Gus Elen

Ernest Augustus Elen (22 July 1862 – 17 February 1940) was an English music hall singer and comedian. He achieved success from 1891, performing cockney songs including "Arf a Pint of Ale", "It's a Great Big Shame", "Down the Road" and "If It Wasn't for the 'Ouses in Between" in a career lasting over thirty years.

Born in Pimlico, London, Elen had worked as a barman and a draper's assistant and had packed eggs for the Co-op before becoming a singer. He began busking at an early age and found a position singing in a minstrel troupe. His solo success began in 1891 when he started performing in public houses, singing songs in a manner similar to many cockney fruit sellers and ironmongers of the time, known as costermongers. Because of this, he became known as a "coster comedian". For the stage persona he had created, Elen dressed in a coster uniform of striped jersey, peaked cap turned towards one ear and a short clay pipe in the side of his mouth. His characters adopted a persona of being constantly bad tempered and pugnacious. In 1907 he starred in a short film called Wait Till the Work Comes Round.

In his later years, Elen went to America owing to the English music hall strike which was taking place. Elen, performed the same act as he did in the UK, but box-office sales indicated that he was less successful than his friend, the singer Albert Chevalier, and so Elen returned to the UK. Elen then undertook various performances as a top attraction in music halls across London. He appeared on stage occasionally in the 1930s, albeit briefly, where he appeared in the 1935 Royal Command Performance. He retired in 1914, shortly after returning from America. He made occasional appearances on stage and film before his death in 1940 aged 77.

Elen was born at 103 Pulford Street, Pimlico, London. His father was Edwin Elen, a viewer of cloth in a military store, and Mercy Elen, née Letherbarrow. Elen started his career as a solo performer and briefly worked at the Old Marylebone Theatre in a 'blackface' comedy double act with a man named Daniels, who died in a boating accident a few years after the partnership was formed. After the death of Daniels, he returned to being a solo performer and bought the rights to "Never introduce your donah to a pal" from the song's writer A.E Durandeau, (donah was cockney slang meaning girlfriend). The song was performed on stage on 4 June 1891, at Harewood's varieties in Hoxton. Elen performed songs and sketches as the character of an old east end costermonger and became known as a 'coster' comedian. Elen drew inspiration from his experiences of growing up around people, similar to that of his persona on stage. Elen's performances were often misinterpreted as being a self caricature, but were performed in a realistic and simplistic manner, one that made him popular with his audiences.

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