Samuel Joseph Torr (1849–1923) was an English music hall comedian who performed in a style known as lion comique.

He was then taken in hand by John Wood, a noted singer and proprietor of the Golden Ball in Coalpit Lane, who ran a 'free-and-easy' attached to his house.

It was during this period as a music hall promoter that Joseph Merrick wrote to Torr asking for employment as an exhibited freak, so he could escape the grinding poverty of life in the workhouse.

After the failure of 'the Gaiety', Torr returned to the music hall, successfully reviving his career with new comic songs as well as old favorites.

The Malt Cross finally closed for good in 1911 and Torr then moved his family to a house in Shakespeare Street, Nottingham where he lived until his death in 1923.