Biography
Elvin was the son of Joseph Peter Keegan (1840 – 1901), an actor and music-hall artiste, and his wife, Annie Delaney. He was educated at a Catholic school in Tottenham Court Road while at the same time receiving tuition in dancing and other performance skills. He made his début in pantomime at Brighton's Theatre Royal in 1871 and began his music-hall career the following year as a juvenile comic and clog dancer at Crowder's in Greenwich. He appeared with his father as Joe Keegan and Little Elvin, their first real success being Poor Jo which was based on Dickens's Bleak House. During a season for the vaudeville entrepreneur Tony Pastor in New York in 1882 they turned to more comic material.
Read more about this topic: Joe Elvin
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