Wikipedia:Peer review/Little Tich/archive1

Little Tich
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The music hall comedian Little Tich was as well known for his music hall acts as he was for his physical disabilities. He used these "peculiarities" as an enhancement to his act which included his acrobatic and comedic Big-Boot Dance for which he wore twenty-eight inch boots. He created many comic characters including The Spanish Señora, The Gendarme and The Tax Collector, and was a popular performer in the annual Christmas pantomimes at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane from 1888. I have worked on this for the last couple of months, and have FAC in mind. I would be very interested to see what others think of my efforts in trying to explain the complex life of the English music hall's biggest but smallest star. Thanks,  Cassianto Talk   08:39, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Comment GermanJoe
- only the lead so far, will try to add sections step by step.
 * Captions (whole article) => please disregard this point, if you like short captions. But in my opinion 2- or 3-word captions are not really captivating and miss a good chance to provide some brief context for the reader.
 * Extended some, which have helped a lot thanks. Believe it or not I did intend to extend these before PR but I completely overlooked them.  --   Cassianto Talk   16:56, 18 September 2013 (UTC)


 * "Born in Cudham, Kent, [Little Tich] ..." => I am not sure about the convention here, should his birth name be used pre-1884?
 * I am worried that this could become confusing. I have adopted the same approach here that I took with Dan Leno (whose birth name was George Galvin), and Marie Lloyd (Matilda Alice Victoria Wood), which was generally agreed at both FACs. There, I consistently use the more notable name of Leno and Lloyd with no problems. --   Cassianto Talk  .


 * "The performances were popular and he travelled to London where he appeared at the Foresters Music Hall in 1884." => The implication could be more explicit here. Did he travel to London, "because" his initial performances were so popular?
 * No, I think he just took a potshot at scoring a success in the big smoke. Would this need more clarification to say so? --   Cassianto Talk   16:31, 18 September 2013 (UTC)
 * I tried to separate the 2 thoughts a bit more, feel free to tweak (the second sentence is a little bit short now). GermanJoe (talk) 06:56, 20 September 2013 (UTC)


 * "In the later months of that year ..." => Trim, "Later that year ..." is clear enough
 * Agree. --  Cassianto Talk   16:31, 18 September 2013 (UTC)


 * "Tichborne" => Is it possible to squeeze in some background about that term's meaning here? (disregard, if too much info for a lead)
 * Now squeezed. --  Cassianto Talk   21:04, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "...during a tour of America" => North or South? Can you specify the area a bit?
 * Unambiguous, "America" unqualified always = USA. Rothorpe (talk) 17:38, 18 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Granted, it's the most common usage. However, in an encyclopedic context we should strive to use the most precise terms to be as clear as possible for a world-wide readership. GermanJoe (talk) 07:01, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Note 14 lists the states which Little Tich toured. I'm not too hot with my American geography, but this looks like he toured the whole of America. As well as New York, he also took in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Baltimore, St Louis, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, and Washington. Is it better to be less specific because of this, or does this indicate a particular area? --   Cassianto Talk   10:01, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Already changed it to the better (imo) "United States", assuming no Canadian or Mexican city is hiding in the list. GermanJoe (talk) 10:13, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot. I have double checked and there are no mentions of Mexico or Canada. --   Cassianto Talk   10:37, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "Between 1896 and 1902 Little Tich performed in his own [musical theatre company]" => is the company name of interest here?
 * Absolutley, although it is unknown and not listed in the source I'm afraid. --  Cassianto Talk   16:31, 18 September 2013 (UTC)


 * "Among the songs in which the characterisations featured were ..." => Wordy. "Among the songs with/featuring such characters ..." or similar
 * Reworded. --  Cassianto Talk   16:31, 18 September 2013 (UTC)


 * "[He had a much publicised private life], he married three times and fathered two children." => A bit vague, what aspects were especially publicised (family life, affairs, ...) or was it his whole private life?
 * Contrary to what I said, a lot of his private life initially went unreported, especially his second marriage as nobody had a clue that they were living separate lives. It was only after her death that everybody picked up on the estrangement and then found him a fascinating subject to report on. If OK! were around at that time, then I'm sure he would have been on their front cover every other week! Redundancy now removed. --   Cassianto Talk   16:31, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

