The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (song)

Monte Carlo Casino, 1890s

"The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" (originally titled "The Man that Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo") is a popular British music hall song published in 1891 by Fred Gilbert, a theatrical agent who had begun to write comic songs as a sideline some twenty years previously.[1] The song was popularised by singer and comedian Charles Coborn.

The song became a staple of Coborn's act, performed on tour in different languages throughout the world. Coborn confirmed that Gilbert's inspiration was the gambler and confidence trickster Charles Wells.[2][3] Wells was reported to have won one-and-a-half million francs[4] at the Monte Carlo casino, using the profits from previous fraud. However, others suggested as the model include Joseph Jagger (see Men who broke the bank at Monte Carlo) and Kenneth MacKenzie Clark, father of the art historian Kenneth Clark.[5]

Coborn wrote in his 1928 autobiography that to the best of his recollection he first sang the song in 'the latter part of 1891.'[6] An advertisement in a London newspaper suggests, however, that he first performed it in public in mid-February 1892.[7] The song remained popular from the 1890s until the late 1940s, and is still referenced in popular culture today. Coborn, then aged 82, performed the song in both English and French in the 1934 British film Say It with Flowers.[8]

  1. ^ Baker, R.A., British Music Hall – an illustrated history (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Family History, 2014)
  2. ^ Michael Kilgarriff (1998) Sing Us One of the Old Songs: A Guide to Popular Song 1860–1920
  3. ^ Coborn, C.: The Man who Broke the Bank (pp. 227-8): (London: Hutchinson, c. 1928)
  4. ^ The Times, 13 July 1893
  5. ^ Secrest, Meryle (1984). Kenneth Clark: A Biography. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. p. 6.
  6. ^ Coborn, C.: The Man who Broke the Bank (p. 228): (London: Hutchinson, c. 1928)
  7. ^ The Era, 13 February 1892
  8. ^ "Say It with Flowers". IMDb.com. 22 May 1934. Retrieved 8 January 2021.