Robb Wilton (28 August 1881 â€" 1 May 1957), born Robert Wilton Smith,
was an English comedian and comic actor who was famous for his filmed
monologues in the 1930s and 1940s in which he played incompetent
authority figures. A trademark was to put his hand over part of his
face at the punchline.Wilton was born in Everton, Liverpool, and had a
dry Lancashire accent which suited his comic persona as a
procrastinating and work-shy impediment to the general public.
Wilton's comedy emerged from the tradition of English music hall,
especially popular in the North of England, and he was a contemporary
of Frank Randle and George Formby, Sr.. He portrayed the human face of
bureaucracy; for example, playing a policeman who shilly-shallies his
way out of acting upon a reported murder by pursuing a contrarian line
of questioning. Wilton, rubbing his face in a world-weary way, would
fiddle with his props while his characters blithely and incompetently
'went about their work', his humour embodying the everyday and the
absurd â€" and the inherent absurdity of the everyday.He has been
acknowledged as an influence by fellow Lancashire comedians Ken Dodd
and Les Dawson, and the film historian Jeffrey Richards has cited him
as a key influence for the TV sitcom Dad's Army (1968â€"1977); he made
several monologues in the person of a layabout husband, who wryly
takes part in the Home Guard. His gentle, if pointed, manner of comedy
is similar to the wistful adventures of the more famous
Walmington-on-Sea platoon.Wilton's most popular catchphrase was "The
day war broke out...". The phrase was taken from his opening routine
for radio which was "The day war broke out, my missus said to me,
'It's up to you...You've got to stop it'. I said, 'Stop what?'. She
said, 'The war.'" "Ooh, she's a funny woman!"
was an English comedian and comic actor who was famous for his filmed
monologues in the 1930s and 1940s in which he played incompetent
authority figures. A trademark was to put his hand over part of his
face at the punchline.Wilton was born in Everton, Liverpool, and had a
dry Lancashire accent which suited his comic persona as a
procrastinating and work-shy impediment to the general public.
Wilton's comedy emerged from the tradition of English music hall,
especially popular in the North of England, and he was a contemporary
of Frank Randle and George Formby, Sr.. He portrayed the human face of
bureaucracy; for example, playing a policeman who shilly-shallies his
way out of acting upon a reported murder by pursuing a contrarian line
of questioning. Wilton, rubbing his face in a world-weary way, would
fiddle with his props while his characters blithely and incompetently
'went about their work', his humour embodying the everyday and the
absurd â€" and the inherent absurdity of the everyday.He has been
acknowledged as an influence by fellow Lancashire comedians Ken Dodd
and Les Dawson, and the film historian Jeffrey Richards has cited him
as a key influence for the TV sitcom Dad's Army (1968â€"1977); he made
several monologues in the person of a layabout husband, who wryly
takes part in the Home Guard. His gentle, if pointed, manner of comedy
is similar to the wistful adventures of the more famous
Walmington-on-Sea platoon.Wilton's most popular catchphrase was "The
day war broke out...". The phrase was taken from his opening routine
for radio which was "The day war broke out, my missus said to me,
'It's up to you...You've got to stop it'. I said, 'Stop what?'. She
said, 'The war.'" "Ooh, she's a funny woman!"
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