Des Down Under 6
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A Musical Life
Des Down Under Chapter
Six
Pic 4. Gene Vincent on stage at the Rainbow Theatre in Blackpool,
with the Puppets, 1965.
The CSE tour of Cyprus, North Africa and
Malta was just the best!!
The show was called ‘No Strings’ and it featured a juggler by
the name of Christine Martell. Now
seriously folks, whenever I hear the strains of ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’, ever
since that show, I fall about laughing!! You see, Christine used to like a
couple of glasses before she went on, (not a good thing to do when you’re a
juggler!! We were really thankful she wasn’t a knife throwing act!!!), and she
used to well, ‘drop ‘em’, if you see what I mean, and we would start, and
restart, ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’ literally dozens of times as poor Christine,
in her thick Irish brogue, would chastise herself for dropping her props!! But
I’ve got to tell you she was a good sort and we had a lot of fun.!!
The Compere was Wyn Calvin, the Welsh Prince of Laughter. He was
also acting as a correspondent for the BBC and I can remember one day going out
to help him. He got me to climb up, and sit in, a tree with him, while watching
the ‘Eoka Day Parade’. Wyn was making a recording for the BBC and I had the
microphone protruding out of the cuff of my shirt, with the wire going back down
my arm, as I leaned against a branch with my hand positioned close to Wyn’s
mouth, so as he could speak into it. This subterfuge was necessary, he said,
because if we were caught we could get into a lot of trouble!!! Good bloke was
Wyn!!
Another Act on the show was ‘Kim and Erik Prince’. Erik had
major success later when he won many heats on ‘Opportunity Knocks’ as the
one armed ‘Student Prince’ light
opera singer. Again, good people and a lot of fun!! Vince Eager was ‘top of
the bill’ on this show. I first met Vince in around 1963, and he and I have
remained friends ever since.
Back to Cyprus… We stayed at a fabulous hotel the ‘King George Hotel’, right on
the beach in Famagusta Bay, It was here we were first introduced to waterskiing.
I found it to be extremely exhilarating! You put the skis on, then get pulled by
a speedboat and you’re up!!! It felt FANTASTIC!! Vince was watching us having
a whale of a time, and he decided to have a go himself.
Now it must be said right here, that our Vince is a big lad…
about 6’ 14” in the old money!! So there he was, skis on, and telling the
boat operator he was ready. Then the boat took off, or rather tried to…
Vince started to come up out of the water and as the little
speedboat tried and tried {I think I can I know I can!!!} to lift him, it’s
front (or bow) came right out of the water and Vince just s l o w l y sunk!!! Quite a sight!!! A larger boat
had to be brought out before Vince could enjoy water skiing... It was very funny
at the time. It’s amazing to think that much later Vince did many years as a
Cruise Director on boats!!!
Vince is still performing, He played at the ‘Fury Fest ‘03’ with his band, Rokola. I urge you to catch this man, and his
band, if you can. Top bloke and great performer, our Vince!! Glad to know him.
We went across the top of North Africa, playing in Benghazi,
Tripoli and a place called R.A.F. El Adem. We then went on to Malta, where it
was very nice to catch up with my sister June and her husband Bob, who was
stationed there. (Bob was a musician in the Royal Marine Band.) They had
arranged a surprise 21st birthday party for me, which cetainly was a
surprise. I walked into this room and everybody shouted ‘Surprise’ and
‘Happy Birthday’, It was just great!
I also remember having 6 shirts made in Malta. Somehow all six were
made in 24 hours!!! Great shirts, lasted for ages. Incidentally, do you know how
to make a Maltese cross? Stand on his foot!!!
While we were on this tour, the Combined Services Entertainment
director, Major Derek Agguter, and his wife Kit, had a party for us all at their
home. At some stage during the evening Derek took the floor and pointed to the
top of the stairs, where his daughter stood. She was about 11 years old at the
time. “Ladies and Gentlemen” he said “I would like to introduce to you all
our daughter, she is going to be a film star!”
We then said hello to his now very famous film star daughter, Jenny
Agguter.
On to Blackpool to the South Pier for the Summer Season! Now for
all the folks that don’t know, ‘Summer Season’ work in the UK was highly
sought after in the ‘60s. If you
could score a Summer Season then it was great because they usually ran two shows
a night, 7 days a week, and because it was all at the same venue, there was no
carrying or transporting of your gear. Summer Seasons usually ran for 16-20
weeks, so just for a while you can ‘park’ for a few months and not live out
of a suitcase! Plus regular wages for what at the time seemed to be forever!!
Blackpool, the ’Las Vegas’ of the North of England! How’s
this for holiday entertainment choices… (Remember, this was 1965!!) At the
world famous Blackpool Tower there was lots of entertainment, all the time.
Reginald Dixon on the famous “Wurlitzer” organ ‘Oh I do like to be beside the
seaside, Oh I do like to be beside the sea!!’
Hey chuck, you ‘aven’t
lived until ya feel the vibe of the Wurlitzer as Reginald plays this tune that
he is famous for!!
There was ‘The Tower Circus’ and ‘The Black and White
Minstrel Show’ Jimmy Clitheroe, Susan Maughan and Kenny Ball at ‘The
Pavillion’ and Thora Herd and Freddie Frinton in ‘My Perfect Husband’ at
‘The Grand’.
At the North Pier there was Tommy Trinder, Edmund Hockeridge, Billy
J Kramer and Tony Holland, (he was that guy who used to flex his muscles in time
with the music, he usually used a Cha Cha like “Wheels”, remember?)
At the Central Pier were Bob Monkhouse and Mike Yarwood, while at
the South Pier, at the ‘Rainbow Theatre’, was Gerry and the Pacemakers, Karl
Denver, Gene Vincent and, of course, The Puppets. Blackpool was a
buzz that year!!!
When we were with Gene Vincent in Germany he asked us if we would
like to share a house together for the season when we got to Blackpool. He also
said that he would pay the first ten pounds of the weekly rent, provided that he
could have a room of his own!! Nice one Gene. We ended up getting a very swank,
large multi bedroomed property, on the North Shore, and it cost only twelve
pounds per week, all up!!
Blackpool was always busy in the summer and we used to take the
tram which ran along right next to the sea from North Shore down to the South
Pier, about four miles every day. (It was a lot easier than trying to drive
through those holiday crowds!) Gene Vincent certainly got some strange looks as
he travelled in his full leathers on the tram.
Manfred Mann, who did the Sunday concerts at the Rainbow Theatre
with us, used to travel from wherever they played on the Saturday evening,
arriving at all sorts of hours, and slept in the attic. Yes, we had discovered
even more bedrooms in this wonderful twelve pounds a week mansion!!!
A squizz at the program for the Sunday concerts and you’ll see
the name ‘The Mark Leeman Five’ in the first half, I mention this because
Mark was killed in a traffic accident on his way to Blackpool and he had only
just done a couple of weeks of the season. He and his group were excellent. They
did a top version of Nina Simone’s ‘Forbidden Fruit’ and I recall that
their drummer was Brian ‘Blinky’ Davison who went on to play in ‘The
Nice’
Blackpool being quite close to Preston meant that my Mum could come
to see the show. That was special because all those years ago we had gone
together to the ‘Hippodrome Theatre’, in Preston, almost weekly, and now,
here she was, coming to see me performing on one of those very theatre stages! A
proud moment for me and I know it was for Mum because she told me so!!
Mum met Gerry, Karl and Gene, and was a happy
lady that night, I always thank my Mum for those times at the Hippodrome!!!
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To Be Continued…