George W. Earle

performer

Active circa 1886-1907

Based on the nature and timing of his known engagements, George W. Earle made a living as a piper in vaudeville and in companies of traveling stage plays, 1886 to 1907. Twenty one years, and, of these, ten years with known gigs which suggest full-time employment.

On the other hand, nothing is known with any certainty about his origins, background, fate. I have found no solid link between his professional life and his personal life. Perhaps "George W. Earle" was a stage name. In that era there were several men styled George W. Earle and many named George Earle. References to them are found in newspapers, census and other government records. A socialite in Philadelphia, a bandleader in Long Island, a painter in Michigan, a business owner in Denver, etc. But never any evidence of a connection.

For someone with so many engagements, this lack of personal information is unusual, if not unique. I have compiled the names of scores, if not hundreds, of pipers. Not a few are mentioned once or twice, then gone. But I have heard of no other piper who appears to have sustained a professional career for several years without leaving clues about his background.

Earle is first mentioned as performing "accompaniment on the pipes" in a musical burlesque, "The Field of the Cloth of Gold," in Boston, October 1885. This was a touring company, and played in Philadelphia and New Haven, Connecticut, at least.

He began a partnership with Paddy Myles, "Hibernian dancer," which lasted several years. They played at dime museums and lower-end vaudeville houses. An ad for an appearance at the World's Museum, Boston, July 4, 1886, promotes "Earle and Miles In their refined and novel specialty, in which Paddy Miles will introduce his champion jig and reel dancing, accompanied on the Irish-American bagpipes by Mr. George W. Earle."

"Irish-American" is an unusual descriptor for an Irish piper or his instrument. Almost always the Irishness of such an act (for example, "The Boys from Galway") is emphasized, not the American-ness. Is this a clue to Earle's place of birth? So little information leads one to grasp at such straws.

Earle and Myles worked steadily through 1889.

Nothing is heard of him in 1890. Beginning in 1891 most of his engagements are with plays or musicals. Interspersed with these are piper-dancer vaudeville acts, with different partners, Blanche Boyer, Mike Callahan, Edward Bradley. For a gig with Bradley in December 1894 they are described as "the Jersey boys, Earle and Bradley, in their neat Irish songs and dances; Ed. Bradley, the world's champion Irish reel, jig and buck dancer, accompanied by George Earle, on the finest set of Irish bagpipes...."

Earle was in at least seven plays between 1891 and 1907. He may have had speaking parts in some, but in all he was there to play music for the dancers, and perhaps do a solo turn.

From 1894 through 1901 he was in three plays by Dan McCarthy. McCarthy was a top-notch dancer, then actor, singer and playwright. He wrote several successful comedy-dramas, all of them featuring an Irish piper. Other pipers who worked for McCarthy included Thomas F. Kerrigan and Eddie Joyce. These two were highly thought of, and the fact that Earle was hired by McCarthy suggests he too was an excellent player. Earle appeared in "Pride of Mayo," "The Dear Irish Home" and "True Irish Hearts." These titles do not mislead about the type of play on offer. An announcement for a "True Irish Hearts" performance in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 1901, describes Earle as "one of the best players on the pipes now in this country. He possesses a genuine pair of Irish pipes which he values very highly, as the maker has long since passed away. During the second act Mr. Earle will play numerous selections."

Last references to Earle are from the 1905-06 and 1906-07 seasons, in the vaudeville farce "Rogers Brothers in Ireland." This touring company starred "the two drolls, Gus and Max Rogers," who critics said were imitating Weber and Fields, a more famous comedy team of the era.

Earle's known engagements were all business. There is no record of dances, excursions, picnics, concerts, meetings, church groups, parties or dinners; the kind of odd-lot gigs which come up for most musicians. This was a man who left some traces in the theatrical world, but that is all.

Selected References

"Clean, Bright Entertainment at the Bon Ton." ["the Jersey boys, Earle and Bradley"] Jersey City [NJ] News Dec. 15, 1894 p. 2 column 2
Jersey City NJ News 1894 3144.pdf

"The Cruiskeen Lawn" Toronto ONT Globe Aug. 17, 1893 p. 20
ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Odell, George C. D. Annals of the New York Stage Columbia Univ. Press. 1942-1949
References to Earle in volumes XIII through XV

"Musical Burlesque at the Bijou. 'The Field of the Cloth of Gold' " Boston [MA] Daily Globe Oct. 6, 1885 p. 2
Newspaperarchive.com

"Rogers Brothers" Cullen, Frank Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America Routledge 2007 pp. 949-50

"True Irish Hearts." Williamsport PA Gazette and Bulletin Dec. 11, 1901 p. 6
Newspapers.com

Nick Whitmer
July 2018, additions Jan. 2020