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Mrs Walford Bodie

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Mrs Walford Bodie
ID JSS0263
Title Mrs Walford Bodie
Document Reference x/257/3s
Format 386 x 290 mm
Medium Handwritten music on brown paper
Item Type Manuscript
Subject Scottish Music, Reel
Item Description Skinner has written this melody on poor quality brown paper, and the left hand side has been torn off. Descriptive messages at various points show that the melody was meant to depict a train journey: 'Leaving the Village lights', 'A sterile glen', 'steam's up', 'hame again'. 'Mrs Walford Bodie' was the wife of Samuel Murphy Bodie, the dapper Scottish music-hall entertainer known as Dr Walford Bodie. 'The Electrical Wizard of the North', he used static electricity to astonish his audiences. A friend of the escapologist 'The Great (Harry) Houdini', he also performed as a hypnotist and ventriloquist. Skinner is impressed with his own work: 'A rare second strain & no poverty of invention.' He dedicates the melody to: 'My loved friend & Pupil Jim McPherson.'
Creator James Scott Skinner
Creator Manuscript James Scott Skinner
Arranger James Scott Skinner
Time Period 1900s
Location Angus Archives
Collection Name James Macpherson
Copyright copyright_angus.shtml

 

University of Aberdeen

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Historic Collections · Kings College · Old Aberdeen · AB24 3SW
Tel:(0)44 1224 274312 · E-mail: scottskinner@abdn.ac.uk

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