Summary: Cockney Replicant
Assignment 2
MJ Halco
- Scott, Derek B. “The Music Hall Cockney: Flesh and Blood, or Replicant?” Music & Letters 83, no. 2 (May 2002): 237-258.
Derek Scott discusses music halls from 1840 through 1890, specifically at the representation of Cockney characters and language. He asserts that these representations can be classified into three phases: Phase 1, from 1840-1860, is Parody; Phase 2, from 1860-1880 is Character-Type, and Phase 3, from 1880-1890, is Imagined Real. Scott references Charles Dickens’s use of Cockney in 1836 as perhaps the spark of seeing Cockney characters on music hall stages.
In Phase 1, all stage representations of Cockney are parodies of Cockneys and Dickens’s popular use of it. In Phase 2, Cockney becomes a Character Type. Scott cites Irish, blackface, rustic, and city swells as other Character Type found in music halls. At this point, the Cockney Character type is not viewed as satirical. The audience maintains a clear distinction between actor and character here. However, this changes in Phase 3. In the 1880s, the audiences of music halls begin to assume the character for the actor. They see the Cockney role on stage, and believe the actor to be a true, authentic Cockney. Some examples Scott uses are Bessie Bellwood, Albert Chevalier, Ernest Elen, and Marie Lloyd. Bessie Bellwood was the stage name of Kathleen Mahoney, who began her career singing Irish songs. Albert Chevalier was regarded as not a real Cockney, for he came from lower middle class beginnings, compared to Ernest Elen, who came from the working class. Elen was viewed as a true, authentic, Cockney, despite the fact that he played different roles. There are recordings of Elen showing variations in his language that would not be heard in an “authentic” Cockney. Marie Lloyd too, was viewed as the real thing, but there are also recordings proving she could turn the Cockney accent on and off. Despite this evidence, audiences believed these people to be true Cockneys, not actors portraying them.
Sources
Scott cites Charles Dickens’s use of a Cockney character in his Pickwick Papers. He also provides several examples of 19th century music hall songs and productions as evidence of language and character development through the decades under study. Scott also cites other studies of literature, art, and culture of the late 1800s.
Significance:
Scott claims there to be three distinct phases of Cockney representation on the music hall stage from the 1840s to the 1890s. Through the phases of Parody, Character Type, and Imagined Real, representations of Cockney are no longer based on real Cockneys, but existing parodies of real Cockneys.