The Stage

Remembering a Lupino legend

Published Friday 30 October 2009 at 11:35

As director of the Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America, I am delighted to inform your readers that to mark the 50th anniversary of the passing of the late great Lupino Lane, a memorial service is to be held at St Paul’s Church (the Actors’ Church), Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London, on Tuesday (November 10) at 2pm.

Lupino Lane’s contribution to our cultural heritage was vast and it is only right that we should remember him in this way.

Born Henry William George Lupino (and affectionately known as Nip), Lupino arrived into ‘The Royal Family of Greasepaint’ on June 16, 1892, much to the delight of his father Harry Lupino and mother Charlotte Lane, the niece of Sara Lane, manager of the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton.

A born singer, dancer and acrobat, Lupino Lane joined the Lupino Family Troupe at the age of three and was soon establishing his own act as Master Nipper Lupino Lane in pantomimes across the country. It is a testament to his versatility that he was able to stretch his considerable talent across music hall, pantomime and musical theatre, before becoming a pioneer in the production of early British film. It was only natural therefore that he should go to Hollywood to take part in the great age of silent movies, performing with the likes of Douglas Fairbanks and Myrna Loy, before springing back to the UK to continue his stage career in variety and revue.

It was on his return to London that Lupino scored his most memorable hit as Bill Snibson in Noel Gay’s West End musical smash Me and My Girl which ran for more than 4,000 performances and introduced The Lambeth Walk to the nation.

Coming from a family already steeped in theatrical history - that includes the immortal clown Joseph Grimaldi, Stanley Lupino and Hollywood star Ida Lupino - Nip deserves to be remembered today and always and we welcome everyone to come along to Covent Garden and celebrate his life with us.

An exhibition on the Lupino Family is planned for 2010.

Adrian Barry

The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America

Email supplied