Showing posts with label Cilla Black. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cilla Black. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 February 2023

A holiday of extremes

Sparklers on a pizza at Palm 5 for The Madam's birthday!

Sigh.

We're back, in full recovery mode after a fabulous week in Benalmadena Costa for M. Arcati's birthday. Definitely a week of contrasts - we went from three days of this...

...to this, overnight!

Of course, despite the apocalyptic weather that could have otherwise put a damper on proceedings, we were undeterred. Our fave beach bar Palm 5 (and just about everything else along the paseo) may have been closed for two days, but we sniffed out the plucky couple of places that did decide to open and ate (very well), drank and made merry, as is our wont.

Special mention must go to a new discovery [to us, anyhow; it was always there, and always looked a bit forbidding, but has had a makeover and evolved into a very decent restaurant, indeed], Beny's:


Yes, that's us (around 10 seconds in), centre stage as ever!

Not content with that, of course (after the obligatory siesta) we ventured out to sample the nightlife in the gay bars in La Nogalera in Torremolinos every night as well:


Causing mayhem wherever we go!

All in all, it was a faboo and much deserved break, indeed!

...But what did we miss while we were away?

The biggest (and most horrific) news was of course the 30,000 deaths and devastation left behind by the earthquake on the Turkey-Syria border; other items occupying the headlines included (one year on) the continuing Ukrainian war, the scandal over that suspicious loan to Boris Johnson and the role played by the current BBC chairman, continued paranoia about China, more nasty violence in Israel, and - shock! horror! - Amsterdam is clamping down on marijuana usage in public places.

We missed celebrating the centenary of the utterly faboo Dora Bryan:

...(and Franco Zeffirelli's today) and the 75th birthday of Alice Cooper (as well as the birthdays of Hylda Baker, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Lana Turner, Mamie Van Doren, Carmen Miranda, Ida Lupino, Leontyne Price, Dame Mary Quant, Holly Johnson and heartthrob Cristiano Ronaldo).

We also missed marking the very sad departure of the peerless Mr Burt Bacharach for Fabulon [see my previous tributes here, here and (by association) here], and so, by way of a tribute, here is one of my personal faves written by the maestro:

But did we bring anything back with us for your delectation? I hear you ask, dear reader.

Of course we did! The remarkable and [ahem!] sylph-like Soraya and her anthem to that "Little-Holland-by-the-Mediterranean", Carihuela!

Are we glad to be back?

NO!!

Monday, 3 October 2022

I've got a little cat, and I'm very fond of that

From Victoria to Elizabeth: The Songs Go On! 86 Glorious Years of London's Famous Players' Theatre - the title says it all, really! Saturday's matinee show at the quaint Phoenix Artists Club by Britain's longest-serving Music Hall troupe was a brilliantly entertaining affair, and did indeed feature a vast range of songs from the centuries spanning both Queens' reigns; such standards as My Old Man Said Follow the Van, Hold Your Hand Out You Naughty Boy, A Little of What You Fancy (Does You Good), There's Something About a Sailor, Joshua, Joshua, On Mother Kelly's Doorstep, Dear Old Pals, Give Me The Moonlight, A Bird in a Gilded Cage and (the hilariously-performed) Oh, Oh, Antonio to name but a few, taking in Gilbert & Sullivan and Sandy Wilson for good measure, and we loved it.

We sang our hearts out, applauded like mad and congratulated the troupers after the event - including their new Honorary Vice President (the former "boy wonder of the piano") Mr Bobby Crush!

Host (and Chairman of the Players) Lee Taylor held proceedings together with his narratives about the long history of the Players Theatre Company - including the stars who launched their careers in the troupe, such as Clive Dunn, Peter Ustinov and Hattie Jacques, and the fact that that worldwide smash musical The Boy Friend began as a commission by the Players.

It was of course long-serving Players' Theatre stalwart Miss Jan Hunt who really "stole the show" - especially her brilliant Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow:

She, and the whole company, deserve glowing praise (yet again!) for giving us such a brilliant show.

Diverting somewhat (but not too far) away from the weekend's jolly japes, this being a Tacky Music Monday I think you too, dear reader, deserve nothing less than a good old-fashioned sing-a-long to lift the spirits! And here are some classics for you, starting with the very number Miss Hunt sang, performed here by a lady whose roots were also in Music Hall before she went on to bigger and brighter things:

From the biopic of the greatest Music Hall artiste of them all:

Quite a "surprise, surprise" indeed, from Cilla:

And to finish, a marvellous medley of mirth, merriment and musical mellifluousness (Oooh!):

Have a good week, “raise the roof — and to hell with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway!” *

[* read more about that in the New York Times, of all places]

Monday, 29 November 2021

Sondheim of the Day - Gypsy

Probably one of my favourite musicals of all time, the semi-autobiographical tale of a timid Vaudeville-player-turned-stripping-superstar and her domineering mother, Gypsy was an extremely unlikely storyline for a musical way back in 1959 [hardly the most enlightened of times] - yet, with its book (loosely based on Gypsy Rose Lee's salacious memoirs) by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and the imperious presence of the musical sensation Ethel Merman as its "Mama Rose", it was a huge success.

