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A New Book is Published!

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Updated 25th April 2023 post book publication

CAA Member Tony Lidington’s book on the history of pierrot troupes and concert parties was published by Routledge at the end of September 2022.

This volume is the first authoritative historical textbook to look at the origins, development and evolution of seaside pierrot troupes and concert parties and their popular performance heritage.

It will provide, for the first time, a definition of the pierrot troupe and its evolution from the roots of European popular traditions such as the commedia dell’arte and minstrelsy, to links between music hall and contemporary popular culture. Tony Lidington will explore how pierrot troupes grew from a single idea into a major international cultural industry and how it boosted morale and national identity during the two World Wars, before sublimating into contemporary pop music and comedy. Tony’s continuing practice as research provides an experiential framework for the historical and ethnographic analysis of the form.

 

Here’s the link where more information can also be found:

https://www.routledge.com/Dont-Forget-The-Pierrots-The-Complete-History-of-British-Pierrot/Lidington/p/book/9780367489182

Tina May 1961-2022

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Top English Jazz Vocalist and CAA member Tina May passed away as a result of a brain tumour on 26th March 2022. Her bubbly personality and great humour backed up by a truly brilliant and well informed mind, meant It was always a joy to be in her company.

She was just 60 and was up there with the greatest jazz singers this country has produced. As the Observer critic Dave Gelly wrote in 2014, “Tina can sing a straight melody such as ‘I’m Through With Love’ and make it open like a flower.”

Gloucester born, she was the younger daughter of Daphne, a cosmetics company manager and Harry May, a former professional footballer, who went on to be a Manager in the engineering industry. Both parents were musical and amateur pianists and Tina’s early influence was Fat’s Waller. 

Tina attended Cheltenham Ladies College and went on to study French at University College Cardiff. The course involved Tina spending a year in Paris, where she started singing in Parisian Jazz clubs. In Paris she met Rory Bremner who became a leading impressionist and satirist.

 She formed a performing duo with Rory which saw them appear at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was also a founding member of the Back Door Theatre Company in Cardiff. Tina sang with a Latin American Band and played the Bath Festival in 1990. 

Tina May
Tina May 1961-2022

She moved to London and quickly became an in demand singer on the jazz scene recording for the Indie 33 Jazz label. In 1992 the first of several albums ‘Never Let Me Go’ was released and she built up a large fan base. 

She was a regular performer at Ronnie Scotts Club. At that time she worked closely with pianist Ray Bryant with whom she recorded and became an accomplished lyricist, writing witty and stylish verses to accompany his brilliant playing. 

Tina later formed a close association with pianist Nikki Iles who regularly played for her. In 2000 she made the acclaimed album ‘Tina May Live in Paris,’ followed by ‘Tina May sings Piaf.’ Tina was fluent in French and made bilingual tours of France. She always showed utmost respect for a lyric, yet interpreted songs in her own unique style to perfection. Her voice literally was another instrument.

A gifted music educator, Tina was widely respected at the Royal Academy of Music, Birmingham Consevatoire and the Royal Welsh College of Music.

In 1989 she married drummer Clark Tracey and they had a son Ben and daughter Gemma. They later divorced and, at the time of her death, Tina’s partner of nearly three years was saxophonist Simon Spillett.

by Chris Hare

Saxophonist Simon Spillett was Tina May’s partner for nearly three years. A month or so after her death he published this so poignant piece which, with his permission, we reproduce here.

Simon Spillett
Simon Spillett

Winchester Services, London-bound, the dying minutes of Friday night. I’m heading back after a lovely gig with my quartet in Poole. For two hours music made sense of things, putting all else on hold. I’m sat here eating an over chilled sandwich  accompanied by the distant noise of Beyonce piped from an overhead speaker and the up close scraping of chairs on the floor of Costa Coffee, as the bored night staff mop and sweep their way into Saturday. Save for them, I’m the only person in the place. It’s hardly ‘One For My Baby’ territory, especially as the thumping, pumping, invasive background music suddenly seems to have made a decibel leap of such exponential levels that I’m beginning to feel as if I’ve been marooned in a dystopian disco.

Time was Winchester distinguished itself by being one of the few service stops which had no canned music. Indeed not so very long ago I remember stopping on a way home from a gig with a band I was in with the late John Critchinson, Dave Green, Henry Lowther and Trevor Tomkins. One by one they appeared through the automatic sliding doors, each of us sharing the same bright idea of coffee and cake. There I sat, awed in such company, listening to jazz folklore being bandied about by those who were there. There was nothing but conversation, laughter and love around the table that night.

But now, amid the combined din of dragged furniture and droning divas, I’m sitting alone, wondering idly how many times I’ve been in this scenario. I daren’t even hazard a guess but I’d imagine it might add up to several thousand hours of killed time, an attrition rate you could measure out in unsuitable food stuffs, coffee of wildly varied quality and melancholy by the mile. I don’t think I’ve ever truly got used to it but now, feeling like I’ve been dunked into cold water after  the reassuring warmth of a genuine home life, there’s something oddly magnetic about it, the sort of ‘better the devil you know’ familiarity you might cling to when all else spirals away out of control.

