Other Sites of Interest: http://www.harryparrdavies.com http://www.harryparrdavies.freeserve.co.uk http://www.graciefields.freeserve.co.uk
Harry was born in Neath, Port Talbot in 1914 and in his short career he wrote music, and sometimes lyrics, which were used in Films, Shows, Revues and by individual recording artists. His music lives on, as does his memory.
A short resume of his work and associations follows and gratitude is expressed to Guy Thomas for his hard work in bringing together all these facts from research and from his own memories of the actual performances.
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HARRY PARR DAVIES would have had many happy memories of the London Hippodrome theatre. It was where many of his stage songs were first heard,' Pedro The Fisherman' and `Never Say Goodbye' among them, in shows put on by the London impresario, George Black. Black was the driving force behind the West End's best known musicals and revues of the 1930s and 1940s, filling his flagship theatres the London Palladium and the London Hippodrome. He encouraged the songs HARRY PARR DAVIES contributed to the 1938 Hippodrome revue Black Velvet, starring Frances Day, Vic Oliver, Pat Kirkwood and Roma Beaumont. As the curtain fell on the first night Black called his young composer to the front of the footlights telling the audience "Here is a young man you'll hear a lot of in the future". His promise kept, HARRY PARR DAVIES would write songs for George Black's next revue Haw-Haw at the Holborn Empire, for the Palladium revues Top Of The World and Gangway and the full length Hippodrome musicals The Lisbon Story and Jenny Jones. In the heart of London's theatreland, at the corner of Charing Cross Road and Cranbourn Street, the Hippodrome is remembered with affection as having a very special warmth and theatrical magic. The theatre was built in 1899, the architect being Frank Matcham, foremost of all theatre building designers. The London Palladium, the Coliseum, the Victoria Palace and the Hippodrome were all Matcham buildings, as were the great variety theatres of the provinces, the Empire music halls of cities and towns up and down the country. The Hippodrome owned first by Edward Moss, founder of the Moss Empire Music Hall circuit, was to realise his ambition for London to have a circus that could be presented as a large scale musical spectacle. Water shows, made possible by incorporating a vast water tank underneath the stage, became the talk of London with titles like The Avalanche, The Typhoon and the North Pole (one, they say, introduced a one-legged diver plunging 30 feet into a turbulence of seething waters). Fashion changed and variety revues like Hallo Ragtime and Brighter London gained popularity, giving way eventually to musical comedies. The American musical Hit The Deck came to the Hippodrome, followed by the Jack Buchanan shows That's A Good Girl, Stand Up And Sing (with Dame Anna Neagle starting out as a chorus girl) and Mr Whittington. The Vivian Ellis musical Mister Cinders with Bobby Howes and Binnie Hale singing `Spread a Little Happiness' was a big favourite. And then came George Black with one success after another; Black and Blue, Black Velvet, Lets Face It (Cole Porter), Get A Load Of This and the two HARRY PARR DAVIES shows The Lisbon Story and Jenny Jones. Ivor Novello took the Hippodrome for his musical play Perchance To Dream with its song `We'll Gather Lilacs', a show that was to run for over a 1,000 performances and Julie Andrews, then just 12 years old, made a startling impact as the little girl everyone wanted to hear hitting High Cs in the 1947 revue Starlight Roof. Audrey Hepburn danced in the chorus of High Button Shoes in 1949. By 1955 the Hippodrome, now called the Talk Of The Town, had become restaurant and cabaret for entertainers like Judy Garland and Mel Torme , before reverting back to its first name and run as a popular nightclub by Peter Stringfellow. At the time of writing there is talk of the Hippodrome being demolished and replaced with flats and offices. A campaign is underway to ensure the future of this listed building that in its time nightly filled the 1350 audience capacity. It can only be hoped that common sense and enthusiasm for lovely theatres will save one of London's most historic playhouses. That is a wish, had he been alive, HARRY PARR DAVIES would surely have endorsed.
Harry contributed songs to these London revues:
Black Velvet (Hippodrome) 1939
Haw Haw
1939
HAW HAW At the start of the Second World War, September 1939, all London theatres were closed as a sign of the national emergency. It was an unpopular move and by Christmas, entertainment became regarded by the Government as an essential morale booster and theatres in London and the provinces once again opened their doors. George Black's first wartime show was to be Haw Haw, opening in December at the Holborn Empire and starring Max Miller (the Cheeky Chappie), Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon (two American entertainers who resolutely stayed in Britain during the war years) and a great variety favourite of the time, Gaston Palmer, the juggler who missed all his tricks on purpose. George Black wanted it loud, chirpy and vulgar. He wanted can-can girls, a laugh-a-minute and catchy songs. And the star he wanted was that crowd puller Max Miller. One of the popular songs of the time was `We're Going To Hang Out Our Washing On The Siegfried Line', another was HARRY PARR DAVIES' march `Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye', and it was that kind of kick-in-the-face-for-Hitler (who happened to be born on the same day as Hitler!) which Black felt would give Haw Haw the punch it needed. He had Max Miller guying Lord Haw Haw, who broadcast Nazi propaganda on the German overseas radio service and became a figure of fun to listeners in England who tuned in (his real name was William Joyce and at the end of the war he was executed for treason); there was Max Miller as a camped-up version of Hitler, Max as an old soldier once sleeping in Anne Boleyn's bed and Max in the army trenches. It was a boisterous variety rampage - though years later Max Miller was to say that taking part in scripted sketches was not his cup of tea; he preferred the stand-up gags he plundered from his blue joke book and there were plenty of customers around who would have agreed with him. All in all the show was a hit with London's wartime theatre-goers and it stayed at the Holborn Empire until the following June. HARRY PARR DAVIES contributed one of the songs for Haw Haw called `Your Company's Requested'. The next show at the Holborn Empire was another of George Black's revues, Apple Sauce. Again the star was Max Miller joined this time by a young singer on the verge of a colossal show business career, Vera Lynn. Apple Sauce was in the middle of a popular run when the Holborn Empire was demolished in a wartime German bombing raid and never re-built.
