Henry Bradley Sherry, known to the family as “Adge” was a musician, singer, clog and step dancer and professional music hall artiste.
Harry Bradley Sherry was born in 1898, the second child of James Bernard Sherry and Alice Louise Bradley-Truman at the Red Lion Inn, Costock, Nottinghamshire. He was known as “Adge” within the family.
Harry began performing with his father (under his stage name of Dan Conroy) from an early age. A 1914 playbill shows him performing with his younger brother Dan as “The Dancing Wonders”.
Shortly afterwards the First World War broke out and he joined up. In 1920 he teamed up with his brother Dan and Jim in an act called Dan Brothers and Sherry. They became a well-known and established act, touring the UK, the continent and even South Africa.
By 1926 they were touring with a show called “Contrasts” and in about 1928, decided to purchase the rights to the show and run it as a family, which, after a phase as “New Contrasts” became “A Sherry Cocktail..
Harry was an excellent musician, specialising in playing the violin. He was also a dancer and something of an acrobat being able to perform a pirouette whilst playing the violin. Unfortunately, in June 1928 the show had to go on without him, as can be seen from the cutting on the left.
Dan Sherry took up the role of principal comedian with Jim as straight man and Harry playing the character parts. Peter and Sam joined them as a speciality dancing act, and three of their sisters did a musical dancing and singing act. Wherever they went business was phenomenal and it seemed that the act was going places and that they were going to be rich. Unfortunately the talkies came in and within a short time, where they had been playing to good audiences, they found they were playing to mediocre business.
Happily at that point the family was ‘discovered’ by George Black who ran the Palladium and the big theatre circuit in those days, Palladium, Holborn Empire, the Finsbury Park. He thought that they were quite unique and decided he would like to put the family into a show so ‘A Sherry Cocktail’ was disbanded, and the family formed a show called ‘Pageant on
Parade’ where they were known as the “Straight 8 Sherry Family” Unfortunately the show was not a success, and the result was an
argument with George Black , who was perhaps the most powerful man in Theatre Land in those days, as a result the “The Five Sherry Brothers“ act was formed and became one of the best-known music hall acts of the 1930s.
The act was a great success for many years, although bookings became more and more difficult to get in the late 1930’s.
Then the Second War War intervened. Sam, as the youngest, was called up first and after him Peter.
Harry died during WW2.
