{{Short description|British comedian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Use British English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = Tommy_Lorne.jpg | caption = 1920s postcard | birth_name = Hugh Gallagher Corcoran | birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|12|07|df=y}} | birth_place = Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1935|04|17|1890|12|07|df=y}} | death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = Comic entertainer | years_active = 1904–1935 | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Tommy Lorne''' (born '''Hugh Gallagher Corcoran'''; 7 December 1890 – 17 April 1935) was a Scottish music hall comedian of the 1920s.
==Life==
Born in Kirkintilloch, he grew up in Glasgow.<ref name=story>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theglasgowstory.com/story/?id=TGSEH14|title=TheGlasgowStory: 1914 to 1950s: Personalities: Tommy Lorne|website=www.theglasgowstory.com}}</ref> He joined a local minstrel troupe as a boy, and made his first music hall appearance in 1904, in a talent show run by George Formby Sr. Before becoming a full-time entertainer, he worked in a steelworks drawing office.<ref name=story/> A dancer as well as a comic entertainer, he formed a duo, Wallace and Lorne, who billed themselves as "Champion Dancers of the World", and performed sand dances in variety shows on tour in Scotland, the north of England, and Wales.<ref name=busby>{{cite book |last=Busby |first=Roy |year=1976 |title=British Music Hall: An Illustrated Who's Who from 1850 to the Present Day |location=London |publisher=Paul Elek |page= 115|isbn=0 236 40053 3}}</ref>
In 1916, Lorne joined the army, serving in India and Afghanistan, and when discharged in 1920 became a comedian in Harry McKelvie's company, performing in revues and pantomimes. He quickly became popular as a comic entertainer in Scotland, and developed a distinct and instantly recognisable act and style.<ref name=busby/> He was tall and thin, and performed in a high-pitched voice, wearing clown-like white make-up, boots that were too large, a jacket that was too short, a Glengarry and a very short kilt.<ref name=gla>{{Cite web|url=http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/collections/sta/Collections/Lorne/index.html|title=University of Glasgow Library - Collections - Scottish Theatre Archive|website=special.lib.gla.ac.uk}}</ref>
He occasionally performed in London, but most of his appearances were in Scotland and the north of England. In 1924, he made a record-breaking tour of Scotland with a revue, ''Froth'', that also featured the Houston sisters when it played in Glasgow.<ref name=busby/> In 1927, Lorne made two short films, ''The Lard Song''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498179/|title=The Lard Song|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The "Lard Song" A Song Scena Featuring Tommy Lorne (1927) |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c2bd231 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514132215/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c2bd231 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 May 2019 |publisher=BFI |accessdate=2019-05-14}}</ref> and ''Tommy Lorne and "Dumplings"'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/T/TommyLorneAndDumplings1927.html|title=Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List|website=www.silentera.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tommy Lorne and 'dumplings' (1927) |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8d6ce2d8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514132217/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8d6ce2d8 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 May 2019 |publisher=BFI |accessdate=2019-05-14}}</ref> both filmed in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process.
Although he had previously resisted playing as a pantomime dame, he had one of his greatest successes when he did so at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh in 1928. His work was admired by other Scottish comedians including Harry Lauder and Will Fyffe.<ref name=busby/>
Lorne, who was an alcoholic, died from double pneumonia in hospital in Edinburgh after collapsing during a performance. He was 45.<ref name=story/><ref>[https://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst3758.html Tommy Lorne, ''Scottish Places'']. retrieved 28 January 2023</ref>
==Legacy==
Though it is sometimes said that Lorne sausage is named after him,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/98/101098481/|title=''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' entry}}</ref><ref name="Brown2011">{{cite book|author=Catherine Brown|title=Classic Scots Cookery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUCPk82tMtoC&pg=PT65|date=21 August 2011|publisher=Neil Wilson Publishing|isbn=978-1-906476-56-4|pages=65–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/sndns2422|title=Dictionary of the Scots Language:: SND :: sndns2422}}</ref> advertisements for Lorne sausage have been found in newspapers as early as 1896,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/view/id/4724|title=Scotslanguage.com - Lorne sausage n. square-shaped sausage meat|publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?newspaperTitle=Arbroath+Herald+and+Advertiser+for+the+Montrose+Burghs|title=Results - Arbroath Herald and Advertiser For The Montrose Burghs|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> and both the sausage and Lorne himself seem to have taken their names from the Scottish region.
==Catchphrases== * "In the name of the wee man!" * "Ah'll get ye, and if Ah don't get you the coos'll get ye!" * "Sausages is the boys!"
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorne, Tommy}} Category:1890 births Category:1935 deaths Category:British music hall performers Category:Comedians from Glasgow Category:People from Kirkintilloch Category:Scottish male comedians Category:20th-century British comedians