Charles Penrose (entertainer) Charles Penrose (entertainer) Charles Penrose (born Charles Penrose Dunbar Cawse; 11 November 1873 – 17 November 1952) was an English music hall and theatre performer, and later radio comedian, who is best known for his unusual comic song "The Laughing Policeman". He was born in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, the son of a master watchmaker and jeweller. He initially followed his father into the jewellery trade, but enjoyed such success with his innovative laughing songs at local concert parties that he was invited to join a theatrical tour at the age of 18. His theatrical career took off, and he appeared in
Music hall with them the idiom and appurtenances of the minstrel song. Other influences on the rapidly developing music hall idiom were Irish and European music, particularly the jig, polka, and waltz. Typically, a music hall song consists of a series of verses sung by the performer alone, and a repeated chorus which carries the principal melody, and in which the audience is encouraged to join. In Britain, the first music hall songs often promoted the alcoholic wares of the owners of the halls in which they were performed. Songs like "Glorious Beer", and the first major music hall success, "Champagne Charlie"