{{Short description|English music hall entertainer, pianist and songwriter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | image = Sam_Mayo_comedian.jpg | caption = | name = Sam Mayo | birth_name = Samuel Cowan | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1881|7|30}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1938|3|31|1881|7|30}} | death_place = London, England | burial_place = Willesden Jewish Cemetery | other_names = The Immobile One | occupation = Music hall singer | years_active = }} '''Sam Mayo''' (born '''Samuel Cowan'''; 30 July 1881 – 31 March 1938) was an English music hall entertainer, pianist and songwriter.
==Life== Born Samuel Cowan in London on 30 July 1881,<ref name="bmh"/> he first worked in his father's second-hand shop while also collecting bets and singing in pubs and clubs with his brothers Ted and Maurice Cowan.<ref name="bmh">{{cite book |title=British Music Hall: An Illustrated History |last=Baker |first=Richard Anthony |year=2011 |publisher=Pen and Sword Books |location=Barnsley, England |isbn=978-1783831180 |page=244 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ruWwBAAAQBAJ&q=%22SAM+MAYO+%5BSamuel+Cowan%5D&pg=PA244}}</ref> He adopted the stage surname "Mayo" to distinguish himself from his brother Ted, who was also a professional entertainer.<ref name="bmh"/>
Mayo married Zillah Flash (performing name: Stella Stanley) in Brighton on 13 August 1904. His early involvement in gambling stayed with him: heavy gambling caused him to be three times declared bankrupt.
==Career== Mayo developed a unique comic style as a music hall singer. Dressed in long overcoat or dressing gown, he sang deadpan at the piano in a lugubrious voice and with quirky humour. He became billed as "The Immobile One". Mayo mostly wrote his own songs, such as "The Old Tin Can", and provided other entertainers, such as Ernie Mayne,<ref name="bmh"/> with material such as the song "Where Do Flies Go in the Winter Time?" He held the record for appearing at the greatest number of music halls in a single evening: nine performances at nine London venues on the evening of 21 January 1905.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://monologues.co.uk/musichall/Sam-Mayo.htm |title=Sam Mayo (1875–1938) |date=2017 |work=The Lyrics: A Casquet of Vocal gems from the Golden Age of Music Hall |publisher=monologues.co.uk |accessdate=5 January 2018 |archive-date=18 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418170219/http://www.monologues.co.uk/musichall/Sam-Mayo.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Death== He died of a heart attack whilst playing snooker at Ascot Club, in Charing Cross, on 31 March 1938,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001898/19380401/019/0001|title=Death of Sam Mayo. Heart Attack At Snooker|date=1 April 1938|work=Nottingham Journal|access-date=5 March 2020}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Gossip|first=Variety|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001179/19380407/002/0006|title=Death of Sam Mayo|date=7 April 1938|work=Variety Gossip|access-date=6 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Press|first=Western Daily|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000513/19380401/132/0012|title=Death of Sam Mayo. Famous Comedian's Collapse.|date=1 April 1938|work=Western Daily Press|access-date=6 March 2020}}</ref> a week after attending the funeral of his son, who died of tuberculosis.<ref name=":0" /> He was buried at Willesden Jewish Cemetery.<ref name=":1" /> The funeral was attended by Will Fyffe and a few other notable figures in music hall.<ref name=":1" />
==Trivia== The noted writer Katherine Mansfield quoted Mayo's lyrics in a letter dated 1 November 1920.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield: Volume IV: 1920–1921 |last=Mansfield |first=Katherine |year=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, England |isbn=978-0198185321 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WktGcM_UpH8C&q=%22Sam+Mayo+used+to+sing+it.%22&pg=PA94}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *{{IMDb name|7488679|Sam Mayo}} *[http://monologues.co.uk/musichall/Sam-Mayo.htm Text collection of Sam Mayo's lyrics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418170219/http://www.monologues.co.uk/musichall/Sam-Mayo.htm |date=18 April 2018 }} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBCroDzOBcU Sam Mayo: British Pathé, 1930] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kev5fZAI3Hg Sam Mayo: British Pathé, 1931] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMMmGGm3qvg Sam Mayo: British Pathé, 1932] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO3PLBv8jV0 Sam Mayo: ''Things are Worse in Russia''] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1H55jEtu_Y Sam Mayo: ''I'll Prove That I'm Right''] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suotRE5bqaA Sam Mayo: ''The Toreador''] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o_5FogG2Vk Sam Mayo: ''Bread and Marmalade''] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAPv5Kpmfao Sam Mayo: ''The Trumpeter''] {{div col end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayo, Sam}} Category:1881 births Category:1938 deaths Category:20th-century English male singers Category:20th-century English singers Category:Burials at Willesden Jewish Cemetery Category:British music hall performers Category:Musicians from London Category:Pioneer recording artists