Come
Out To Play (Phoenix) 1940
Top Of The World (Palladium) 1940
Gangway (Palladium) 1941
Best Bib and Tucker (Palladium) 1942
Happidrome (lyrics) (Palladium) 1942
Big Top (His Majesty’s) 1942
Fine Feathers (Prince of Wales)
1945
The
Shephard Show (1946)
Firth
Shephard, the London impresario who presented many
musicals and revues.
London musicals for which Harry wrote the full
score:
Full Swing (Palace) 1942
The Knight Was Bold (Piccadilly)
1943
The Lisbon Story (Hippodrome)
1943
Jenny Jones (Hippodrome) 1944
Her Excellency (Hippodrome)
1949
Dear Miss Phoebe (Phoenix)
1950
Blue For A Boy (His Majesty’s)
1950
Music was also
contributed to:
‘The Glorious Days’ (Palace) 1953
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FULL SWING (1942)
Full Swing,
with Harry Parr Davies being invited to join George Posford to write
the
music, was created for the lively West-End husband and wife
comedy
partnership, Jack Hulbert and Cicely
Courtneidge.
It opened at
the Palace Theatre
on the 16th April, 1942 and predictably ran for almost a
year guaranteed by the
popularity of the Hulberts.
They played a
married film star team, the same characters who had appeared in
one of their
successes a few years earlier ‘Under Your Hat’, which had music
written by
Vivian Ellis. In Full Swing they became involved in an unlikely
secret
mission, a topical story tracking down state secrets and missing dossiers
on
behalf of the War Office.
Harry
Parr Davies wrote Jack Hulbert’s best song, “You Only Want It Cos You
Haven’t
Got It” and Gabrielle Brune joined the cast with
among other Harry Parr
Davies songs “Music Makes Me Mad” and “Full
Swing”.
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THE KNIGHT WAS BOLD (1943)
Sonnie
Hale, Adele Dixon and Frances L. Sullivan were the stars of this comedy
music
with a plotline not far removed from the American extravaganza ‘A Yankee
At
The Court of King Arthur’. It was the tale of an impecunious Knight of
the
Realm (Sonnie Hale) who dreams he is back in the middle ages — with all
the
likely consequences.
The songs
included:
‘I Go On
My Whistling Way’
‘Where the Rainbow Ends’
‘Whoopee Diddle de Dum de
Dum’.
It opened at the
Piccadilly Theatre on the 1st July, 1943 with little success.
10 performances
later, it closed.
Sonnie
Hale was a very popular comedy and musical revue star, frequently
appearing
in the West End with his sister, Binnie Hale.
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‘The
Lisbon Story’ drew large audiences to the London Hippodrome during
wartime
Britain, when it was presented there by George Black in June 1943. It
became
Harry Parr Davies’ most successful musical and the show which is still
fondly
remembered for introducing the whistling tune, ‘Pedro The Fisherman’.
After it
was first heard it sold an astonishing 50,000 song copies a week and
the record
made by the Vincent Tildsley Mastersingers, who sang it in the
show, was radio’s
most frequent request. ‘Pedro’ remains a family favourite
to this day.
The book
and lyrics were by Harry Parr Davies’ long time collaborator, Harold
Purcell. They contrived a story of a famous
Parisienne star, Gabrielle Girard,
who escapes from the Occupation, colludes
with Nazi officials in neutral
Portugal in an attempt to secure freedom for
an important French scientist and
when her deceit is revealed at the final
curtain, she is executed. It made a
thrilling coup de theatre.
And there was
more to enjoy. Patricia Burke in the black and silver
uniform of a
French drummer boy beating out the inspiring march ‘Follow The
Drum”. A touching
balcony scene while the Portugese guitarist (played by
Ronaldo Mazar) strummed
‘Never Say Goodbye’. The dancing of Halama and
Konarski and of course the
Vincent Tildsley Mastersingers dressed as
Portugese fishermen mending their nets
and delighting everyone with ‘Pedro
The Fisherman’.
Patricia Burke
as the Paris star made her own triumph. Albert Lieven, so often
the Nazi
Officer In British wartime films, fired the fatal shot and in the cast
were
Jack Livesey, Margaret
McGrath and a young Noele Gordon, years later
to
establish her position as the Queen of the TV Soaps playing the motel
owner in
‘Crossroads’.
‘The Lisbon
Story’ was a topical play for the War years. However Harry Parr
Davies’ songs
also struck a chord for people separated by the destructiveness of
the times.
