legacy -
how were they remembered?
'our ever memorable "Funny Murray" '
Stanley Joseph, Gleaner, March 19, 1940
Stanley Joseph, Gleaner, March 19, 1940
Daily Gleaner, May 20, 1911
'Many funny stories were told, to the delight of all. Mr. H. L. Harris easily carried off the palm with "Braad Mout Zedekiah," told in genuine vernacular, reminding one of "Funny Murray's" very best.'
Daily Gleaner, June 27, 1931
FUNNY MURRAY: Famous Jamaica Lecturer Of Many Years Ago. George Magnan Wortley How many of us remember Mr. Murray and his humourous lectures? I wonder. We called him "Funny Murray." Many a hearty laugh did we enjoy when we attended his entertainments. He was funny. As far as I can recollect Mr. Murray was rather a big man, but perhaps I thought him so as I was myself rather small in those days - away back in the seventies and eighties. He had a merry face, but what sticks most in my memory is that he had quite a head full of hair which stuck out in a very striking manner. He never appeared on the platform in any disguise. This wasn't necessary. He needed no costume or "make up" to help him to amuse. His character sketches were just vocal. You only wanted to see his face and to hear him speak. Oh, he was an artist. Mr. Murray's son inherited his father's talent, but for one reason or another I never heard him lecture. [George Magnan Wortley was a top civil servant and also a prominent organist; he died in March 1948, having retired from the public service in 1918.
It's not entirely clear which "Funny Murray" he was remembering - presumably H. G. Murray who died in 1877, and probably also Andrew Murray who performed in the early 1880s.] |
Letter in the Daily Gleaner. September 13, 1940
Those of us who are old enough . . . remember that inimitable Jamaican humorist, "Funny Murray," . . . Murray's dialect was "Jamaican as she is spoken."
Those of us who are old enough . . . remember that inimitable Jamaican humorist, "Funny Murray," . . . Murray's dialect was "Jamaican as she is spoken."
The best account of the Murray family currently available is in Errol Hill's fine book The Jamaican Stage, 1655-1900. In his Chapter 8, 'Readers, Reciters, Storytellers', he gives a fairly detailed account of this important family of Jamaican entertainers and their place in the history of Jamaican theatre. (pages 104-115).
A preview version can be seen at Google Books. |