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Walter C. Kelly: Monologuist And Admirer Of Thomas A. Edison
by John E. Rutherford
Walter C. Kelly as the "Virginian Judge"
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Few
people
remember
Walter
C.
Kelly
today,
but
occasionally
you
will
come across his
most
famous
monologue,
"The Virginian Judge",
on
Victor
Records
45180,
45202
and
45250.
He
also
recorded
"Negro"
and "Irish" stories in dialect.
Here
is
an
example
from
his
Victor
"Virginia
Judge"
record
45202:
Judge:
How old are you,
Jim?
Jim:
I'se just twenty-fo', Judge.
Judge:
Well, Jim, you will be just
twenty-five when you get out.
This kind of
humour is out of
fashion
now and seems very tame to
our more sophisticated ears, but in
his
day
Kelly
was
very
famous
indeed.
One critic said of
him:
"He
was
a
humorist
of
the first
water,
comparing
favorably
with
Mark Twain and Will Rogers."
He toured the English-speaking
world
during the first quarter
of
this
century
and
"originated
a
series of
monologues
which,
over
a
period of thirty years,
through the
medium of the stage,
phonograph and
radio,
are
said
to
have
created
more
continuous laughter throughout
the English-speaking world than any
other similar document in the field
of public entertainment."
He was famous enough that,
when
he
was
taking
his
seat
at
a
concert,
John Philip Sousa
stopped
conducting
and
had
the
band play
"Has
Anybody Here Seen Kelly?"
While on the Vaudeville circuit
he visited Toronto,
so it is quite
possible
that
some
of
our
grandparents
heard
him
in
person.
While
he
was
in
Canada
he
became
acquainted with Stephen Leacock and
admired
him greatly.
His
relatives
also
made their
marks.
His brother,
George Kelly,
wrote plays.
"The
Show Off",
"The
Torch Bearers",
and "Craig's
Wife"
(a Pulitzer Prize winner), starred
such
performers
as
James
Cagney,
Joan
Blondell,
Spencer
Tracy,
Rosalind
Russell
and
Tallulah
Bankhead.
Another
brother,
John,
won
the
Olympic
Rowing
(sculls)
Singles and Doubles
on the same day
in
1920
- the only person ever to
accomplish that feat - and he also
held
the
Canadian
Sculls
Championship
as did his
son John,
Jr.
I
suppose John's
daughter
was
even more famous than all the rest.
Her name was Grace Kelly.
In Walt Kelly's
autobiography,
Of
Me I Sing,
he tells of meeting
the
great
inventor
Thomas
A.
Edison.
I
quote the story of the
meeting in Kelly's
own words:
"I
can truthfully
say that the
greatest
thrill
I
have
ever
experienced
occurred many years ago
in a
swank
New York hotel where, at
a banquet
and entertainment to his
employees,
I
found
myself
shaking
hands
with
the
late
Thomas
A.
Edison.
Accustomed though I was to
chatting
over
the
footlights
nightly to
thousands
of
people,
I
confess that in the presence of the
towering
genius
I
nearly
lost
my
voice.
Here
before
me
was
a
stocky,
silver-haired
little
man
who had done
more to carry out the
creator's
command,
"Let
there
be
light",
than any human
who had ever
lived,
and
for
some
reason,
although not as devout as I should
be in
my religious duties,
I felt,
in
the
presence
of
this
great
benefactor
of
mankind,
a
little
closer to God."
Walter
Kelly
died
in
1939
leaving
behind
him
a
fitting
epitaph.
Whether it
was
used
on
his tombstone I don't know:
I have bowed to laughing millions,
Had my shares of grief and glories,
And when I bend the knee, to
whatever gods there be,
I hope they are fond of stories.
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