Not all the hosts of Edwardian parties belonged to the ‘haut ton’. What matter, if they had money to burn? There was never a lack of ‘convives.’
In ‘The Melodies linger on,’ W. MacQueen-Pope tells this story about a dinner party:-
“Jimmy White, the famous millionaire, when at the height of his fame and fortune, once gave a dinner party to a crowd of other very wealthy men. There was always a streak of mischief and malice in the make-up of the ex-bricklayer from Rochdale, and on this occasion he engaged the Brothers Egbert to act as waiters, giving them a free hand.
Plates crashed round their ears, the rolls were of cement, the knives and forks of India rubber, the spoons collapsed, and the few who managed to consume their soup found sets of false teeth at the bottom.
The Brothers Egbert surpassed themselves.”
Seth and Albert Egbert, were music hall sensations with their ‘Happy Dustmen’ routine, their broad humour was well suited to the silent movies and they made a series of slapstick comedies between 1912 and 1916 for the EcKo film Company.
