大象传媒

At the start of the War I was still at School but I had already been singing at local shows and socials. They built a large hutted camp at the top of The Avenue on So`ton Common to accomodate the loads of Soldiers flooding into the town. Obviously these men wanted some entertainment and if it was free so much the better. My singing teacher formed a Concert Party it was called Starlight Parade. It was mostly girls and as they all wore pretty costumes and the music was good it was very popular. First off we were to do one show a week but it soon became one show a night. This was O.K. whilst I was still at school and continued all through what was called the `phoney war`, but soon after that the large Air Raids started and my school decided to evacuate. I didn`t want to go I wanted to go on with my shows, and as my Father was in the R.N. it was decided I could leave, if I went somewhere else to finish my education, so I went to Commercial College. As soon as I was qualified I wanted to go to work, and landed up atthe British Power Boat Company which was a Factory in Hythe, making Motor Torpedo Boats. Well this was a journey of just over one hour each way by tram and boat and you can`t be out every night until late and then get up at about 6a.m. and so something had to change. Luckily they had their own Concert Party at the Factory, the man running it had been on the Stage but was doing war work and so had the dancer. This was a real Variety show, they had a Gypsy Violinist, Soubrette, Lady Siffleuse ( Whistler - like Ronnie Ronalde) Male Singer, Female Impersonator but they did not have a Female Singer and they asked me to join them. This was much better because they worked for Southern Command who decided the venues and the transport left from the Factory ( I didnt have to go to So`ton and then set off again) and we did about three shows a week. We went everywhere, Army Camps under canvas, R.A.F. Hangers, some places with lovely stages, but not many. Netley Hospital which is now demolished had a super theatre with all the lights and dressing rooms and the show was piped through the Wards whilst the walking wounded came to the theatre, Eastney Barracks had a theatre too and so did HMS Collingwood, but mostly it was makeshift stages covered with a carpet and a tent divided into two for the shows, but we went anywhere and everywhere there were members of the Forces of all nations all through the war years. One day I had to deliver a message and was walking around the outside of the Factory and I saw this RAF Officer coming towards me ( we had been told that the burned Airmen - Dr.McIndoes Guinea Pigs had moved into Marchwood Park - this facility had been set up by the Power Boat Company originally to train ladies to be woodworkers etc., to replace the men called up for the War and the machinery and instructors were still in place. I could see even at a distance that this man`s face was terribly disfigured and he was smoking a cigarette through a hole in his cheek. The only thing I can remember thinking is that I must`nt let him think he looked any different to anyone else. Anyway we passed one another. That afternoon I was called to the Personnel Office and wondered what on earth I had done. The Manager said to me "You passed Pilot Officer - this morning and you smiled at him " If I live to be a hundred I would not remember smiling. Anyway he asked me if I would like to go to Marchwood to sing for them or dance or talk. He said they didn`t usually ask anyone as young as me, but I had proved I would be suitable. I understand I was one of the youngest ever asked. They usually asked Nurses. Anyway of course I said Yes. They were marvellous and so very very brave. They came to Marchwood in between their operations and if they wanted to could learn a trade there. You see some of them had gone in at 18yrs old. They had been lovely looking boys too after all they were known as The Brylcreem Boys, and it must have been awful for them. Just think today it is known as The Priory and people who get too much money go there to dry out from too much drink or drugs. Anyway after that the powers that be must have decided that I was fireproof because next they asked if I would go to D Block Netley Hospital which was for the Psychiatric Patients or as they put it the War Weary, and music was said to be good therapy for them. I went there and sang for them many times. The Orderlys used to stand round the walls and the lights were always left on, but nothing untoward ever happened when I was there, except that sometimes they would clap right in the middle of a number, but you just carried on regardless. Some of them did get better because once a Sgt. came up to me at another show and said " The first time I saw you was at D Block " We also entertained the Convoy Escorts. The men were kept in the Docks for three or four days after the Convoy landed so that if there had been any Quislings in the crews they couldnt report what had been in the Convoy. We did shows for them whatever the nationality, I suppose everyone thought that even if they didn`t understand all the words they could enjoy the music, and they all seemed to. One audience of Norweigans I remember especially because the Captain sat in an Armchair in the front row and when he liked anything he waved a couple of beer bottles around his head to show approval. At that time in So`ton we had Free French, Polish men, Norweigans, Canadians and of course our own people. Then in 1942 came the Americans. White and Coloured, completely segregated. The white men were in what they called the 14th Port, which was in the Dock area, and the coloured men were in what was then the old Ordnance Office ( now demolished and the new Law Courts built in its place) We entertained both lots, but at different times and in different venues. To be brutally honest they spent a lot of their time fighting one another. Then there was a demand for yet a bigger venue to entertain the forces and we started doing Forces Rendezvous at the So`ton Guildhall, with recorded audiences of about 2000. Then of course began the preparations for Invasion. We still did shows, but were collected in covered lorries and taken to Camps deep in the Forest and then brought back home. Southampton was like a military camp. All down Bassett Green Road there were Canadian Tanks, the chaps used to hang their mirrors on the guns to shave, and the rest of the town was packed with troops and material as well. Then suddenly they were all gone. I was asked to sing at a Show just before this that the Americans put on for their enlisted men. They took over the Hotel Ballroom of what was The Polygon Hotel (now demolished) and they had entertainment all day. Films in the morning, show in the Afternoon and Dance in the evening. The chaps had a lovely time. I was actually singing in an Army Show when an Officer interrupted the show to say that the War in Europe had finished. There was complete quiet for a moment and then everyone went barmy, some laughed, some cried, and everyone hugged and kissed everyone else. Then they just wanted to sing. They sang all the popular songs of the day and then all the patriotic songs - no lack of patriotism that day - I think they would have kept us there all night if they could have done, it was marvellous. I think personally the best thing about the official celebrations which took place the following weekend was all the Lights coming on again.When its been completely dark for four years to see lights in the windows of houses and in the few remaining Shops we had left after the Blitz and in the Pubs, was super. Of course the entertaining didnt stop there because we still had an Army of |Occupation in Germany and lots of these troops both English and American came through Southampton. Ane of the most memorable shows I ever did was when I was asked to sing for the returned Japanese Prisoners of War who were based in the camp on So`ton Common. The show started O.K. but was a bit subdued for a troop show, then in the interval a Sgt. came round and said its not that the men arn`t enjoying it, but they don`t know any of these songs, some of them have been captive for four years, most for three or more - have you got anything that was popular before the War? Well we all looked and of course found some I remember two of mine were Begin the Beguine and Stardust, and after that the show went like a bomb. I know I was reduced to tears behind the scenes because they were so thin and yellow - obviously we didn`t know then what the Japs had put them through. Anyway during the War Years the chap who ran our Show said that we did in excess of 600 Shows, and of course I did more than that because of the extras I did as I have said, but if we managed to cheer up the men and women who were doing the fighting it was certainly all worth while, we thought so anyway. Of course this was all voluntary and we were doing regular jobs for the war effort every day. ENSA got paid, we certainly did not but I don`t think that worried anyone. To bring the record up to date, I am still Entertaining, amazingly my voice is still good and I and my Pianist entertain the Over 50s on a very regular basis keeping everyone happy.

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