I think of people like John Critch, with whom I gigged about in all sorts of places as we criss-crossed these islands for thirteen years. We’d sit in countless godforsaken spots like this and share some deep talk, with John usually being the kind of font of wisdom that trickled rather than gushed. And I think of my Dad too, of how I’d tell him the morning after a gig where I’d been and what I’d done. ‘I go to bed and think where are you tonight,’ he used to say. ‘I think of you driving through the night. I don’t know how you do it.’

And tonight, as I sit here, lukewarm coffee and strip-lit ceiling combining to keep me wide awake I think of Tina. How I wish I could go home to her again, even just once. I wouldn’t be lingering here if I could, wouldn’t waste a moment where I needn’t be. I’d know precisely where my heart lay. Still, this is all just late-night rumination, facts and fantasy formulating together to help kill yet another hour. A friend told me I should take things hour by hour, sage advice I know, but some hours are easier to handle than others. Those like tonight seem to stretch on forever. Maybe best to just crack on after all?

Frank Williams 1931-2022

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English Actor and CAA member Frank John Williams passed away on 26th June 2022. He was six days short of his 91st Birthday.

Edgware born, Frank was an only child. He began his career in rep at the Watford Palace Theatre which was then being run by a young Jimmy Perry, who went on to create Dad’s Army. This was the early days of Television, a performing medium that most attracted Frank. 

He made several TV appearances in the early 1950s and landed the part of Captain Pocket in the ‘Army Game’, a show in which he made 116 appearances. 

His first film role was as an uncredited extra in ‘The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan’ in 1953. His first notable role was in 1956 in the film ‘The Extra Day.’ He went on to appear in three films with Norman Wisdom; ‘The Square Peg’ (1958); ‘The Bulldog Breed’ (1960), and ‘A Stitch in Time’ (1963). Throughout this period he appeared in films such as ‘Inn for Trouble’ (1960), ‘Just for Fun’ (1963), ‘Hide and Seek’ (1964), ‘Headline Hunters’ (1968).

In the 1970s he appeared in ‘One of our Dinosaurs is Missing’ (1975), ‘Jabberwocky’ (1977), ‘What’s Up Nurse?’ (1977) ‘Oh, Heavenly Dog’ (1980). He also received acclaim for a TV role in ‘Diary of a Young Man’ (1964) Directed by Ken Loach. Often cast as a member of the clergy, Frank also appeared in ‘You Rang M’Lord,’ ‘Hi De Hi,’ ‘The Worker,’ ‘All Gas and Gaiters’ and ‘Vanity Fair.’

However he became a national treasure and was best known for playing Reverend Timothy Farthing in TV’s ‘Dad’s Army’ (1969 – 1977). He appeared in the Dad’s Army feature film and also had a cameo in the remake in 2016. In 1993 he co-founded with Bill Pertwee the Dad’s Army Appreciation Society. Frank described working on Dad’s Army as the happiest time of his professional life.

Frank Williams was a lifetime Christian and a patron of Veneration, a charity established to prevent the social isolation of the elderly.

by Chris Hare

Barry Cryer 1935-2022

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Barry with Kay Carman and CAA member and Tiller Girl Rosalie Kirkman

Our much loved Patron Barry Cryer passed away on 26th January 2022. He had presented his own hilarious show at the club only two months before.

Barry was born in Leeds on 23rd March 1935 to John Cryer an accountant and his wife Jean. Barry’s father died when he was just five years old. A Grammar School boy, Barry went on to study English Literature at Leeds University during which time he became a writer for Leeds based Proscenium Players.

After appearing in the university revue, Barry was offered a week’s work at the Leeds City Varieties Theatre, home of the Good Old Days and Barry left university to go into show business full time. After impressing impresario Vivian Van Damm, Barry Cryer began as the bottom billing act at the Windmill Theatre.

Barry Cryer at the CAA 2021
Barry Cryer on-stage at the CAA 2021

Barry suffered from eczema and was hospitalised eight times in twelve years. He was released from his Windmill Theatre contract and decided that a performing career was not ideal because of his skin condition, so focused on writing. Barry joined the cast of Expresso Bongo in 1957 in which he recorded the song ‘The Purple People Eater.’ Barry Cryer’s first writing credits were four sketches for the Jimmy Logan Show.

Barry became head writer with an occasional stage role for Danny La Rue’s London night club, where he was spotted by David Frost. This led to Barry joining the writing team on ‘A Degree of Frost’ which also included John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman. David Frost used Barry on several shows which established Barry as a top comedy writer by the 1970s.