“Someday We Shall Meet Again” and “Never Say Goodbye” had their
enduring
appeal, staying in the ballad singers’ repertoire ever since. Harry
Parr
Davies forecast the song “Happy Days”, given to a minor character, might
be
the smash hit; but it was ‘Pedro The Fisherman” was what the packed
audiences
wanted to hear.
At the
Hippodrome, ‘The Lisbon Story’ ran for 492 performances. It was
revived
shortly afterwards at the Stoll, when Maria
Ejaler led the cast. The National
tour was still running when a film
version was made in 1946. Patricia Burke
re-created her role as Gabrielle
Girard, Albert Lieven was again the Nazi and
the
international tenor, Richard Tauber sang ‘Pedro The
Fisherman’.
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First
staged at the London Hippodrome in 1943, a national tour of HARRY
PARR
DAVIES’ musical ‘The Lisbon Story’ was still playing the
provinces
when British Lion Films released a screen version in
1946.
Speculation
that the show’s wartime popularity would gain the same
appreciation in the
cinema proved a false hope.
The British
stage musical had a bad track record when transferred to the screen
and ‘The
Lisbon Story’ became yet one more casualty. A film industry strapped
for cash
bred low production values and a missed opportunity to mount an
exciting
story using cinematic techniques, resulted in little more than a
photographed
stage performance. The critics were far from enthusiastic and
interest
waned.
Patricia
Burke, the admired star of the Hippodrome theatre production, recreated
her
role as Gabrielle Girard, a Parisian actress forced to flee the
war-time
occupied capital for neutral Portugal. In an attempt to foster the
escape of an
important scientist, Gabrielle feigns collusion with Nazi agents
and when the
trickery is exposed, she is shot.
Walter Rilla
was the sinister Nazi executioner and the film introduced the international
tenor, Richard Tauber to sing the ever popular
‘Pedro The Fisherman’.
All the
HARRY PARR DAVIES songs remained in the film: ‘Someday We Shall Meet
Again’,
‘Never Say Goodbye’, ‘Song Of The Sunrise’ and of course ‘Pedro The
Fisherman’.
There was also a new song, very much in the style of a French
cabaret tune, for
Patricia Burke, called ‘Paris In My
Heart’.
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“Jenny
Jones”, with music by Harry Parr Davies, lyrics by Harold Purcell and a
book
by Ronald Gow (who had written the famous play ‘Love On The Dole’) opened
at
the London Hippodrome on the 2nd October, 1944.
Based on short
stories by the Welsh poet Rhys Davies, it told of Morgan Jones a
Welsh miner
and the father of 18 children wanted to make it 21 and his daughter
who comes
back from London with an operetta that her Welsh valley folk
want to
perform.
Carole Lynne was Dilys and the love of her life Ronald Millar, playing not only
the juvenile lead
but also made responsible for re—shaping the show when its
pre— London tour
met with disapproval. (He went on to become Sir Ronald Millar,
speechwriter
for Baroness Thatcher and the creator of her famous catch—phrase
‘The lady is
not for turning’)
Boasting
costumes by the royal couturiers Norman Hartnell and Digby Morton,and
the
popular Harry Parr Davies songs “Where The Blue Begins” and “Yet Another
Day”
(rescued from an earlier short—lived Palladium revue ‘Top Of The
World’)
Jenny Jones proved far from a major success. The Observer’s critic
was fairly
typical: “the Welsh episodes were as much like the real thing as
the Rhondda is
to Leicester Square”.
What
could not be denied was nightly applause for the Welsh boy soprano, Malcolm
Thomas singing “My Wish” with all the
yearning for the Welsh homeland. It
brought the show to a standstill every
night of its 153 performances.
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HER EXCELLENCY (1949)
Harry Parr
Davies was to join Manning Sherwin, composer of the hugely popular
wartime
song A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square, to write the musical score
for
the Cicely Courtneidge show, Her Excellency. It opened at at the
London
Hippodrome on 21st September, 1949. Once again the popularity of
Cicely
Courtneidge, under the production of Jack Hulbert, her husband, would
guarantee
the show’s success and it ran for 252 performances.
In a story
not all that dissimilar from the Irving Berlin and Ethel Merman show,
Call Me
Madam, Cicely Courtneidge was to play an Ambassador from Britain in a
South
American republic forcing a meat king to sell beef to England rather than
to
the United States.
Thorley Walters was to play the Ambassadors commercial attache chasing
the
meat-farmer’s daughter and Patrick Barr the
American ambassador to the same
republic who would catch the eye of the lady
from England.
It was all but
obligatory that in a Cicely Courtneidge show she would have a
song that
extolled the simple and nostalgic pleasures of an England which
everyone
loved. In ‘Her Excellency’ the song was called ‘Sunday Morning In
England’ a
title which speaks for itself, The music was written by Harry Parr
Davies,
who also contributed two other songs:
“Diplomacy”
and “I Wonder”.
The
lyrics and the book were by Archie Menzies and Max Kester.