I am intentionally only reading the lead here at first, that section should stand on its own without the need to consult the main text for summary information. It's mostly fine in that regard, just some minor tweaks needed. GermanJoe (talk) 09:36, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Comment (GermanJoe) (more during the weekend):
 * Marriage troubles "and thought that without Little Tich's performance, the film 'would never have attained its degree of intelligence [which] is owed to [Little Tich], the giant of creation.'" => could you provide the original text for this quote please? Maybe Google Books is acting up, but i can't find that quote and removing the [] parts doesn't leave a full sentence. Seems like something is missing in the quotation. GermanJoe (talk) 13:01, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Removed for now, I'll work on it which may need the sentence before it adjusting. I think the pertinent point here is that Tati liked the film which is covered already by the existing quote. Cheers Joe! --   Cassianto Talk   18:08, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

More Comments (GermanJoe) - did a few minor CEs, but a lot of points have already been covered, a few remaining nitpicks: A note to point 2-4: of course it's OK to add some "emotional" background info for atmosphere and context (that makes such articles fun and interesting to read), but the main focus should be on good old encyclopedic facts. So it's not a matter of removing all of that kind of information, just trimming it a bit to the most relevant and notable pieces. GermanJoe (talk) 14:01, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "The Blacksmith's Arms" => Looking at the image this is the inn's proper name and should have uppercase "The".
 * Corrected. --  Cassianto Talk   21:44, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * [Much to his delight was the prospect of] resuming his education, => sounds a bit antiquated, "He looked forward to resuming his education" would be more boring encyclopedic.
 * Changed. --  Cassianto Talk   21:44, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "The young Tich felt honoured at such a tribute and relished the rapturous applause of his classmates." => should be removed. It's a subjective first-person POV and pretty obvious - which young boy wouldn't feel that?
 * Removed. --  Cassianto Talk   20:38, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Little Tich [sympathised with them and] agreed to seek full-time employment and ... => should be trimmed (first-person POV) and merged with the next sentence.
 * Done. --  Cassianto Talk   20:38, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "(an indication that he had still yet to establish himself in England)" => just checking, is that interpretation covered by the source? (possible OR)
 * Removed, yes it was a bit. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   21:36, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Flats of Julia => during their separation she moves "to a neighbouring flat, [bought for her] by her husband", later the article states: "in the flat which Litte Tich [had rented for her]. Is this the same flat, or did she move sometimes in between?
 * He rented it. Sorry, I got confused with this a few weeks back but must have forgot to change this.  I think at one stage Tich was renting three or four properties both here and in France but only ever owning one (in Hendon). --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   20:38, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "at Caxton Hall, Westminster in a modest and intimate ceremony." => source?
 * Tweaked. Ref [133] covers this now. --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   20:38, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Not sure about your preference for references, but ref #139 is missing date of publication and author (both details are provided online; i haven't checked other online sources for missing details).
 * Good spot. Date now provided.  Is the author needed? --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   21:29, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Don't know about "needed". But WP:CITE seems to recommend to add the author of newspaper articles, if the info is available. GermanJoe (talk) 07:42, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Images (GermanJoe)
 * Images File:The_Blacksmiths_Arms,_Cudham.jpg => added template (you can use Commons-template "geograph" for such images from the Geograph project).
 * Thanks. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   20:38, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * File:Mistinguett_by_Nadar.jpg => Do you know the "real" source for this image by chance? It's always the same annoying problem, when old images have been copied without their complete info from Wiki to Commons (a strict review would bring that point up later).
 * Swapped for this →File:Cadum 1912 Mistinguett Portrait.jpg. Will this do? --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   21:20, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately not, my rule of thumb is PD-range + 50 years (1863 here, or 1893 for PD-70) to be reasonably sure, the image is free (and even that would be debatable under a strict view of the law). However, you have 2 other options, if you can't find another image with more copyright details:
 * Upload it to en-Wiki lokally with Template:PD-1923 and Template:Do not move to Commons.
