Oh! Mr Porter

Album: Music Hall Classics (1937)
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Songfacts®:

  • According to Tony Barker in his short biography of George Le Brunn, this song was not inspired by a porter but by a publican.

    "Oh! Mr Porter" was co-written by Le Brunn and his brother, Thomas. The publican concerned had an eye for attractive barmaids, and on one occasion after taking one out he put her on the train home only for her to realise too late that she was on the wrong one. As the train began to move she exclaimed "Oh, Mr Porter, what shall I do?" Le Brunn heard the story, and was in a public house in Westminster when Marie Lloyd walked in.
  • Although this was one of Miss Lloyd's most well known songs, she appears never to have recorded it. The sheet music appears in Howard & Co.'s Third Comic Annual, and the title inspired or was at least used for, a 1937 film starring Will Hay. Popular though this song was, not everybody liked it or her; it was one of the songs she sang when called before the Vigilance Committee, where of course she performed it in all innocence for the self-styled guardians of public morals. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

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