If the word "superstar" could apply to anyone performing in Music Halls during the Victorian and Edwardian era in England, it would be this man. During the height of Empire, when one of thirty-one people in greater London
was considered a pauper (according to Peter Gill's well-researched web site), manic and wild entertainers
such as Evans provided a much-needed cultural safety-valve. Will reads a flowery passage from a period novelette, poking fun at the overwrought literary cliches of that time and place, and makes it sound utterly ridiculous.
This is the second time that this bit had been recorded for an Edison-Bell cylinder (the first was in 1903, this one was in October of 1906), and he had also done a film version a few months earlier (according to
IMDB.com), so this bit was evidently very popular. The record from which this was sampled had some light mold on it, making parts of the record noisy,
but the sample responded well to noise treatment.