 * Try to keep it on Commons with Commons:Template:PD-1923 and additional Commons:Template:anonymous-EU. To use this additional tag, you would have to provide reasonable evidence, that you searched for the photographer and that such photographs were unlikely to be attributed to their creator. GermanJoe (talk) 06:54, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Blast!I Ok, with that in mind, I went for the former here →File:Mistinguett in 1912.jpg which I messed up uploaded with the relevant tags. For some reason it is still showing my un cropped version. I'm hoping this will eventually go to the cropped version. Does the Commons one now need to be deleted? --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   11:10, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * I can nominate them later, if you want - no problem. GermanJoe (talk) 11:19, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Nominated the duplicate on Commons, kept the other Commons image (even if the license is a bit dubious - it's in use and i don't want to mess with others' articles). 15:25, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Comments from Tim riley
Another winner from the Cassianto stable. Less tragic than Marie, Joey and Dan, but still not without a decidedly sad side. Well told and well proportioned. I have some comments on which you may like to ponder, and I may need two or three goes. Here's the first batch: More to come. I'm enjoying this article a lot. – Tim riley (talk) 12:21, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Lead
 * "for which he wore twenty-eight inch boots" – this is driving me mildly insane ("a short journey", I hear you murmur). The uninitiated reader will not know or even necessarily guess that this is 28 inches from heel to toe end, but I'm blest I can think of a pithy way of making it clear. 28 inches long could be from floor to thigh, but 28 inches from heel to toe invites the surmise that Tich's feet were that long. The best I can come up with is, "for which he wore boots with soles twenty-eight inches long", but I hope someone else can suggest something equally precise but more punchy.
 * I'll go with yours Tim. I did chuckle at the thought of Tich wearing 28 inch, knee length boots.  --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "due to his diminutive stature" – feel free to ignore this, as I am an old fossil, but I cling to the old BrEng rule that "due to" needs a main verb, and that in this case "due to his diminutive stature" should be "owing to his diminutive stature" or "because of his diminutive stature". ("Due to" used as here is perfectly good AmEng, I believe, but that's not to the present point.)
 * Agree and done. Amazing how much AmEng slips through into BritEng! --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Family background and early life
 * "One of four brothers, Richard Relph…" – does it add anything to know that dad was one of four brothers?
 * Redundency removed. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "when he was aged 10" – later in the article you use "ten" rather than "10". I recommend the former here, too. On the other hand you may feel that "ten" closely followed by "4 feet 6 inches" looks odd. Over to you to ponder.
 * ten it is. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "growing to 4 feet 6 inches, a height he retained for the remainder of his life" – I wonder if "growing to 4 feet 6 inches – the tallest he ever grew" might have more impact. Just a thought.
 * Swapped. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "Unbeknown to him at the time" – I think I'd be inclined to lose this and start with "These experiences…"
 * Changed. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "Little Tich relished his local infamy – I wonder about "infamy" (cue Carry on Cleo) and wonder if "celebrity" might be more accurate.
 * Ha, I don't think at that age they "all had it infamy". I went with "celebrity status", would this be correct? --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "the audiences laughter" – this needs a possessive apostrophe, but whether you mean "audience's" singular or "audiences'" plural I am not sure. The latter, probably, I think.
 * Quite right thanks. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Move to Gravesend and early performances
 * "all the jolly and sentimental pantomime songs of the day" – probably need an inline ref no and citation at this point for a direct quote like this. The same as ref 13 I imagine, but no harm in putting it in here too.
 * Now given. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   18:09, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you :) --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

Short measure this time, but more soonest. Must away for now. More as soon as I can. Tim riley (talk) 15:58, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Round Two from Tim
 * Early London engagements
 * "having found out about it during a tour of Leeds" – is this geographical information useful?
 * Deleted. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:44, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "taught himself how to play" – I think I might omit "how" here.
 * Omitted. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:44, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * American success
 * There are, I think, more mentions of "Little Tich" than necessary. There are several places in this section where a simple "he" would do the job and would ease the flow of the prose. It's more of a problem in this article than with Leno, Lloyd, Holloway et al because you always use both parts of his stage name – he's never just "Tich". I entirely see why you have adopted this rule, but it comes at a price in the flow of the prose.
 * This section now reduced. I will go through the other later tonight. --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:44, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "a rare white Bohemian Shepherd" – blue link notwithstanding I think I might add "dog" after "Shepherd". Guides the reader's eye along smoothly.
 * Added. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:44, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "£6 a week[n 15] wage" – I'd move the citation to the end of the sentence.
 * Now moved. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   17:44, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

