Abe Barker

(b. Glasgow, Scotland, 09/03/1891? - d. **/**/****). Actor. Abe Barker was a Scottish actor who for some years was a member of Graham Moffat’s theatrical company. Moffat first toured South Africa in 1921, but Barker was with him before that, when the company performed one of their greatest hits, Bunty Pulls the Strings, at the Theatre Royal in Bristol in March 1914. Almost immediately afterwards they left for an extensive tour of Australia and New Zealand, presenting Bunty Pulls the Strings at the Theatre Royal in Adelaide (December 1914) and A Scrape o’ the Pen at both the Palace Theatre in Sydney (June 1915) and at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne (October 1915). When the tour came to an end, three members of the company – Jean Clyde, David Urquhart and Barker – formed the Bunty Trio, travelling throughout Australia for another 18 months and then setting sail for South Africa. It was during this time that Barker took the part of Alphonse in H. Lisle Lucoque’s film version of Allan Quatermain (released in 1919) for African Film Productions. In December 1921 he arrived back in England and subsequently he returned to the stage in Scotland. Relatively late in life he started turning up in British films, notably as the engineer in Alexander Mackendrick’s The Maggie (1954). Incidentally, Moffat retired to South Africa and died in Cape Town in December 1951. (FO)