We are friends of Dorothy

Dorothy Squires was, quite simply, one of the most popular singing stars of the 1940s – a charismatic and electrifying stage performer who, thanks to her enduring musical partnership with the respected songwriter and bandleader Billy Reid, topped theatre bills throughout Britain, and whose many recordings included such smash hits as The Gipsy, I’ll Close My Eyes, It’s A Pity To Say Goodnight, I’m Walking Behind You, A Tree In The Meadow, This Is My Mother’s Day and Safe In My Arms.

Later, in the 1950s, when Dorothy was married to the young up-and-coming actor Roger Moore, she moved to the United States to help further his career and became one of the first British recording artists and performers to work there. In the 1960s Dorothy continued to have hit recordings, including Say It With Flowers and For Once In My Life, and the 1970s were notable for her sell-out concerts at such venues as the London Palladium, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Royal Albert Hall and The Talk Of The Town nightclub. The hits also continued, thanks to her recordings of Till and My Way. Even in the 1980s Dorothy was still performing and recording (most notably, releasing a powerful version of I Am What I Am, from the stage show La Cage Aux Folles). Her last live show was at the Brighton Dome in March 1990, almost 54 years after she had made her recording debut.

And, being the camp queens we are, Madam Arcati and I simply shrieked in unison "we must get a ticket!" when we found out that none other than one of our fave cabaret artist(e)s (Mr/Ms) Al Pillay was appearing in a new show Dorothy Squires: Mrs Roger Moore at the White Bear Theatre pub in Kennington. So off we went last night...

What an amazing performance! We have always admired Al Pillay and his/her particular brand of camp, but who would have thought that a towering Anglo-Indian performer such as he/she could encapsulate the spirit, chutzpah and balls of the tiny, Welsh whirlwind that was Dorothy Squires?

From the outset he had the audience (who, in such a tiny theatre, were practically sniffing his marabou) transfixed. The Camarthen accent, the perfect rendition of Dot's strident early "theme tune" The Gipsy, the guts it took to run away from it all as a young naive lass to become a singer with a big band, the triumphs and the tragedies - he/she got them all exactly right.



Dot's fame and fortune was vicarious, seemingly never destined to be secure. Her place at the centre of the fly-by-night jet-set showbiz world ("The party doesn't start till Dottie arrives") seemed supreme at the peak of her commercial success (selling out the London Palladium, Vegas, successive chart-toppers), but - and it was a big "but" - there were very few people who stuck around when times got tough; several stuck their knives in for good measure ("Barbara Cartland? Cunt!"). Not least among these were her abusive first partner Billy Read (who she eventually left) and (of course) Dot's true love Roger Moore (who left her, distraught).



Mr Pillay (and his admirable supporting cast of - very attractive - boys, playing every other role) managed to portray this incredible life with all its incandescent, excoriating bitterness and over-the-top histrionics that Dottie lived - to the full.

Drink problems, breakdowns, arrests, scurrilous headlines, lawsuits, bankruptcy, the burning down of one house and the loss of another in a flood - the lady's resilience in surviving it all was astonishing! And when Mr Pillay sang For Once In My Life, Say It With Flowers and, best of all, My Way, it was from the heart - not just of him as the performer, but of Miss Squires herself.

A grade "A" performance, rightly deserving of the standing ovation he received from us and the rest of the audience (Mr David Hoyle included). Let us hope this splendid show gets all the accolades and awards it so richly deserves when the company takes it to the Edinburgh Festival!

And now the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend I'll say it clear
I'll state my case of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I travelled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Regrets I've had a few
But then again too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption

I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Yes there were times I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out, I faced it all
And I stood tall and did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now as tears subside
I find it all so amusing

To think I did all that
And may I say not in a shy way
Oh no, oh no, not me
I did it my way

For what is a man what has he got
If not himself then he has not
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way!



We say "cheers" to you, Dottie! And to you, Al Pillay!

Here's the legendary Miss Dorothy Squires herself talking about the song of her life:

Dorothy Squires talking about the song My Way

And here she is singing her classic Say It With Flowers (with Russ Conway on piano):

Dorothy Squires - Say it with Flowers

Dorothy Squires: Mrs Roger Moore (a musical tribute by Richard Stirling) is at the White Bear Theatre until Saturday 16th June 2012.

The Wonderful World of Al Pillay