That's all from me. Onwards and upwards! Tim riley (talk) 13:57, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Last lot from Tim:
 * American success
 * "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in which Little Tich played…" – "perhaps The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, playing…"? Crisper, possibly
 * Done. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   18:09, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * 1890s
 * "at the London Pavilion in Piccadilly" – I think it may have been in Piccadilly Circus, which isn't quite the same thing, but don't take my word for this.
 * Checked with Arthur Lloyd and corrected. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   18:08, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "in his establishment's forthcoming pantomime" – you could lose "establishment's"
 * Lost. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   18:08, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Life at Drury Lane
 * "he introduced his big-boot dance" – you need to decide whether it's Big-Boot, as in earlier mentions, or big-boot, as here. You could argue it either way, but you ought to aim for consistency.
 * Changed. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   18:08, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Recording career and new family
 * "he was fined £103 for breach of contract" – "fined" seems the wrong word. I don't think it applies to civil cases. I think I'd go for something like: "The proprietors of the theatre sued for breach of contract and he had to pay them £103 in compensation."
 * Swapped. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   18:08, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you Tim for a sterling review, cheers! --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   18:08, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Comments from Sarastro
Read down to the start of the 1890s section so far, and very few problems. More to come. Sarastro1 (talk) 14:33, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Perhaps his height should be added to the lead as well.
 * Added. I swapped it for the second use of "diminutive".  I think I can get away with this? --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:07, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Aside from the places where it is a variant spelling in the sources, "Titch" is used as well as "Tich" in a couple of times, for example in the second paragraph of "Family background and early life".
 * Nice spot. I have gone through and checked for other which I think I have caught. --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:07, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "He also experienced stunted growth when he was aged ten, growing to 4 feet 6 inches – the tallest he ever grew": I don't think he would suddenly experience it as the age of ten, where it sounds like a one-off. Maybe instead of "when he was…", have a new sentence "He reached 4 feet 6 inches in height by the age of ten, but grew no taller."
 * Tim picked up on this earlier and we threw it out there to others to come up with an alternative. I think this is better, but would you recommend a semi-colon rather than a full stop? --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:07, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "His physical differences, compared to other children": Maybe "His physical differences to other children"
 * Done. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:07, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "from an early age" used twice in close proximity in the "Family background" section.
 * Deleted the first. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:07, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "By now, Little Tich was becoming a valuable asset to his family": We've already said something similar so I don't think we need to repeat the idea.
 * Redundancy removed. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:07, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "…Agnes who, under the instructions of Richard Relph, would chaperone her young brother…": Is there any reason this could not be "…Relph, chaperoned her young brother…" which is less clunky?
 * Done. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   18:02, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * The brackets in note 6 seem out of place.
 * Done with others to do. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:14, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * All done. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   22:13, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm slightly uncomfortable with the description ""nigger" comedians" in note 7, and wonder if a way less jarring to modern eyes could be found, such as blackface used earlier.
 * Yes, it is an uncomfortable phrase to use in this day and age, but the term was very much an innocent one back then. The act was called "blackface" and the people who played them were "niggers". --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:48, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * May I suggest then that "nigger comedians" would be slightly better as it less likely to be a problem as it makes it clear that that is how they were known. Sarastro1 (talk) 14:36, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes of course. I have moved the inverts further along the sentence to incorporate both. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   22:13, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "a black faced attendant": "black-faced" perhaps? I'm never too sure on these. Sarastro1 (talk) 14:33, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Neither am I. Can anyone shed some light? --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   16:48, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * I believe the hyphen is correct here, as the two-word phrase constitutes a single attributive adjective. (Did that sound as though I knew what I was talking about? I think it's right.) Tim riley (talk) 18:07, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks Tim you convinced me! Now added.--  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   22:13, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