Barry Cryer is shown serving wine in the iconic Four Yorkshiremen sketch in ‘At Last the 1948 Show.’ He enjoyed a long partnership with Graham Chapman. Together they wrote about 50 TV Shows including ‘Doctor In The House’ (1969-70) and several for Ronnie Corbett including ‘No, That’s Me Over Here’ (1968-70) and ‘The Prince of Denmark’ (1974). With other writers he contributed to ‘The Ronnie Corbett Show’ (1987) and ‘The Two Ronnies’ (1971-87).

Barry with Kay Carman and CAA member and Tiller Girl Rosalie Kirkman
Barry with Kay Carman and CAA member and Tiller Girl Rosalie Kirkman

Barry always preferred to write in partnership. His regular partner through the 1970s was John Junkin. Barry still enjoyed performing, appearing with Tim Brooke –Taylor and Junkin in the BBC Radio series ‘Hello Cheeky.’ He also appeared on TV in ‘The Steam Video Company’ and hosted the ITV comedy panel game ‘Joker’s Wild’ (1969-74). He went on to make cameo appearances with the Rutles and Kenny Everett.

Barry toured with Willie Rushton in ‘Two Old Farts in the Night’ and joined the popular long running BBC radio comedy programme ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue ‘ which began in 1972 and is still running today. In 1995 he toured the UK with ‘Barry Cryer-the first Farewell Tour.’ He followed that up in 2008 touring with Colin Sell in ‘Barry Cryer-Still Alive.’ He was the subject of ‘This Is Your life’ in 1995 and was awarded the OBE in 2001 for services to comedy drama.

Barry married singer and dancer Theresa Donovan (known as Terry) in 1962. They had four children, three sons and a daughter and one grandchild. His contribution to British comedy was truly outstanding and those of us in the full house at the CAA who saw what must have been one of his last performances, will cherish the memory for always.

by Chris Hare

Revue of Barry’s recent appearance at the club on November 2nd 2021

Ruth Silvestre 1930-2022

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Ruth Silvestre

We are sad to report the death of Ruth Silvestre, aged 92. An enthusiastic and active member of the CAA for many years, she served on the committee.

Born in Basingstoke, her mother, who had worked in service as a children’s nanny, would sing Ruth to sleep with a repertoire of music hall songs; Polly Wolly Doodle and Lily of Laguna being two favourites.

The fortune to find a good music teacher at secondary school inspired Ruth to sing and music became “as essential as breathing”. Moving to London to train as a teacher at Goldsmiths she joined dramatic societies and singing groups, enjoying parts in a variety of small productions and then in a professional pantomime one Christmas holiday. After graduating she continued singing lessons with the classically trained opera singer turned teacher, Catherine Rosser. The ensuing friendship continued for many years, Ruth eventually moving Catherine (and her Steinway Baby Grand) into the top floor of her house in Clapham.

An initial spot at Balsam’s restaurant in Mayfair (twenty minutes at 10pm) paved the way to a robust career as a cabaret artist with regular appearances in London at the Dorchester, the Cafe Royal and the Grosvenor House. Endlessly developing her craft and with a fine ear for accent and language she not only could sing Puccini fluently in Italian, but also had a repertoire of French, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Hungarian songs and was adept at holding an audience in the palm of her hand as she skilfully adapted her act to each occasion.

Ruth also appeared on screen and in theatre with parts in Kismet at the Stoll Theatre, Flower Drum Song at the Palace and Man of La Mancha at the Piccadilly. She took over the lead role of Aldonza from Joan Deiner, realising her ambition to see her name up in lights in London’s West End.

Away from the limelight Ruth was generous with her time and talents and she liked to keep busy. As well as singing for friends and family at parties, weddings and ceremonies, she joined Xenia Field’s ‘Old Lags’ prison entertainers, was a trustee of the Cara Trust (founded in 1988 by her cousin, Father David Randall) and also gave home schooling to a succession of troubled children who had fallen outside the educational system.

With her husband, Michael Grater, she bought and restored an old farmhouse in the South West of France where long summers were shared with an eclectic mix of family and friends and locals. Actors, artists, choreographers, directors, farmers, craftsmen, vicars and nuns would come together to share food, wine, music and good conversation. Ruth and her friends effortlessly supplied wholesome food from the tiny rustic kitchen and Mike making sure that everyone’s glasses were full. Diaries from this adventure led to the writing and publication of an acclaimed series of books; the Sunflower Trilogy.

In her later years she found comfort in music and worship at Southwark Cathedral and the Church of the Holy Spirit in Clapham, and was an enthusiastic member of MJ Parazino’s South London Choir. With a wide circle of friends she enjoyed exercise classes, French conversation meetings, book clubs and women’s groups.

In April 2020 she celebrated her 90th birthday at the CAA club with a cabaret dinner for family and friends, giving a robust performance of “Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner”. Her voice was strong and clear, her love for her craft, her family and all of her friends undiminished.