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Fred Emney,
Richard Hearne, Eve Lister and Hermene French were the stars of this
small scale
musical, as it was described, which opened at His Majesty’s Theatre
(now Her
Majesty’s Theatre in the Haymarket where Andrew Lloyd Webber’s large
scale
version of The Phantom of the Opera continues its history-making
long-running
success) on the 30th November, 1951. It was Harry Parr Davies’
second musical
that year - earlier in the Autumn ‘Dear Miss Phoebe’ had achieved
a great
success at the Phoenix Theatre.
‘Blue For
A Boy’ had been written to exploit the cigar— smoking, majestically
built
comedy star Fred Emney. Dressed in blue baby rompers, indicating what sort
of
show it was going to be, Emney was the mischievous and large stepson
who
chooses his stepfather’s wedding anniversary to make the poor fellow’s
new wife
aware of his existence.
Once again
Harold Purcell was to add his lyrics to a Harry Parr Davies song and
they
wrote together a title number for ‘Blue For A Boy’ which became a
popular
song of the of the day. Two other songs were:
“Lying
Awake and Dreaming” and “At Last it’s Happened”.
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J.M.Barrie, who created Peter Pan, had written the popular
play ‘Quality Street’
as a romantic story set after the Napoleonic Wars of
the early 19th century which
culminated in the Battle of
Waterloo.
It was
‘Quality Street’ on which Christopher Hassall based his musical play
‘Dear
Miss Phoebe’, for which he also wrote the lyrics and Harry Parr Davies one
of
his most enduring musical scores.
The musical
opened at the Phoenix Theatre on the 13th October, 1950 and after
‘The Lisbon
Story’ it gave Harry Parr Davies his second big success. Peter
Graves and Carol
Raye were the hero and heroine lovers and Gretchen Franklin was
the perky maid who
supplied the comedy relief. Gretchen Franklin had been in the
C.B. Cochran
revue ‘Big Top’ (also with musical contributions from Harry Parr
Davies) and
the ‘Sweet and Low” revues starring Hermione
Gingold. Many years
later she found rather more fame with the character
Ethel who died as the result
of voluntary euthanasia in the BBC TV soap
opera, East-enders.
The story of
Dear Miss Phoebe followed the heartfelt complications and
misunderstandings
when a wounded officer comes home from the wars in France to a
sweetheart he
fails to recognise. The lovelorn heroine, wilting in the
beautiful
empire—line style dresses of the period would have to adopt an
ingenious
disguise before true love can win the day.
One of the
songs, ‘I Leave My Heart In An English Garden’ nostalgic sentiment
for an
England of a by—gone age, became a classic ballad of the musical
theatre
repertoire, sung by all the tenors, John
Hanson, Ivor Emmanuel among them and
recorded
famously by Edmund Hockridge. Two other songs
were ‘Whisper While You
Waltz’ and ‘Spring Will Sing a Song For
you’.
Dear
Miss Phoebe ran for 283 performances.
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“Pedro the
fisherman was always whistling
Such a merry call.
Girls who were passing
by would hear him whistling
By the harbour wall!”
The whistling
tale of a fisherman who sailed away, seeking fortune enough to buy
his
bride-to-be
“a dress, a
cuckoo clock, a saucepan and a ring". was the triumphant hit of
Harry Parr
Davies’ 1963 musical ‘The Lisbon Story’.
Sheet music
sales alone reached an astonishing 50,000 copies a week after it was
first
heard, phenomenal by any standards yet more so in wartime Britain.
Vincent
Tildsley’s Mastersingers, who sang it in the show, made a record
which became
radio’s most frequent request. Another by Gracie Fields took the song round the
world. When
‘The Lisbon Story’ was filmed in 1946, the international tenor
Richard Tauber
chose to sing ‘Pedro the Fisherman’ and it remains a family
favourite to this
day.
Covering a
tricky scene change, with the Mastersingers dressed as Portugese
fishermen
mending their nets, the song added a splash of sunny local colour. As
well as
its catchy melody with a whistling introduction that invited everyone to
join
in, the clear narrative of Harold Purcell’s lyrics, it was a clever
line
halfway through the song which tickled the shows’
audiences.
A four letter
word, no matter how mild, would never be used on the popular stage
at that
time, probably not allowed by the powerful censorship of the
Lord
Chamberlain. So there was a good deal of innocent delight to hear the
father of
Nina, the heroine of the story, persuading her there was a better
marriage
prospect than Pedro, with:
“Though Miguel
is rather fat his vineyard’s doing well. So marry him and let
your dreams of
Pedro go to .
The rhyming
expletive masked by a discreet cough!
Harry
Parr Davies had forecast that the song ‘Happy Days’, given to a
minor
character, played by Noele Gordon, would be the smash hit. The
audiences thought
otherwise and Pedro the Fisherman helped ‘The Lisbon Story’
to run for 492
performances at the London Hippodrome, many more when it was
revived shortly
afterwards at the Stoll and the subsequent national tour
throughout the country.
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LILACS IN THE SPRING (1955)
Dame Anna Neagle won a popular audience for her
Coronation Year romantic pageant
‘The Glorious Years’ staged at the Palace
Theatre, London, in 1952.
With songs by
HARRY PARR DAVIES and a book put together by his ‘Lisbon Story’
collaborator,
Harold Purcell, it was transferred to the screen by Anna Neagle’s
husband the
director, Herbert Wilcox.
