined sentimental songs such as "My Yiddish Momme" and "Let Bygones Be Bygones", with Jewish humour and sketches, many featuring the fictitious Finkelfeffer family.
Issy Bonn made over a thousand radio broadcasts on programmes such as Variety Bandbox & reputedly had a repertoire of over 500 songs. He also regularly toured South Africa. He appeared in the films I Thank You and Discoveries where he played a Mr. Schwitzer. He made his first recordings in 1942 for the Rex label, later recording for Decca & Columbia. He toured Europe with ENSA & after the Second World War wrote and starred in his own road shows including The Big Broadcasts and The Melody Lingers On.
In the 1950s, his style of humour, trading on traditional Jewish stereotypes went out of fashion, but he continued to appear on radio, television & in pantomimes and toured often with the popular trumpeter Eddie Calvert. He later retired from performing, became a theatrical agent and a producer of variety shows around the country. He made his last appearance as a performer in 1963. His image appears on the cover of The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band….His recordings are still treasured but there is just one that I have not been able to get….Does anyone have “Goodnight Children Everywhere” which was released as HMV B.D, 797….A 78, a recording or mp3….Anything !!


  6th Jan 2024, 12:18 AM#2  REPORT  
Juke Jules SUBS

Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow
Member since Jan 2011
4138 Points
Moderator
Mike - Thanks for that but you could just link to Wikipedia :cool: :

Or you could write something original on the Issy Bonn 78s page - follow the 'Create Biography' link at the foot of the page, or you can add the Wikipedia link there :happy:


  6th Jan 2024, 11:04 PM#3  REPORT  
Whyperion SUBS🍰

Too Many Records , Too Little Time
Member since Jan 2013
306 Points
JJ, it is not easy to write a biography here for artists when others have done it on other sources (discogs, wiki, etc) without repeating , or making a mistake, when editing. Some biographies here and on cat are useful , say for obscure punk bands, when it is the vocalist's sister recalling the events of 50 years back etc or sometimes the effort of piecing together information from trade etc publications. As it is I am glad Mike put the info in here at least as a starting point , as I get Issy Bonn confused with another Decca singer that died in an air raid relatively early in the first part of WW2. I also recall (and I forget which episode, and who ) a Goon Show reference to some singing voice (either deep or female) to which the comment was made " s/he used to be Issy Bonn)


  7th Jan 2024, 1:41 AM#4  REPORT  
Juke Jules SUBS

Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow
Member since Jan 2011
4138 Points
Moderator
it is perfectly easy to write a biography, drawing on those of others, even of Wikipedia! The simplest is to post a link to Wikipedia, which is acceptable, if a bit of a cop-out :cool:


  7th Jan 2024, 6:00 PM#5  REPORT  
Mike Wilson1

Musicologist
Member since Dec 2019
26 Points
Juke Jules wrote:
Mike - Thanks for that but you could just link to Wikipedia :cool: :

Or you could write something original on the Issy Bonn 78s page - follow the 'Create Biography' link at the foot of the page, or you can add the Wikipedia link there :happy:

I just thought that members would find it interesting.


  14th Jan 2024, 8:03 PM#6  REPORT  
Juke Jules SUBS

Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow
Member since Jan 2011
4138 Points
Moderator
I found it interesting, which is why it needed a biography which can always be found on the 78s artist page where people will be looking, rather than on page 237¹ of the forums :cool:

¹ Okay, i't currently on Page 1 today as a result of the replies, but in 5 years it will be a long way down in the forum.


  15th Jan 2024, 12:39 PM#7  REPORT  
rocket666

turn me lose from your hands / tin can at my feet
Member since Mar 2013
15545 Points
Extremely good point JJ.


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