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y separately published work icon Mademoiselle from Armentieres single work   lyric/song   sketch (theatrical)   humour   war literature  
Issue Details: First known date: 1925... 1925 Mademoiselle from Armentieres
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Pat Hanna's version of the iconic First World War song 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' (aka 'Hinky Dinky Parley Voo') continued the tradition of adapting the words to express the experiences of soldiers during the war.

Notes

  • The authorship of the original song has long been disputed. Edward Rowland and Canadian composer Lt. Glitz Rice have been named as the creators, as have Englishmen Harry Carlton and Joe Tunbridge. Another British song writer, Harry Wincott (aka Alfred James Waldon), also claimed to have written it.

    Some versions of 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' are believed to have involved up to forty verses. During the course of the war and beyond, these verses were changed and adapted by countless people, mostly soldiers, thereby serving as a way for them to reflect on and articulate their thoughts and experiences. According to Melbert B. Cary Jnr:

    'Every incident of local importance could be lampooned, and was. The song grew exuberantly and spontaneously. No one will ever know how many verses were improvised, sung and subsequently lost, but they numbered thousands, for almost every [Allied] unit contributed its quota' (p.370).

    Melbert goes on to note that several popular topics found common expression, notably the habits of the armies of other nations, the lampooning of officers, the YMCA, and the discomforts of life in the trenches (pp.370-372).

    For further details on 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' and its connection to American soldiers, see Melbert B. Cary Jnr, 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' Journal of American Folklore 47.186 (1934), pp.369-376.

  • The first known date field below (1925) refers to the established performance by Pat Hanna (and Pat Hanna's Diggers) of his version of 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres.' It is likely that it was performed by Hanna's troupe earlier than 1925, however.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1925
    • c
      Australia,
      c
      :       Vocalion ,       .
      Description: 1 sound disk ; 78 rpm ; mono ; 10 in.
      Note/s:
      • Sung by Pat Hanna with chorus and orchestra.
      • Recording includes 'Captain Cook' (q.v.) also sung by Pat Hanna.
      • Vocalion 737.
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

An Appealing Presentation of Mademoiselle from Armentieres The Famous Diggers , 1925 single work musical theatre sketch (theatrical) humour

A theatrical sketch based on the iconic World War One song 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' (aka 'Hinky Dinky Parley Voo'), this presentation is believed to have continued the tradition established by soldiers from other countries of adapting the words to reflect their own experiences and perspectives of the war.

The Argus theatre critic writes of the 1925 Athenaeum production, 'With a touch of pathos and well-staged, 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' was another of the items which gave exceptional pleasure. It was sung by Mr Ern Kopke, and the chief acting parts were taken by Miss Jessie Hanna, Mr Clyde Fields, and Miss Rosette Powell. With the song most people who patronise amusements are now familiar, it is the acting and the stage effects which make it so well worthy of a place in a programme of the kind' (7 September 1925, p.14).

The Age theatre critic was similarly taken with the theatricality and sentiment of the piece, recording, 'The little sketch, admirably conceived and carried out, is heartbreaking in a way; and yet the heart does not break, but is stirred to beat faster. There are diggers - real diggers - in that little rest house somewhere in France, and when the call comes and they move out and pass the window in a long file, some never to come back, one feels that there is a truly simple little relic from the ghastly past now happily over - a relic crowded with the dogged spirit and the incomparable valour of those who were men. Nothing quite as touching, quite so simply grand has ever been presented here before as that picture of those war-weary men filing past the window in the dusk, bound for the inferno of the trenches' (7 September 1925, p.12).

The Daily Mercury (Mackay) records, too, that 'The parting with the Digger's "Froggie" sweetheart, and her heart-broken prayer and mourning when she was told that he had been killed in battle, presented "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" in a light totally different and more fitting than has ever been heard before' (13 May 1925, n. pag.).
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Last amended 8 Jul 2014 11:59:29
Subjects:
  • 1914-1918
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