The film
portrays the young London actress, played by Anna Neagle, knocked
unconscious
by a bomb explosion during the blitz, who dreams she’s Nell Gwyn and
Queen
Victoria, the inspiration for her own future. (Dame Anna had played both
Nell
Gwyn and Queen Victoria before in much earlier films, notably Queen
Victoria
in the Herbert Wilcox picture, Sixty Glorious Years).
Errol Flynn came from Hollywood to join Anna Neagle as her co-star: David Farrar
would play King Charles, in the Nell
Gwyn episode, and Peter Graves who had
starred in the HARRY PARR DAVIES stage
musical ’Dear Miss Phoebe' in 1950, took
the part of Prince
Albert.
In the
cast list was also the name of Sean Connery, making
his first screen
appearance, if only as an extra, before his swift climb to
international stardom
as James Bond, 007.
This
was probably the last music HARRY PARR DAVIES wrote for film and
stage
musicals. By October, aged only 41, he died at his London
home.
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PENNY PARADISE (1938)
In her
autobiography, Betty Driver remembers the film ‘Penny Paradise’, in 1938,
as
the last Basil Dean made at Ealing Studios. Dean had launched the
screen
careers of Gracie Fields and George Formby and was determined to
create one more
’star' He chose Betty Driver.
She was
establishing herself as a music-hall singer and in London revues and it
was
some years later that Betty Driver enjoyed quite a different success
playing
the loyal barmaid at the Rovers Return, Betty Turpin, in the long
running
Granada Television series, ‘Coronation Street’.
The story
of ‘Penny Paradise’ told of the tug-boat skipper who celebrates
winning on
the football pools, until he finds his mate has forgotten to post the
coupon.
Betty Driver as the skipper’s daughter has to sort out the problems of
the
elusive fortune and her own romantic mistakes at the same time.
‘Penny
Paradise’ was directed by Sir Carol Reed, then
starting work (without his
title) in the film industry before making the
screen classics ‘The Third Man’,
‘Our Man In Havana’ and ‘Oliver’. The
cameraman was also in his early days at
the studios, Ronald Neame, later co— producing’Brief Encounter’ and
directing
‘The Poseidon Adventure’ and ‘The Prime of Miss Jean
Brodie’.
First star
billing in ‘Penny Paradise’ was that of Edmund Gwenn, a Welsh actor
working
in Hollywood and always remembered as Santa Claus in ‘Miracle on
34th
Street’.
The
songs for ‘Penny Paradise’ were by HARRY PARR DAVIES.
Betty Driver sang
‘Stick Out Your Chin’, one of many
breezy,happy tunes the composer wrote and
also ‘You Can’t
Have Your Cake’
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I SEE ICE (1938)
Looking after the
stage props for an ice ballet company, George Formby finds
himself the
blundering inventor of camera which can take pictures concealed
inside a
bow-tie. When he accidentally takes a snapshot of a gang of crooks
in
suspicious circumstances, it is time for George to get his skates on -
with
pratfall results.
Kay Walsh was the girl friend and HARRY PARR DAVIES wrote
two songs for the
film: “Noughts and Crosses” and “In My Little Snapshot
Album”, a ukelele comedy
number with its share of doubtful lyrics and which
remained as one of the
all-time Formby favourites.
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IT’S IN THE AIR (1938)
By consent
this was the best of the George Formby films and the funniest.
In a mix—up
with his sister’s fiancee, George is conscripted as a Royal Air
Force
recruit, not only at war with the flying authorities, but also the
only
passenger in a pilotless plane, looping the loop.
For
the picture HARRY PARR DAVIES wrote two songs - “They Can’t Fool Me” and
both
the words and music for the title song ’It’s In The Air’. A
happy-go-lucky
morale booster a year later when World War 2 broke out, It’s
In The Air became
a breezy marching song not only for the Royal Air Force but
for troops
everywhere as they went into battle.
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WE’RE GOING TO BE RICH (1937)
By 1937
HARRY PARR DAVIES had established a firm reputation as a songwriter for
the
movies, enjoying the sort of popularity that marked him alongside
the
composers writing in Hollywood. The songbook was extensive, at least two
had
grown into all-time favourites: ‘Sing As We Go’ and ‘Smile When You
Say
Goodbye’. A third was on the way, ‘The Sweetest Song In The World’, a
waltz song
this time for the next Gracie Fields 1937 picture, ‘We’re Going To
Be Rich’.
The Gracie Fields films were regarded as money-spinners by now, at least
in
Britain. in the new picture, backed by American dollars and bidding for
more
universal appeal, the production company aimed at something
different.
The star would
have to be the same feisty Lancashire lass and the songs would
come from
HARRY PARR DAVIES. But out went the working class overalls, the cotton
mills
and a cast of familiar British actors; in came mid-Victorian hats
and
costumes, a story located in far flung Australia and South Africa and two
well
known stars from Hollywood, Victor McClagen and Brian
Donlevy.
Gracie Fields
is the Australian settlers sweetheart, with a wayward husband,
Victor
McClagen foiling her triumphant homeward journey to Britain by investing
in a
loss-making South African gold-mine. When he lands up in jail, Oracle is
left
with no option than working with the Johannesburg trekkers, fighting off
a
philandering bar-owner and, by now reunited with the jailbird, sets out
in
search for South African gold.