In a mirror of the plot of overbearing stage mother trying to dominate her children and live her dreams of stardom vicariously through them, it was in fact Miss Merman who pushed the show to be produced in the first place - yet, however, to her eternal chagrin she lost out to Rosalind Russell when it came to casting the film adaptation!

I love Gypsy because of its brash campery, and its plethora of end-of-the-evening arm-stretch-gesturing belt-em-out numbers - and so, Curtain up! Light the lights! Let's start with an unbeatable one:

[Love this - but I'm also rather fond of the Angela Lansbury version]

Needless to say, "our gang" went along en masse to see the 2015 West End revival, starring Imelda Staunton, which was utterly phenomenal! - read more about that here.

Fab-u-lous!

RIP, Stephen Joshua Sondheim (22nd March 1930 – 26th November 2021)

[One of a series of tributes I will be posting to Mr Sondheim this week.]
Previous "Sondheim of the Day" entries:

Sunday, 14 June 2020

Once I was a schleppa





Gosh! "National treasure", star of telly, radio and the stage (in his "alter-ego" of Lily Savage, primarily), Mr Paul O'Grady is 65 years old today.

We were only listening to his (currently in "best of" repeats format, since he is "shielding" in isolation during the coronavirus) Radio 2 show this evening. Coincidentally enough, the subject of this episode was Cilla Black, for the clip I have selected by way of a tribute today is an old, old favourite - in which "Our Lil" appears alongside said Cilla and fellow "treasure", Barbara Windsor...


Happy birthday, chook!

Paul O'Grady MBE (born Paul James Grady, 14th June 1955)

More Mr O'Grady/Miss Savage here, here and particularly here

Monday, 16 March 2020

Umpa! Umpa! That's enough of that...



We bade a fond farewell to Nicholas Parsons in January this year, and the late, dearly missed "Humph" (Humphrey Lyttelton) only yesterday came up in conversation as a result of my post about Clare Teal, and now another stalwart of radio, television and the stage, another "national treasure" has departed for Fabulon - the marvellous Roy Hudd.

As his obituary in The Guardian succinctly put it:
What was he – a comedian, an author, a radio satirist, a serious actor, a soap star, an archivist, or a leading authority on British music-hall and variety entertainment?

Hudd was all of these, but saw himself primarily as a man born too late to fulfil his dream of life as an old-style variety comic, which is how he started out in the late 1950s at the bottom of bills topped by artists such as the comic Max Miller and the male impersonator Hetty King.

In 1958 Hudd’s agent, Morris Aza, suggested he audition for Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice. As Hudd later explained: “Morris said, ‘In about three or four years variety will be finished. You’ve got to learn scripts and do other things.’ It was great advice. I’ve kept on the move ever since.”

And in the past two decades this diversity consolidated into a well-earned niche for him in the pantheon of British national treasures. With his round, laughter-lined clown’s face and warm, gap-toothed grin (but with a hint of sadness and loneliness around the eyes), he could always be relied upon to raise a smile, inspire a sing-song or amaze audiences with his knowledge of the good old days.

He wrote or co-authored around 20 books; some, such as Roy Hudd’s Cavalcade of Variety Acts (1997), remain invaluable records of long-gone performers and their accompanying billing. Without Hudd (whose own variety billing was the Peculiar Person), how would we be aware that outlandish turns such as the Mysterious Werth (Banana Skin and Stone Manipulator), Tom Mennard (Juggles with Live Geese), Juna (the Human Gasometer) and the Three Aberdonians (Too Mean to Tell You What They Do) had captivated audiences back in the day?
In his long career, he was part of the line-up of David Frost's follow-up to That Was The Week That Was (the short-lived Not So Much A Programme, More A Way Of Life), presented the satirical radio show The News Huddlines for more than a quarter of a century, had his own variety show on the BBC, played up to comic "type" in numerous comedies from Up Pompeii to Benidorm, played the local undertaker in Coronation Street for eight years, and surprised audiences with lauded dramatic roles in such series as Dennis Potter's Lipstick On Your Collar and Broadchurch. Phew!

We have, inevitably, seen the man on stage many times - his one-man "potted history of Music Hall" [where we were seated with Dame June Whitfield, Prunella Scales and Timothy West!], as the photographer in JB Priestley's When We Are Married, in the all-star version of Sondheim's Follies at the Royal Albert Hall, and in panto at Wilton's Music Hall not once but twice...

We will sorely miss that twinkly smile.

He genuinely could turn his hand to anything, as this clip of him with another sadly-missed "all-rounder" Cilla Black proves:


Sand bags, wind bags, camels with a hump,
Fat girls, thin girls, some a little plump,
Slave girls sold here, fifty bob a lump,
In the old bazaar in Cairo.

Brandy, shandy, beer without a froth,
Braces, laces, a candle for the moth.
Bet you'd look a smasher in an old loin cloth,
In the old bazaar in Cairo.

