George Formby: A Troubled Genius

by David Bret

This highly controversial and compelling biography of George Formby presents a very different Formby from the one known to his many fans. His life was fiercely dominated by his wife Beryl, a woman who was single-handedly responsible for his tremendous success as Britain's greatest male entertainer. Bret explores George and Beryl's public and private lives and the results are frequently shocking; there were secret love affairs; they hated their fellow stare and loathed George's family. Bret also describes the sacrifices they made and the danger they put themselves in whilst raising thousands of pounds for the war effort. He also lifts the lid on their controversial trip to South Africa, where they became fervent denouncers of Apartheid and received death threats. Formby's films, all twenty-two of them, are fully analysed along with his songs, and the book contains detailed appendices of these and a full discography.

Genres: Biography

296 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

David Bret is a French-born British author of showbiz biographies. He chiefly writes on the private life of film stars and singers.

Reviews

[ARoQ · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Formby was A Troubled Genius. You know this because the book is called George Formby: A Troubles Genius. Unfortunately, this otherwise entertaining and well written book doesn’t do a ton to make the case.

Troubled, sure- almost from the first page Mr. Bret takes great pains to detail how Formby was ruled for most of his life and career with an iron fist by his overbearing wife Beryl. The accounts of Beryl’s legendary bad temper (terrorizing George’s film producers and female costars, demanding ever larger performance fees and rates while keeping George on a short leash and shorter weekly allowance) are startling, and make up a good part of the book’s central drama. The “Genius” part never quite arrives; indeed, Bret (probably unintentionally, given the obvious love he has for the book’s subject) cast suspicions on this claim by referencing plenty of accusations from those who knew Formby. We learn that, for example, his songwriting credits were more than likely a power play by Beryl to ensure a cut of future royalties rather than a genuine reflection of his skills (a practice that led to almost no songwriters willing to work with Formby towards the end of his life). The rumor is even entertained that Formby was so musically illiterate he couldn’t tune his trademark ukuleles on his own.

As a neophyte to the works of Formby and to the general pre-war British entertainment tradition he was part of, I can’t really tell you what to believe there. And that really is the books biggest flaw- very little is done to contextualize Formby and his place in history. Those hoping for a broader understanding of British music hall would need to look elsewhere.

That said, that might not be fully necessary for a figure like this- just take a break from reading and play any George Formby song at random and his talent and charm still shine as bright as ever. Bret does an admirably thorough job of documenting Formby’s career highlights, including exhaustive plot summaries of his many (some hard to view) movies, and the appendices are invaluable references for completists tracking down his appearances and songs. The book is written with a nice sense of urgency, especially in the very detailed accounts of Beryl and George’s quite heroic travels to entertain the troops in WW2.

If you’re a yankee like me that didn’t grow up with Formby’s music in your family, this book is a fun but incomplete portrait of an iconic Lancashire entertainer. Just do a little extra research before or after (especially track down his music and/or movie clips) and it’ll Turn Out Nice Again indeed!

[Shaun Hand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew nothing about George Formby except two songs and that he was northern, so I was excited to learn more.

This is a solid account of his life - although I found the detailed plot descriptions of his films unnecessary and skipped most of them. As it progresses, it gets a little deeper into his health and his unhealthy relationship with his bullying/bitter/possessive wife/manager (who almost no one has a good word for), but until near the end, I felt like the real George Formby remained elusive or under glass somehow. But a well researched biography all the same.

[Mr.Simon M.Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ee , what a life.

Diverting account of his life. Much cheaper than sourcing a hard copy.Slightly spoilt by lots of proofing errors. Thoroughly recommended.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not like the way this book was written. I love George Formby, but was let down by the author.

[Alex Ward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't found much to like about David Bret's books but his biography on comedian George Formby is an exception.
The author has woven together a moving, somewhat tragic but always interesting portrait about one of the most famous entertainers in Britain, who became one of the biggest film stars in history after much failure and false starts, until he met the woman who turned out to be both the best and worst thing to happen to him. Who could have guessed that this beloved showman used his public image as a means of hiding the emotional pain and trauma that came from his longing to become a father and to secure everlasting happiness with a woman who would genuinely love him?
David Bret pulls no punches in describing the love/hate relationship between George Formby and his wife Beryl: her sacrificing her own career in order to guide his and achieving more success than either one of them could have imagined; how Beryl took nearly all of George's film earnings and left him with just a weekly allowance; the jealous rages over the glamorous leading ladies in George's films and how much the producers, writers and directors took an instant dislike to Mrs. Formby. This and much more is revealed in a book that I didn't put down until I had reached page 100 or so: so I could catch my breath for a moment!
The detail to both George Formby's life and career is impressive and the author wisely avoided injecting his book with the usual array of sordid, x rated material and also chose to concentrate on the subject, rather than allowing himself to become side-tracked by pointless information.
It is a bit of a pity that the selection of photos is disappointing but aside from that minor quibble, this is a biography that fans of George Formby will want to read and not forget.

[Chris Wood · Rating 2 out of 5]

It would be difficult to write a detailed, personal account of George Formby's life; especially so since those who knew him personally have long since passed away.

Given this difficulty, Bret should be applauded for his efforts, however the resulting book is thin on detail, relying a chronological account of appearances and recordings together with summaries of film plots.

There is absolutely no doubting George Formby's immense talent and success, however.