The film,
according to one writer, was an ‘astonishing success’. And the title
was
prophetic. 20th Century Fox offered Oracle Fields a £200,000 contract
for
four more films, more money than the big stars in Hollywood were being
paid and
joined by HARRY PARR DAVIES as her accompanist she crossed the
Atlantic for a
nationwide American tour.
HARRY
PARR DAVIES’ song ‘The Sweetest Song In The World’, remained in
everyones
memory, a familiar last-waltz-of-the-evening in the dance halls, a
radio and
record request and a long-standing item for the concerts Oracle
Fields took all
over the world.
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Shipyard Sally was the film in which Gracie Fields first introduced the HARRY PARR DAVIES song "Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye". Released in 1939, the film reached Britain's cinemas just days before the outbreak of World War 2. Straight away the song caught everyone's attention and it went on to become a great marching chorus wherever troops went into battle. Gracie Fields made it the sing-a-long finale for her thousands of concerts worldwide and it stayed a giant all-time British favourite along with `Tipperary', `Pack Up Your Troubles' and `Land Of Hope And Glory'.
Shipyard Sally told the story of a couple of failing music hall artists, an uncle and niece variety turn, opening a pub largely for the benefit of unemployed shipyard workers on Clydeside, reflecting the true life post-depression years of an industry that until then was world famous. Money is in short supply, morale is low, but with the heart-of-gold spirit of music hall life Gracie Fields heads to London for a fight against the indifference of the aristocratic shipyard owners. The Union Jack flies as a newly built ocean liner is majestically launched down the slipway.
Gracie Fields would recall this film as her favourite. Sidney Howard, a mournful-eyed popular entertainer of the pre-war music hall and London stage, joined the cast to play the uncle, well meaning but invariably obstructive. Morton Seldon and Norma Varden were the London aristocrats and the film was directed by Gracie's then husband, Monty Banks.
Now largely forgotten the film is sometimes shown on late-night television, though it is more likely to find a prominent place in Gracie Fields retrospectives. What refuses to be lost is HARRY PARR DAVIES' music and Phil Parks lyrics for "Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye
SING AS WE GO (1934)
‘Sing As
We Go’ was a lively, entertaining comedy which underpinned the
growing
popularity of Oracle Fields as a film star; a mixture of north
country music
hall humour and happy-go-lucky sentiment. That was 1934. 70
years on and a
telling sub-text appears, making it all but a documentary of
British life and
hardship in the 30s depression.
J. B. Priestley, whose novels ‘Angel Pavement’ and ‘The Good
Companions’
chronicled the years between the two world wars, wrote the screen
play. The
HARRY PARR DAVIES title song was its heart beat.
Gracie Fields
is the Lancashire mill-girl thrown out of work by an industrial
strike, who
cycles her way to temporary employment among the holiday crowds at
Blackpool.
The laughs, and tears, come as she bungles her way through jobs
as
chambermaid, fortune teller, a singer and as a human spider falling into
the
Tower Circus water tank. The strike ends as Grade leads the mill-girls
back
through the factory gates with the song ‘Sing As We Go’. It was a
defining
image.
Basil Dean
directed ‘Sing As We Go’ and in the cast were John
Loder, Dorothy
Flyson and Stanley Holloway.
HARRY
PARR DAVIES’ title song march become an anthem for the unemployed. As
a
schoolboy in Neath, South Wales he had written an end-of-term musical with
‘Sing
As We Go’ in the score. Spruced up for Gracie Fields the song’s success
cemented
their relationship as performer and accompanist and its brass band
swagger
demands it is heard as much today as in 1934.
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PATRICIA BURKE. — the star of Harry Parr Davies’ most successful musical, ‘The Lisbon Story’. At the start of her career she had been a chorus girl in the Gertrude Lawrence musical Nymph Errant. Revues and London musicals made her one of the most popular young stars of the West End theatre “Hide and Seek”, “Up and Doing” and the Cochran revue “Big Top” when she sang the Harry Parr Davies number ‘When I Hear Music’. It was then she was chosen to be the leading lady of ‘The Lisbon Story’, playing Gabrielle Girard , a formidable star of the French theatre who flees wartime Paris only to find the long arm of Nazi persecution in a neutral country.
She was widely admired, yet it seemed to trigger a change of career when after that, with some minor exceptions, she concentrated on a more dramatic theatre. Benn Levy’s comedy ‘Clutterbuck’, Katherine in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at the Old Vic (one critic wrote he had never heard Shakespeare more beautifully spoken) and eventually in such revivals as “Mrs Dot” and ”Trelawney of The Wells”. In ‘The Lisbon Story’ she sang two of Harry Parr Davies’ more famous songs ‘Someday We Shall Meet Again’ and ‘Never Say Goodbye’.
RONALD MILLAR —
an actor and writer whose career had started in plays like 'War And Peace’ and
’Mr. Boifry’ He had also played revue and musicals which led to
the Harry
Parr Davies show Jenny Jones. He was to be given the part of the young
hero
but he also became responsible for re—shaping the production when it met
with
some disapproval on its pre—London tour. That seemed to have developed
his
writing career and he went on to offer plays ’Frieda’, ‘Waiting For
Gillian’,
‘The Bride and the Bachelor’ and the hugely popular musical based
on the lives
of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret Browning which he called
‘Robert and
Elizabeth’. What brought him a different sort of fame was his
time as a
speechwriter for Baroness Thatcher during her period as Prime
Minister. He it
was who gave her the famous line ‘The lady is not for
turning’.
