George Formby isn’t much known in the US though he was a gigantic star in England from the mid-30’s through his passing in 1961. He was born in 1904 in Wigan, Lancashire, just a ways up the road from Liverpool. In his earliest years, he’d been working as a stable boy and part-time jockey. But in 1923, two years following the passing of his entertainer father, George Formby Sr., he purchased a ukulele and began to pursue a career as an entertainer, going on to become a huge star in England. He was appearing in films by the mid-30’s, each more successful than the last. These films and in person appearances would be the stuff of legend especially in Liverpool, because of how close the city is to where Formby came from. One specific admirer, born 81 years ago today in Liverpool, England, would consider Formby his hero throughout his life, the magnificent George Harrison.

Django Reinhardt, Ravi Shankar and Carl Perkins would be hugely important for George, but no one had a more lasting impression on him than Formby. And it was George’s worship of Formby that enabled him to fall in love with the ukulele. He played ukulele throughout his life, but by the early 80’s, it had largely become his main instrument. And he mastered it. His love of both the uke and Formby had George be a dedicated member of the George Formby Society, formed in 1961, a group that met annually in Blackpool, England to celebrate his life and play ukuleles. Harrison attended the conventions almost yearly into the late 1990’s. He spoke to the BBC about Formby and the ukulele: “The best thing about it for me is that it’s just funny music. It’s very light-hearted and it’s hard to play a ukulele or banjo without smiling, y’know it tends to lighten life up a bit. This is one extreme, The Formby Society, where everybody is thrashing away — that is good fun.”

At one point, George purchased one of Formby’s original ukuleles, an instrument he worshipped for decades. Before he earned his rainbow in 2001, George gifted it to the Formby Society. It was purchased by a Beatles fan in 2008 and put on display in Liverpool’s The Beatles Story Exhibition. It remained there until 2018 when it was auctioned for nearly $40,000. At one of the annual Formby Society gatherings, George performed for the members, playing that very ukulele:

There are all kinds of stories about George and the uke. He amassed a substantial collection of them, often giving them away, having dinner parties at Friar Park after which he’d leave the room and come back with enough ukes for everybody. Jeff Lynne said George had gone nuts with collecting, that he’d basically cornered the market. Tom Petty told a great story about George visiting one day with a couple of ukes in tow:

I’ll let the man himself sum up his feelings on the instrument before we watch some clips. Check this out:

And now… A home video from somewhat late in his life, playing Fred Astaire’s “When There’s A Shine On Your Shoes”:

From 1991 with Jools Holland, Joe Brown, Ray Cooper and others. The recording would be included on George’s posthumous Brainwashed album:

And finally…

He was a Ukulele master. And a Guitar Hero. Today’s Playlist is a SomethingIsHappening compendium celebrating the life of the Magnificent George Harrison: