John McCormack, Irish Tenor

[Moonraker]

"Mr John MacCormack [sic] the. famous tenor, who ranks with Caruso as one of the highest-paid singers of the world, was recently serving as an army cook on Salisbury Plain, and probably no one enjoyed the humour of the contrast more than MacCormack himself."

 

So reported the Otago Witness of January 22, 1919

(Scroll down.)

 

McCormack was well-known for his renditions of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" and "Keep the Home Fires Burning".  I've been unable to find any evidence that he was in the army. Indeed, in 1917 he had become a naturalised US citizen. There were relatively few US Army personnel on Salisbury Plain and they were nearly all at airfields.

 

Thus I expect that this is a false report (not the first piece of puffery I've come across in my trawl of wartime New Zealand newspapers).

 

Your thoughts?

 

Moonraker

[Margaretnolan]

15 minutes ago, Moonraker said:

"Mr John MacCormack [sic] the. famous tenor, who ranks with Caruso as one of the highest-paid singers of the world, was recently serving as an army cook on Salisbury Plain, and probably no one enjoyed the humour of the contrast more than MacCormack himself."

 

So reported the Otago Witness of January 22, 1919

(Scroll down.)

 

McCormack was well-known for his renditions of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" and "Keep the Home Fires Burning".  I've been unable to find any evidence that he was in the army. Indeed, in 1917 he had become a naturalised US citizen. There were relatively few US Army personnel on Salisbury Plain and they were nearly all at airfields.

 

Thus I expect that this is a false report (not the first piece of puffery I've come across in my trawl of wartime New Zealand newspapers).

 

Your thoughts?

 

Moonraker

 

How about this...Irish Examiner 1918.

 

Margaret

 

 

[Moonraker]

Ah, further Googling using slightly different words led me to his biography.

 

 Go to page 209-11.

 

" ...throughout the war, John sang for the Red Cross, earning enormous sums of money, and so was enabled to make a contribution of solid and practical value".

 

It does seem  that he never got to Salisbury Plain!

 

Moonraker

[Margaretnolan]

2 hours ago, Moonraker said:

Ah, further Googling using slightly different words led me to his biography.

 

 Go to page 209-11.

 

" ...throughout the war, John sang for the Red Cross, earning enormous sums of money, and so was enabled to make a contribution of solid and practical value".

 

It does seem  that he never got to Salisbury Plain!

 

Moonraker

 

Not finished going through the Newspapers Archives yet!

 

Margaret

Edited 27 September , 2019 by Margaretnolan

[depaor01]

Wow. One of my dad's favourite singers. I never knew The Count had military service. 

Dave

[corisande]

FWIW, his passport application says he never resided outside US after 1912 (and that he was naturalised US in 1919)

 

 

 

[corisande]

And he had a US Draft Registration car dated 12 Sep 1918 on Ancestry

 

[Moonraker]

17 hours ago, depaor01 said:

Wow. One of my dad's favourite singers. I never knew The Count had military service. 

Dave

Looks like he didn't!

 

Thanks for the extra info.

 

Moonraker

[Marilyne]

Raises the interesting question of "singer" was a protected occupation??? 

In the movie (yes, I know movies are not always accurate) the German singer Nikolaus Spring (played by Benno Fuhrman, with Rollando Villazon providing the singing voice) gets called up by the reserve and choses to fight. What about reality, in Great Britain? Sportsmen joined up... could singers chose not to serve? Or serve the army as entertainer for the troops?? 

 

M. 

[corisande]

33 minutes ago, Marilyne said:

Raises the interesting question of "singer" was a protected occupation?

 

33 minutes ago, Marilyne said:

What about reality, in Great Britain? Sportsmen joined up... could singers chose not to serve?

 

You are both right and wrong here.

 

He was Irish, so, if he had stayed in Ireland would not have been called up. Not because he was a singer, but because conscription never happened in Ireland. Nobody was called up. Any Irish resident serving in British Army , served as a volunteer

 

If he had lived in "Great Britain" in the geographical definition of that place, then he would have been called up, with any option.

 

He in fact ended up in USA and got his draft card there , see above

[Moonraker]

McCormack's biography (pp209-210) suggests that he attracted some criticism for working lucratively in the States when he could have returned home and joined the British forces. Though apparently willing to join the US forces (though not yet a naturalised citizen) there would appear to have been no reason for him to have appeared before a tribunal: "He was urged to claim exemption, but still refused. His case came into court."

 

Why?  Did he instigate this himself to clarify his position? I wonder how the American papers reported on this - and British ones, for that matter.

 

(I was composing this when Corisande added his useful post, which saved me from wondering how to be tactful about the Irish factor.)

 

Moonraker

[corisande]

17 minutes ago, Moonraker said:

I was composing this when Corisande added his useful post, which saved me from wondering how to be tactful about the Irish factor

 

Nobody is ever tactful about the Irish factor, lest of all us Irish

[Marilyne]

Sorry if I offended any Irish people here... not my intention !!

