Charles Penrose (11 November 1873 -- 17 November 1952) was a music hall and theatre performer, and later radio comedian, who is best known for his unusual comic song "The Laughing Policeman". Charles Penrose was born Frank Penrose Cawse in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, the son of a master watchmaker and jeweller. His parents re-registered him as Charles Penrose Dunbar Cawse shortly after his birth.
Penrose was one of the first comedians to star on BBC Radio in the early 2LO days, although his most popular role being as Sgt. Bob Evergreen in the later wartime radio series "The Pig and Whistle."
He was releasing records up to at least 1949, only three years before his death. Thirty-eight years of releasing records and he's stiill largely only known for one!Penrose died of heart disease on 17 November 1952 at the Princess Beatrice Hospital, Kensington, aged 79
He was very prolific with his record releases and used many different names. His first record was released in 1911 and many of them had laughing or jolly theme long before The Laughing Policeman in 1922. The basis for The Laughing Policeman and the other laughing records is 'The Laughing Song' by American George W. Johnson, who first performed it in 1890 and recorded it several times including 1891, 1898 and 1901.
As a solo artist, Penrose released various comedy/laughing records under the names Charles Penrose, Chas Penrose, Charles Jolly, Chas Jolly, Charles Pen Claws, Merry Andrew, Merrie Andrew, Uncle Charlie, Fred Arthurs, Billy B. Brookes, and Arty Chuckles amongst various other nom-de-plumes.
He also released many records with Kaye Connor as the girlfriend, later wife, of the Laughing Policeman, and various other laughing characters (laughing typist, laughing secretary etc). Together they performed as Charles Penrose and Kaye Connor, Joy Day & Merry Andrew, B. Gay & O. Joy (I know, the wit is staggering....), The Laughtermongers, the Laugher Makers, the Mirth Makers, and Jolliboy & The Merrymakers amongst others.
Penrose also released a few records of fairy tales for children, including Jack and the Beanstalk, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Cinderella, Dick Whittington and some self-written original short tales, possibly to entertain his own real son Peter Penrose, who appeared with his father on some of the childrens story records and the later Laughing Policeman records once the character had a son.
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On top of the many sequels to the Laughing Policeman the original track itself was also re-recorded with there being at least seven versions for different labels plus remakes for Regal and Columbia. The original was Regal G7816 recorded in June 1922 and released in September that year under the name Charles Jolly. He then updated the lyrics and style for Columbia, recorded on 22nd April 1926 and released as Columbia DB4014 in 1926 as Charles Penrose, this being the most commonly known version today. The third recording was 14th December 1928 for the cheap Dominion label released as Dominion A108 in April 1929 as Charles Penrose. The fourth recording of it was in April 1929 for Eclipse released later that year as Eclipse SC66 under the name 'Jolliboy & the Merrymakers'. The fifth recording was a re-recording for Regal, the original issuer, recorded on 28th June 1929 and released in November 1929 as Regal G9391 as Charles Jolly again. The sixth recording was on 23rd November 1932 for Rex which was released in 1933 as REX 8071 as Merry Andrew. The seventh recording was a re-recording for Columbia of their (best-known) 1926 version, which was re-recorded on 21st November 1933 and released in 1934 as Columbia FB1184 as Charles Penrose. There are differences in the recordings, although the Regal 1922 and Columbia 1926 are the main tracks with the others for cheaper labels being only slight variations on those two main versions. Before these remakes there was also a different version for Edison Bell Winner (3717) the following year, 1923, called Laughing P.C. Brown. The policeman stayed the same character throughout these, P.C. Robert Theopodous Brown and his wife Mary Jane, with an endless supply of Laughing Policeman sequels taking us through his life of being on duty, having a girlfriend, getting married, having a baby, taking his children to the zoo etc, mostly for the Columbia label but others too. These proved much more popular than all the other endless laughing professions and characters tried out for a (small bit) of variety.
He was also in a double act with another comedian, Billy Whitlock as Penrose & Whitlock from at least 1914, on and off until at least 1926. As well as releasing sketches together as Penrose & Whitlock, they also released records as 'Two Old Sports' and 'The Jolly Jesters' amongst other names. Why the pair kept using so many different names for the records instead of building a fanbase on a set known name is beyond me.
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