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CAROLE LYNNE —
who was to take a leading role in the Harry Parr Davies’ musical
‘Jenny
Jones’ at the London Hippodrome in 1944. She had been in the revues
‘Black
and Blue’ , ‘Black Velvet’, also at the Hippodrome and ‘Rise Above
It’.
Richard Tauber chose her as his leading lady In his musical romance
‘Old
Chelsea’
as Mary Fenton, a role which was her favourite. She became
Lady Delfont,
marrying the well known London impresario Bernard
Delfont.
ANNE
ZIEGLER and WEBSTER
BOOTH- the wel1 loved husband and wife
singing partnership who had an immense following on the stage, on radio and In
the concert hall. She had sung in musical comedies , he had been with the D’oyly
Carte company and at Covent Garden, as well as being a long established oratorio
singer. Their duets from the best loved musicals and films of an earlier age
gave them an enduring success. Kenneth Leslie Smith wrote the music for their
musical play “Sweet Yesterday” at the Adelphi in 1945 and they had been in the
George Black revue ‘Gangway’, at the Palladium, singing the Harry Parr Davies
song 'My Paradise'. Their popularity in
the Concert Hall was to span many years until they set up home for a time in
South Africa.
GEORGE FORMBY -
the toothy grin and the ukelele said it all about the popular
singing
comedian, who for many years was probably not only the Box Office
favourite
of film and music hall audiences but also the highest paid in Britain.
Yet he
had started life, the son of a music hall comic with the same name, as
a
jockey, once weighing in at 3st 13 lbs. He never won a big race, but as
a
variety artist the rewards of large audiences and acclaim stayed with
him
throughout his life. He was a great favourite with the Royal Family and
among
his famous songs were ‘A Little Stick of Blackpool Rock’, ‘When I’m
Cleaning
Windows’ and the song Harry Parr Davies wrote for his film “It’s In
The Air” .
His musical Zip Goes A Million played with enormous success at the
Palace
Theatre.
Simultaneously
with the popular Grade Fields films of the 1930's, George Formby
was making a
succession of near slapstick screen comedies, sometimes two a
year.
George Formby,
with his cheeky grin and his ukelele songs, had become a
knock-out,
top-of-the-bill music hail entertainer. Everyone wanted to see him:
the
London Palladium, his native North Country, Royalty, troop concerts;
he’d
made radio his own and his records sold in l000's. Small wonder the
earnings
were huge.
So was the
demand to see George Formby in the cinema. Ealing Studios put him
under
long-term contract and by 1936, alongside Gracie Fields - though they
never
appeared together - he had achieved top position as a British
box-office
favourite.
HARRY PARR
DAVIES wrote his first song for George Formby, ‘Your Way Is My Way’,
in 1935.
They became great friends and the composer went on to write for many of
the
Formby films, including
‘No Limits’
1935
‘Keep Your Seats Please’ 1936
‘I See Ice’ 1938
‘It’s In The Air’
1938
Bell Bottom George’ 1944
ADELE DIXON - a
glamorous, talented actress and singer whose career spanned the
entire
spectrum of the theatre. Chekov, pantomime as principal boy, the Old
Vic,
musical comedy and revue, she appeared in many of the best known
productions
between the 20’s and 50’s. She is widely remembered as the singer
on the opening
night of the BBC Television Service with the song “Here’s
Looking At You”. Adele
Dixon was the star of the Harry Parr Davies musical
‘The Knight Was Bold’at the
Piccadilly Theatre in 1943.
GEORGE BLACK -
impresario. A pioneer of the cinema business in Britain who
helped to
establish the first permanent Picture Houses. His success led him to
theatre
management and he became the figurehead of Moss Empires who controlled
many
West End Theatres and others all over the country. He introduced the
Crazy
Gang to the Palladium in London and staged many successful musicals and
revues
at the London Hippodrome. Harry Parr Davies wrote music for the George
Black
shows: ‘Black Velvet’, ‘Top of the
World’, ‘The
Lisbon Story' and ‘Jenny
Jones’.
They were great friends and George Black had future plans for
their working
relationship, when he died in 1945.
SONNIE HALE -
the chorus boy who became a big West End star. He appeared in the C.B.Cochran
revues of the 20s and 30s ‘This Year of Grace’ and ‘Wake Up And
Dream: He was
frequently teamed with his sister, Binnie, Hale and also Jessie
Matthews in
such shows as Hold My Hand. He was also a popular pantomime dame.
Sonnie Hale
was in two shows with music by Harry Parr Davies: ‘Come Out To Play’
at the
Phoenix in 1940 and in “The Knight Was Bold” at the Piccadilly Theatre
in
1943.
