大象传媒

Bedford in war-time was a very exciting place. It was packed with troops of all nationalities and many dances were held! There were dances at Dudeney and Johnsons shop (DU Johns), one of the big hotels held them and there was one place near to the Midland Railway Station called the Rendezvous. I remember dancing with Olson from Trondheim and other servicemen from overseas.
The Rendezvous catered mostly for American servicemen and they had a little refreshment bar where you culd buy all different flavours of milkshake. Another speciality was double decker sandwiches.
The American Red Cross club was in Goldington Rd and on Valentine's Day there was a dance held in the evening to which some of us girls were invited. All across the ceiling were strings which had large red cut out cardboard hearts hanging from them. I remember they served waffles with syrup which we had never had before.
I remeber people queuing outside Public Houses in the early evening all over Bedford. Beer and spirits were in short supply and the pubs were rationed.
The cinemas in Bedford showed some good films. Many of the film stars, like Betty Grable, were painted on the sides of the Flying Fortress planes which the Americans flew in their daytime raids over occupied countries. The main cinema was the Granada, but there was also the Plaza which was near the River and the Bridge Hotel. Here, when you went to see a film, you had to stand and sing the National Anthem and the Star-Spangled Banner before the show began. I think they put the words on the screen because I can still remember them all.
On several occasions we war-workers ( I was an electrical welder at Sterlings Works Specialties) went to the Corn exchange to hear Rawitz and Landau, 2 Polish pianists. We also went a few times to see the 大象传媒 Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Clarence Reybould, as they were evacuated to Bedford from London. This was a new experience for us and we grew to like the music of Chopin very much.
One evening, when we were on our way out past the Market Square we saw crowds gathering and stopped to look. Servicemen and their girlfriends were going into the Corn Exchange, jeeps and cars were drawing up and we heard that there was to be a dance given for all servicemen that evening by the American dance band leader Glen Miller. He was on war duty in England with his orchestra entertaining the troops. Oh how we wished we were allowed in, but we were able to stand outside the hall and listen for a while as the band played American Patrol and other favourites before we went on to our own dance.
We all thought Glen was based at Thurleigh, an airfield near Bedford, but it was from Twinwood Farm that he set off for France in a C64 Norseman on that foggy December 15th never to arrive. He was later pronounced missing, presumed dead and no more was ever heard of him. The book, "Next to a Letter from Home" by Geoffrey Butcher, about Glen Miller's wartime band, says that he was billeted at the American Red Cross Officers' Club and his full name was Alton Glenn Miller. This can be seen at the American Cemetery, Madingley, Cambridge, England where it reads, Major, A.E.F.

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