Shorty
An organ-grinder who worked the cheap pubs and coffee-shops round Whitechapel with a mate who had a wooden leg, and always played a second tune once the hat had come round.
In George Orwell's account, to be taken for an entertainer rather than a beggar. He plays a second tune after the money has been collected, on the grounds that a man paid to go away would not bother.
The book
At a glance
- An organ-grinder, and a friend of Bozo's
- Whitechapel and the Commercial Road
- About a pound a week each after the organ is paid for
- Chapter XXXI
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeShorty was a friend of Bozo's, and George Orwell got the trade from him directly. Organ-grinders, like street acrobats, are counted as artists rather than beggars, and it is a mistake to think they earn their living in the street: nine-tenths of the money is taken indoors, in coffee-shops and public houses, and only the cheap public houses, because the good-class ones will not let them in. He and his mate worked the houses round Whitechapel and the Commercial Road.
Their method had two parts. Shorty stopped outside a pub and played one tune. His mate, who had a wooden leg and could excite compassion, went inside and passed the hat. Then Shorty played a second tune. He would not leave that out, and treated it as a point of honour: the idea was that he was a genuine entertainer and not a man being paid to go away.
The books were thin. Between them they took two or three pounds a week, but the organ was hired at fifteen shillings a week, so they averaged about a pound each. They were on the streets from eight in the morning until ten at night, and later on Saturdays.
How Shorty Is Portrayed
- The pitchCoffee-shops and cheap public houses round Whitechapel and the Commercial Road. Nine-tenths of the take comes from indoors, and the good pubs bar them.
- The mateA man with a wooden leg, who went in with the hat while Shorty played outside, on the reasoning that he could excite compassion.
- The encoreA second tune after the drop, every time, which Shorty described as a point of honour rather than a way of earning more.
- The booksTwo or three pounds a week for the pair, fifteen shillings of it to hire the organ, and about a pound a week each left. Eight in the morning to ten at night, later on Saturdays.
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