Eugene Stratton
| Eugene Stratton | |
|---|---|
Stratton circa 1900
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| Born |
Eugene Augustus Rühlmann May 8, 1861 Buffalo, New York |
| Died | September 15, 1918 (aged 57) Christchurch, Hampshire |
| Other names |
Two Welsleys Master Jean |
| Occupation | Music hall dancer & singer |
| Spouse(s) | Bella Moore |
Eugene Augustus Rühlmann (May 8, 1861 – September 15, 1918) was born in Buffalo, New York. He adopted the stage name Eugene Stratton, and became an American-born dancer and singer, whose career was mostly spent in British music halls. Stratton was a member of the illustrious entertainment fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats.
Stratton first performed at the age of 10 in an acrobatic act called the Two Welsleys. He appeared as a dancer in 1873 under the name of Master Jean. He spent some time in a circus before joining a minstrel group.
He went to England in 1880 and was by this time using the name of Stratton. In England, he worked his way up to the main song & dance man in the Moore & Burgess Minstrel Show, and in 1883 he married Moore's daughter, Bella. He left the minstrels to go on the music hall circuit in 1887, first as a double act, then solo. Although at one time he used an Irish voice, he mainly appeared as a "black-faced" singer. He also performed in pantomime, for the first time in 1896.
His friendship & association with Leslie Stuart gave him many of the songs for which he was known. During the period 1899 to 1911 he made records of most of Stuart's songs.
He died in Christchurch, Hampshire on September 15, 1918, and is buried in Bandon Hill Cemetery in Wallington in Surrey beside his great friend and fellow music hall artiste Joe Elvin.
In James Joyce’s novel Ulysses (1922) in the fifteenth episode “Circe”, there are references to Stratton, as well as the adoption of a faux Negro dialect.
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