Tom Dawson Dead

Horowhenua Chronicle, 4 October 1916, Page 2

Tom Dawson Dead

HAPPY PERSONALITY. CHARITABLE AND KIND. Tu.ii Djivirjii, comedian, and meet' lovable ot men, lias, it reports from thy front be Line, done his ckity, and ditd ior his adopted land. liis native Jiuaiiir stuck to liitn to the cud. Dying n\;,m tlie effects ot a bullet wound in tlio body, ail officer askedi hinushow it was with him. ,\A itli the cheery smile and the quaint expression on liis face so familiar to theatregoers, Tom replied "I'd rather have a hard-bailed egg," it may not have been an historic remark. but it liCi'd a lot of pathos, and showed the inimitably happy spirit of the man who, for so "many years, made Australians laugh from the vaudeville stages of this country. Tom was a Welshman, ami his career was cine full of chequered incident and Bohemian experience in England, the United States, and Australia. As a boy he was an expert step-dancer, and) in the Midland industrial districts . of England, while working as s. millhand or ni mine-boy, he often earnedl a little extra money l\v dancing a ! t smoke concerts or picnics. He did a turn or two in the lower class music halls in England, and afterwards went to America, where he struck bad times. Hut, nothing daunted, Tom took ship before the mast to Australia, and landed at Newcastle. There, he wouldi relate. he had not a penny in his pocket nothing of his own except the poor clothes that he stood up in. But he had something else—his own cheerful spirit and his humor; and '.before long he was.a great favorite on the Rickards' Tivoli circuit. "I'd rather have a hardrboiled egg," was one of Tom ■Dawson's most popular old ditties. He Bang if for years, and in his latter stage days, whenever a iSydncy or Melbourne audience clamoured for encores, "'l'd rather have a | hardi-boiled egg" was ahvays screamed I tor by the gallery, and Tom would trot cut the ancient piece of conviviality. It never failed. Dawson was one of the softest-heart-<<l and most kindly-dispositioned man that ever Jived. On one occasion, the writer remembers, a' Sydney girl who had been employed in an Adelaide hotel died there. Tom knew her merely casually through an occasional visit to the hotel bar, but at the time of her death he happened to he playing in Adelaidie. When he heard the news, knowing that she had no rcla-' tives who Gould or would help, lie took it upon himself to make aid arrangements with a local undertaker to have the body pmpared and sent to iSydaiey to lie buried in the grave at the Waverlev cemetery where the girl's mother was laid. It was a kindly act and it cost the comedian a great deal of money, audi at that time he was not too - over-burdened with wealth. 'Tom was always ready to put liis hand in his pocket to help a misfortunate friend, and on treasury days at the Tivoli a whole crowd of derelicts would; often bo waiting for their pensions from him. To charitable concerts he was always ready to give his services ,and it is prob'afblo that lie did more in this way than any other entertainer ill Australia. Many will mour.n him sincerely. His closer friends will sorrow over the loss of a quaint, h'aippy personality, and a dear chum. The rest of the Commonwealth will regret tlie departure of one who made much laughter, andl who helped to make the world in some degree a livelier, jollier place.—Sydmey Sun.