[1] Vokes learned acrobatics from John Ahern, a performer for the W. W. Cole Circus who later served as Quincy's police chief.

Soon thereafter, Vokes and Hap Ward began performing a tumbling act in music hall variety shows.

[1] There, they launched their Harold and Percy sketch, which featured two ragged tramp characters delivering upper-class dialogue.

[3] In 1905, the pair separated after Vokes decided to hire a new manager, James F. Lee, while Ward stayed with E. F. Stair.

[7][8] Volkes retired from performing in 1918 and worked as a pump tender at the Beacon Oil Company refinery in Everett, Massachusetts.