[3] After a brief attempt to follow his late father's profession and a failure at acting in Glasgow, he became a music hall comedian under the name of Chump Buchanan and appeared on the variety stage in Scotland.

[4] Moving to London and adopting the name "Jack Buchanan", he first appeared on the West End in September 1912 in the comic opera The Grass Widow  at the Apollo Theatre.

[citation needed] Buchanan's health was not robust, and, to his regret, was declared unfit when he attempted to enlist for military service in the First World War.

The musical show was based on a book by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose, and was staged at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London.

He continued to work on Broadway and the West End and took roles in several Hollywood musicals, including The Band Wagon (1953), his best-known film, in which he plays camp theatre director Jeffrey Cordova opposite Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse.

[citation needed] Buchanan's British stage appearances included A to Z, Battling Butler, Toni, Sunny, That's a Good Girl, Stand up and Sing, Mr. Whittington, This'll Make You Whistle, Top Hat and Tails, The Last of Mrs Cheyney, Fine Feathers, Canaries Sometimes Sing, Don't Listen, Ladies!, Castle in the Air, King's Rhapsody and As Long as They're Happy.

His productions included The Women, The Body was Well Nourished, Waltz Without End, It's Time to Dance, A Murder for a Valentine, Treble Trouble and The Lady Asks for Help.

Buchanan's American stage appearances included: André Charlot's Revues, Charles B. Cochran's Wake Up and Dream, Pardon My English, Between the Devil and Harvey (1948).

[1] His British films included Yes, Mr Brown (1933), Goodnight, Vienna (1932), That's a Good Girl (1933), Brewster's Millions (1935), Come Out of the Pantry (1935), When Knights Were Bold (1936), This'll Make You Whistle (1936), Smash and Grab (1937), The Sky's the Limit (1938), Break the News (1938), The Gang's All Here (1939), The Middle Watch (1940), Bulldog Sees It Through (1940), As Long as They're Happy (1955) and Josephine and Men (1955).

It was conducted by Scottish engineer John Logie Baird, an important figure in the technological development of television, and a lifelong friend of Buchanan's.

[citation needed] Sandy Wilson recalled that each year during the running of the annual Grand National horse race, Buchanan would cancel that day's performance of his current musical and charter an excursion train to the racecourse and back, supplying meals for the entire cast and crew of his show, in addition to giving them £5 each for a "flutter" on the horse of their choice.