MARIE BURKE - she
had been married to a well known, international tenor Tom
Burke and started
her career in Australia and South Africa. In London her first
appearance
became a sensation when she played Julie, the half caste actress in
Showboat,
the Paul Robeson production at Drury Lane. Other musicals followed
after that
— Waltzes From Vienna, the Student Prince and she was a well known
principal
boy. She developed her career as a dramatic actress in plays like Love
In
Idleness and, at the Old Vic, Major Barbara. She was the mother of
Patricia
Burke. She sang the Harry Parr Davies ‘I Shall Always Remember’ in
‘The Shephard
Show’ at the Princes Theatre in 1946.
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PAT KIRKWOOD -
was described as being the definition of the word Glamour. With a silver voice,
her striking good looks and a personality with warmth to draw an
audience
across the footlights, she was among the most popular and sought after
young
stars of musicals and revues of the late 1930’s and the three
succeeding
decades. The drudgery of an early touring life in the Music Hall
and pantomimes
had refined a talent that made a sensational impact on the
West End stage. She
sang the Cole Porter number ‘My Heart Belongs To Daddy’
in the ‘Black Velvet’
revue at the Hippodrome (which also had songs by Harry
Parr Davies) and her
immediate appeal led to some of the best known musicals
of the following years:
‘Top Of The World” (with more songs by Harry Parr
Davies) at the London
Palladium, “Let’s Face It” (by Cole Porter) , “Peter
Pan”, “Wonderful Town” (by
Leonard Bernstein) and Noel Coward’s ‘Ace of
Clubs. Later she would tour in a
revival of Pal Joey, as well as appearing in
plays like ‘Hay Fever’ and ‘The
Constant Wife’
Her recently published autobiography “The Time Of My Life” vividly
creates a
life professionally devoted to remaining a
star.
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DAME
ANNA NEAGLE - acclaimed and frequently
voted Britain’s best loved film star and won a place for herself in the Guiness
Book of Records for her over 2,000
performances in the musical ‘Charlie
Girl’. Discovered as a chorus dancer by
Jack Buchanan in his musical ‘Stand
Up And Sing’, it was when she married the
film director, Herbert Wilcox that
her career was propelled into world stardom.
Together they made a succession
of popular films : Sixty Glorious Years (as
Queen Victoria), “They Flew
Alone” (as Amy Johnson), and her partnership with
Michael Wilding in a series
of romantic comedies set in London “Spring In Park
Lane” and “Piccadilly
Incident' just two of them. In “Odette” she portrayed the
life of the World
War II heroine Odette Churchill.
Harry Parr
Davies wrote the
songs for one more ‘London’ film, ”Maytime In Mayfair” and
the Coronation Year
stage show at the Palace Theatre ‘The Glorious
Years’.
Dame Anna
Neagle
PETER GRAVES -
tall, distinguished, his bearing frequently meant he played
aristocrats,
high—ranking military men and royalty, usually with a touch of
romance and
compassion. He was among those favoured few who formed what was
virtually a
repertory company for the musicals of Ivor Novello: ‘Glamorous
Night,’ ‘Crest
of the Wave’, ’The Dancing Years’ and perhaps notably in ‘Arc de
Triomphe’.
He had also played Count Danilo many times in revivals of the Lehar
operetta
‘The Merry Widow’ and would later appear in plays partnering his
wife,
Vanessa Lee (a Novello leading lady). In the Harry Parr Davies musical
‘Dear
Miss Phoebe’ he was cast as the wounded hero home from the Napoleonic
Wars.
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JACK BUCHANAN -
tall, dashing, debonair he was the universally loved matinee
idol of the
London theatre during the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s; however the
soubriquet
undermined his marvellous talent as a dancer, singer, actor, producer
and
stage choreographer. He appeared In some of the most well known
productions
of the period: “That’s A Good Girl”, “This’ll Make You Whistle”,
“Sunny”,
“Castle In The Air” and he made a film of the musical “Goodnight
Vienna” when
his recording of the title song became an established favourite.
In 1953 his
Hollywood appearance with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in “The
Band Wagon”
found him yet another generation of followers. In the Prince of
Wales 1945 revue
‘Fine Feathers’ he sang the Harry Parr Davies song “Sweet
Virginia”.
FRED EMNEY - born at
the beginning of the century, the son of a well known music
hall comedian, be
started his career as a page boy in an early play called
‘Romance’ . But he
was to develop both his style and his girth as a much loved
variety comedian.
In spite of his very Englishness in appearance and humour he
enjoyed 12 years
as a favourite with theatre audiences in America. In London
during the 1940's
he appeared in Starlight Roof with Vic Oliver , Pat Kirkwood
and Julie
Andrews at the Hippodrome and a musical which aptly described him,
“Big Boy”.
He joined Richard Hearne for the Harry Parr Davies musical ‘Blue For
A Boy’
at His Majesty’s Theatre in 1950.
RICHARD HEARNE -
a comedian who started his career as a circus acrobat and he was to be well
known in variety and revue for his physically visual comedy. He
was a popular
pantomime dame and in London appeared in such shows as “Panama
Hattie (by
Cole Porter), “Shephards Pie” and “Running Riot”. On television he
enjoyed a
countrywide children’s audience as “Mr. Pastry”. He was in the Harry
Parr
Davies musical “Blue For A Boy”.
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Other Sites of Interest:
http://www.harryparrdavies.com
http://www.harryparrdavies.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.graciefields.freeserve.co.uk