Autograph request
Photograph received by Bray from Billy Russell in August 1938 in response to a request for his autograph.
Although this has no message or postal address relating to Bray the photo was part of a Bray collection put together by a previous collector. The "proof" that it was once part of Bray's collection is the manuscript register number on the reverse in Bray's handwriting.
Adam George Brown (16 July 1893 - 25 November 1971), who used the stage name Billy Russell, was a British comedian and character actor.
He was born in Birmingham, and first appeared on stage at the age of seven in 1900 in a theatrical show in Gloucester. He also worked in funfairs, and before the First World War as a child actor in the north of England, the Midlands and Wales, sometimes as part of a duo. He learned stagecraft from actors and music hall performers such as Bransby Williams and George Robey. A skilled visual artist, he sometimes appeared as "Baroni the Ambidextrous Cartoonist". He served in the South Staffordshire Regiment during the war, and entertained the troops as "The Trench Philosopher", performing monologues in the style of the character "Old Bill" devised by cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather.
After the war he continued to perform the act as "Old Bill", with Bairnsfather's endorsement, initially in theatres run by his father in Hertfordshire. On realising that many in his audience did not want to be reminded of the war, he modified the act to become "Old Bill in Civvies", and was sometimes billed as "The Son of Toil". Stephen Dixon writes: "A walrus moustache covered his mouth and a good part of his chin. He dressed like a traditional workman from the 1920s, with a squashed and oil-grimed hat, hobnailed boots, collarless shirt with red handkerchief tied around the throat, moleskin trousers secured just below the knee with string. He would clear his throat and address the audience in a crackly Birmingham whine: 'On behalf of the working classes...'" He often improvised his performance in character, extemporising from the latest newspaper headlines and commenting on political events.
