[1] He formed a comedic partnership with the actor Harry Vokes in 1884, and the pair first achieved fame performing in theaters owned by the impresario Tony Pastor in which they excelled at portraying the tramps Harold and Percy; original characters they created which the duo portrayed in numerous stage works.

These included the musicals A Run On the Bank (1895), The Governors (1898), The Floor Walkers (1900), The Head Waiters (1901), A Pair of Pinks (1905), The Promoters (1910), and The Trouble Makers (1911).

The tramp characters of Harold and Percy generated comedy by behaving with gentlemanly manners of a higher social class while appearing like homeless vagrants.

Ultimately these characters evolved from being unambitious tramps affecting upper class manners into "wealthy layabouts".

[7] This was followed by many comic silent films, most of them short films, made with the actress Gale Henry from 1919 through 1921; including the role of One Lung in The Detectress (1919) and parts in Pants (1919), The Slavey (1919), Her First Flame (1919), Her Week-end (1919), Lizzie's Luck (1919), Poor Fish (1919), Cash (1919), Sweet Cookie (1919), This Way Out (1920), Help!