Had the pleasure of serving alongside one very fine lot of them in operation, and nothing bad about the Irish will ever leave my mouth (although it might have been the case during circuit training back then... OK, back on topic... ) 

The question was maybe badly phrased and I should have done it in a way that would encompass all soldiers of the "British" side of the wire. Or even allied: in general ... could one argue "very succesfull singer" for not joining or being conscripted into the army... 

so please (litterally):  pardon my Belgian... 

 

M.

 

 

[loganshort]

He may not have officially resided in Gt Britain after 1912 but he certainly toured here as a singer and made a special tour as stated above, to raise money for the Red X. I can only imagine he would have "cooked" for a short time for publicity/ moral boosting when here. Would like to discover more about his cooking!

[corisande]

When anyone took US citizenship they formally renounced "King George", so this then is a take on him doing so.

 

As you would expect for a tenor, he is quite bulky at 220lbs.

 

 

An Irish resident, or put more generally a non Great Britain resident, could visit GB without becoming subject to conscription. So McCormack could have toured GB without fear of being conscripted

[George Rayner]

From 

Framlingham Weekly News 30 April 1927-(of 'Castle on the Hill Fame' Ed Sheeran)

 

George

[Moonraker]

I wasn't able to find anything that might add to our researches on the website of the

John McCormack Society

 

I've emailed its secretary to see if any of its members can shed further light.

 

Moonraker

 

EDIT: I've had a prompt acknowledgement and my query has been passed to "one of our members ... who has written extensively on our famous tenor".

Edited 29 September , 2019 by Moonraker

[depaor01]

1 hour ago, corisande said:

An Irish resident, or put more generally a non Great Britain resident

Surely at the time Irish residents were de facto Great Britain residents... Asking this just in case I'm wrong in my assumptions!

 

Dave

 

[corisande]

1 hour ago, depaor01 said:

Surely at the time Irish residents were de facto Great Britain residents..

 

Without sounding too condescending :-)

 

1. Prior to 1801 there were 2 kingdoms, Great Britain was one kingdom, Ireland the other

 

2. The Act of Union merged them and created the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland"

 

3. The Anglo Irish Treat created, in effect, the new country "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"

 

A UK passport today tells it holders that they are a citizen of "Great Britain and Northern Ireland"

 

The laws have been clear over the years that "Great Britain" referred to that island - and was the country created earlier by the uniting of Scotland with England and Wales by the 1707 Act of Union  which  "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain".

 

A long way of saying that Irish residents were not de-facto Great Britain Residents. They were de-facto United Kingdom residents, a very different thing

[Moonraker]

Another article

 

(scroll down) in a New Zealand paper referring to McCormack's service as cook with the American army: "But John wanted to be a Yankee, and a spurious one at that. He did his little bit during the war. He joined the 'Murkan Army and at one time was quartered at Salisbury Plain, where he was actually employed as cook."

 

Moonraker

[depaor01]

39 minutes ago, corisande said:

 

Without sounding too condescending :-)

 

1. Prior to 1801 there were 2 kingdoms, Great Britain was one kingdom, Ireland the other

 

2. The Act of Union merged them and created the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland"

 

3. The Anglo Irish Treat created, in effect, the new country "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"

 

A UK passport today tells it holders that they are a citizen of "Great Britain and Northern Ireland"

 

The laws have been clear over the years that "Great Britain" referred to that island - and was the country created earlier by the uniting of Scotland with England and Wales by the 1707 Act of Union  which  "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain".

 

A long way of saying that Irish residents were not de-facto Great Britain Residents. They were de-facto United Kingdom residents, a very different thing

Ah ok. I've seen you post this distinction before and I, unfortunately,  am a slow learner.

Thanks.

Dave

[Marilyne]

I feel like I've opened up a topic I should not have..... 

[corisande]

18 minutes ago, Marilyne said:

I feel like I've opened up a topic I should not have.....

 

 Fear not Marilyne it is fascinating, if we get back to Mr McCormack what we and I are struggling with is this thing about him being a cook

 

1. He was not given his draft card in US til 12 Sep 1918, so it would be surprising if he could have been in the field with the US Army before armistice on 11 Nov 1918

 

2. The ting about him being a cook I struggle with, was he a cook with US forces, but was it as a Army cook, or was this part of a PR exercise. Given his history it would be surprising if he had been a cook with British Army

     Would anyone care to summarise what is known about him being a cook, and the dates?

Edited 29 September , 2019 by corisande

[Moonraker]

23 minutes ago, corisande said:

...   Would anyone care to summarise what is known about him being a cook, and the dates?

Not me! I'm content to await a reply from the John McCormack Society. (See my Post 17.)

 

And in my Post 11 I say: " I wonder how the American papers reported on this - and British ones, for that matter". Can anyone check out any references to him and the tribunal in American papers for, say, 1917-19. I would see if The Times referred to the hearing, but my local library no longer subscribes to the archive.

 

I remain inclined to my original view that the account of his being an army cook (especially on Salisbury Plain) was puffery by a journalist.

 

Moonraker

[depaor01]

1 hour ago, Marilyne said:

I feel like I've opened up a topic I should not have..... 

Not at all. We're all living and learning!

Every day is a school day.

Dave