Hi
Harry Lauder was a comedian and singer.
Short account in The Cambrian 23 July 1909:
SWANSEA "RECORD" MAKER. MR. ALF THOMAS' SUCCESS IN LONDON. Mr. Alf Thomas, the "Welsh Harry Lauder," has broken out in another direction, and to his very material benefit. He has just returned to Swansea after singing into a recording gramophone for one of the leading London firms. He made five records :"The Tram Conductor," "Daft Davie." "Jenny Morgan," "The Forty Twos," and "The Postman," and these will be on the market next month. So successful was the venture that it is probable that Mr. Thomas will have to go up each month to add Welsh records exclusively to the firm's list.
In another paper, 1910:
Alf Thomas, the Welsh Harry Lauder, was all his reputation had claimed for him. In fact, he was the leading feature of the entertainment. He is not only a fine singer, but his imitation work and acting were the best seen here in many days. He made a decided hit in his Scotch costume and songs, and his many jokes were clean and funny to a hearty laugh. He made the hit of the evening in his song, 'I'm Tired.' He was forced to give many encores, until he was apparently exhausted.
Also November 1910:
The Cambrian Glee Singers, on tour in in America, are doing wonderful things, according to the American journalists. Of the "Welsh Harry Lauder," Mr. Alf Thomas, of Swansea, "The Granville Standard" gives this tit-bit: "Those at the Eisteddfod Saturday afternoon had a chance to see Mr. Thomas in female impersonation, as a Welsh girl in native costume. Here again he was superlatively good, and his song and monologue descriptive of the trials of a Welsh girl in organising a choir of ladies' voices was very funny indeed. Mr. Thomas certainly has a great future before him, and if he is not recognised before many seasons as one of the very best impersonators on the stage, Granville critics are all at sea."
Emyr