More comments, down to the end of 1890s. The rest to follow tonight or tomorrow:
 * " The deal would see Little Tich star in two pantomimes and on a wage of £36 a week": I never like "saw" used like this, and I like "would see" even less, but it may just be me.
 * How does "The deal required Little Tich to star in two pantomimes for a wage of £36 a week" sound? --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:03, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "The production, which also starred Drury Lane regulars Marie Lloyd, Dan Leno and Herbert Campbell,[68] saw Little Tich play both the title role": Another use of "saw".
 * Swapped for "As well as the title role,[69] Little Tich also played the minor part of the Yellow Dwarf in the harlequinade." --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:03, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * " The Derby Daily Telegraph called the comedian "one of the most amusing pantomime dames of all time".[74] Despite a budget of £30,000,[n 18] the production failed to equal the success of the previous two shows which caused Harris to rethink his cast": It's not entirely clear which performance is being spoken about here, after the aside from the newspaper. Presumably Robinson Crusoe, but worth making it a little clearer.
 * Clarified. It was Robinson Crusoe. --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:03, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "and became known by the German theatrical press as the first comedian to ever appear in two music halls a night": The grammatical pedant in me does not like to see split infinitives such as "to ever appear", but I know not everyone is bothered by this.
 * No problem, I have deleted "ever" which I think looks better. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:03, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "The audience were described as being "very large" whose "bursts of laughter w[ere] frequent and loud",[80] while the critic William Archer dismissed Little Tich as being the "...Quasimodo of the music halls, whose talent lies in a grotesque combination of agility with deformity.": I'm not too sure that "while" is the best choice here as it does not really indicate the contrast between the two reactions enough.
 * I have moved some quotes about so it reads "A reporter for the Edinburgh Evening News thought that Little Tich was "the life and soul of the sketch" whose singing was "fairly good while [his] dancing was smart", while the critic William Archer dismissed Little Tich as being the "...Quasimodo of the music halls, whose talent lies in a grotesque combination of agility with deformity." --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:51, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "The show enjoyed a healthy provincial tour after opening in Newcastle with one reporter writing that "it ha[d] not very much to recommend it", but thought that Little Tich gave "some excellent fooling" and that it "[was] impossible not to laugh at some of the eccentricities".": Noun plus ing ("with one reporter writing"). Also, the healthy nature of the tour jars slightly with the negative comment of the critic. Sarastro1 (talk) 14:36, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Tweaked to "Despite the show enjoying a healthy provincial tour after opening in Newcastle, one reporter thought that "it ha[d] not very much to recommend it". --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:51, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Final comments: To the end now. Looks good overall, as usual. That's it from me, and feel free to ping me when it goes to FAC. Another enjoyable read, nice work. Sarastro1 (talk) 19:10, 23 September 2013 (UTC) Thank you so much for your brilliant comments. Your thorough review has helped improve the article no end. Cheers! --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:46, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * I wonder do we need quite so many quotes from local newspapers saying how splendidly entertaining he was? I think a few could be safely cut.
 * As an aside, what an odd relationship with Julia!
 * Yes it was an odd relationship. Reading the primary source it appears that she was a money grabbing old brass who knew of his affairs, but chose to ignore them as it was better to be Mrs Little Tich than not.  He craved companionship and love which she didn't give him but similarly thought that it was better to be in a relationship than not.  --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:46, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "The couple never publicly announced the separation": Maybe "their" separation?
 * Done. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:46, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "Little Tich continued to financially support": Another split infinitive (which I doubt anyone but me really cares about!)
 * Changed to "...and he continued to provide financial support for his wife"
 * "In 1905 he appeared in the second of a further three films for the French film industry": Is there a way to avoid "films ... film"?
 * I have used "movie" for the first "film" (although "movie" does sound slightly American to me if I was honest).
 * "and now had to contend to life ": I think it is more usually "contend with".
 * Changed. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk  .
 * Even with the semi-colons, I think the very long sentence beginning "He made frequent visits to Bedford Court Mansions..." needs splitting.
 * Split and now reads: " He made frequent visits to Bedford Court Mansions to organise Julia's paperwork and discovered that his wife had been having an affair with his friend Emile Footgers and that she was actually ten years older than she had led her husband to believe. Little Tich also found that she had used his money to buy a house in Golders Green for his granddaughter Constance without his knowing and that she had participated in a secret scam to blackmail him out of large quantities of cash."
 * I wonder if a "legacy" section, or something similar, is possible which sort-of assesses him and puts him in the pantheon, so to speak. At the moment, all we get are bitty comments from various newspapers which covered his performances, but we don't get an overall summing-up and drawing together. Just a thought, and feel free to ignore this one.
 * I will ponder on this one. Is anybody of like mind? --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   23:46, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Comments from SchroCat
Very good – as always – and just a few little tweaks and polishes here from me. I've made a few tweaks here and there: feel free to revert anything you don't like. A couple of bites at this I think, so this is the first batch:

Family background
 * "one of eight children and 16 step-children": this reads as if there are 24 children in total. There were only 16 in total, I think? "He was the last of 16 children born to Richard Relph..." may be clearer (with subsequent clarification on the two batches of eight children to each wife)
 * Welcome back. Done I think (ignore "The"). --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   00:51, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Return to London and West End debut
 * You end the previous section with "He returned home to London with his wife and they set up home at 182 Kennington Road, Lambeth; Laurie later gave birth to the couple's son Paul on 7 November 1889.[44][56]" and begin this one with "Little Tich returned to London shortly before the birth of his son": one of them needs a tweaking to avoid repetition – probably the second, as it's in the 1890s section.
 * Yes quite right, done. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   00:51, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Life at Drury Lane
 * "Drury Lane pantomimes were known..." by who?
 * I have provided a ref to V&A for this. Unless I can say "The V&A said that the..." which doesn't quite sound right. --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   00:51, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * You're right - it doesn't sound good! I had a spin over Google books, but most of them all seem to say the same thing, that they were "known" for being extravagant, but without saying by who! - SchroCat (talk) 08:15, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * lol - she emailed and told me all! ;) - SchroCat (talk) 10:45, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * ...from the computer I bought her now doubt! pmsl --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   11:18, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "Blanchard confessed": sounds like he was confessing to a crime: "said", perhaps?
 * Swapped. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   00:51, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Done to the end of Druy Lane for now; more to follow. Pip pip! – SchroCat (talk) 13:33, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Second and final bite of the cherry form me:

New theatrical ventures
 * "The breach of contract at the Folies spurred the manager Édouard Marchand into taking legal action against the comedian." -> "Following the breach of contract at the Folies, the manager Édouard Marchand took legal action against the comedian."
 * Swapped, thanks. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   10:42, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Any idea what the result of the action was?
 * Explained. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   01:23, 24 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "Little Tich shunned the English variety theatre scene altogether": any reason behind this, or just 'because he did'?
 * Now explained. --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   10:42, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Recording career
 * "Paul who had become estranged from the family by the 1920s": any idea why the estrangement? The last we heard from Paul was the rather sympathetic "Poor, poor father" quote.
 * Doing... --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   00:21, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

That's all from me—another very readable and high quality article. I know you will anyway, but give me a nudge when you put this through to FAC: I think this is good enough for the gold star, and it certainly deserves it! Pip pip – SchroCat (talk) 09:48, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Quick visit from BB
Hi, Cassianto| With so much attention and so many comments, are you really looking for more? I'll willingly oblige, but I'm so tied up with other things that it's hard to find the time. If you're in no hurry, expect something, at least, from me by Friday evening. Otherwise, I'll catch up with it at FAC where I am sure it is heading. Brianboulton (talk) 19:28, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

No, Brian that's fine. I think the review has been quite through and the comments so far have been quite excellent; with four satisfied reviewers, I think we are just about done now for peer review. I appreciate that you're a busy chap, so I would be happy with waiting for FAC if you would like to comment there instead. All the best! --  Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   20:12, 25 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I am closing the peer review now so thank you to all involved. It has been a wonderful turn out from some excellent reviewers. Special thanks to for squirrelling away in the background fixing my punctuation errors. See you all at FAC!  --   Cassianto <sup style="font-family:Papyrus;">Talk   00:19, 28 September 2013 (UTC)