You can buy most anything,
Thin bulls, fat cows, a little bit of string,
You can purchase anything you wish,
A clock, a dish and something for your Auntie Nellie,
Harem, scarem, what d'ya think of that,
Bare knees, striptease, dancing on the mat,
Umpa! Umpa! That's enough of that,

In the old bazaar in Cairo.
Rice pud, very good, what's it all about,
Made it in a kettle and they couldn't get it out,
Everybody took a turn to suck it through the spout,
In the old bazaar in Cairo.

Mamadan, Ramadan, everything in style,
Genuine, beduine carpet with a pile,
Funny little odds and ends floating down the Nile,
From the old bazaar in Cairo.
You can buy most anything,

Sheeps eyes, sand pies, a watch without a spring,
You can buy a pomegranate too,
A water-bag, a little bit of hokey pokey,
Yashmaks, pontefracts, what a strange affair,
Dark girls, fair girls, some with ginger hair,
The rest of it is funny but they censor it out there,
In the old bazaar in Cairo.


RIP Roy Hudd, OBE (16th May 1936 – 15th March 2020)

Monday, 27 May 2019

Over my shoulder goes it all



It may be a Bank Holiday, but I haven't forgotten it is a Tacky Music Monday...

Today also happens to be the birthday of the dearly missed Cilla Black - and who better to provide us with a bit of terpsichorean cheer?

Here's an excerpt from her telly show from way back in glorious monochrome 1968, where she pays tribute to the one and only Jessie Matthews [skip to around 1:48 in; however if you're of a sensitive nature, you may feel the need to switch off straight after it - the show also features Cliff-bloody-Richard]!


Have a good week, dear reader - it's a short one!

Saturday, 19 August 2017

Nice to see you; to see you...



...Nice!





And so, farewell to Sir Bruce Forsyth; yet another mainstay of British light entertainment, a man beloved of generations - his career spanned more than 75 years, a rival to Betty White! - not least for his remarkably successful turns in shows such as Sunday Night at the London Palladium, The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right and Strictly Come Dancing.

A former strong-man and teenage Music Hall star, a trained dancer, singer, comedian and genial host, Bruce Forsyth epitomised that (unfortunately fading) genre known as "variety". He was - or so it seemed - always "there"; always a pivotal persona on our television screens, always prime-time, never off-beat or in the sidelines.

He was indeed "Mister Entertainment" [and it is no surprise, really, that the other bearer of that title Sammy Davis Junior was a very close friend}. Here he is, performing with another of the all-time great all-rounders, Miss Cilla Black...


RIP Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson CBE (22nd February 1928 – 18th August 2017)

Saturday, 20 May 2017

Like takin' candy from a baby



Despite thunder, torrential rain and gales I have still been pottering in the garden all day (in the greenhouse when it got really bad) - and despite everything the weather can throw at it, I have to admit our beds, pots, troughs and baskets are all looking very lovely indeed!

A particular stunner at the moment is a relatively recent acquisition - the wonderfully exotic Scilla peruviana [pictured above]. Also known as the Portuguese squill, this lovely multi-flowered fire-cracker of blue stars is actually a Mediterranean native, and is closely related to the humble bluebell and to several early Spring bulbs such as hyacinths and our fave Chionodoxa.

And speaking of "Cilla", here is the lady herself (who would have been 74 next week), with a venture into Motown territory...


"It's a lorra, lorra laughs!"

Hope tomorrow's weather is a bit better.

Sunday, 2 August 2015

A true "national treasure" departs

















RIP Cilla Black, probably Britain's best-loved all-round entertainer.

Very sad news indeed - the flags are at half-mast here at Dolores Delargo Towers.

Here are some of her most memorable moments...




With Miss Dusty Springfield back in the 1990s:


Winning the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014:


And, finally - that Royal Variety Show performance:


Cheers, chuck! It was a "lorra, lorra laughs".

Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27th May 1943 – 2nd August 2015)

Sunday, 28 December 2014

A year in culture, Dolores Delargo Towers style



As you might tell, I am in a retrospective mood, dear reader. Any summary of any year is bound to be somewhat subjective - so you will forgive, of course, my indulgence in what we experienced of 2014 rather than any wider picture.

In a year when we lost so many of our cultural icons (more of that later, no doubt, in my annual "roll-call" of those who died this year), sport and Strictly Come Dancing were considered serious topics of conversation even in the broadsheets, and the so-called "Culture Minister" Ed Vaizey remarked that he preferred Classic FM to Radio 3, what constitutes a "cultural highlight"? In our world, anything that doesn't involve pop music or politics, I suppose...

Those of you paying attention to my previous "review of the year" will note that references to "music" did not include the "classical" end of that extensive artform. Yet we did have some excellent moments of that kind. The aforementioned Pet Shop Boys Prom was indeed a fully featured part of the prestigious BBC Proms Season - and Vince'n'Neil's A Man From the Future was a masterful symphonic work, worthy of many a composer beloved of the regular denizens of The Royal Albert Hall during that three-month extravaganza. It was sublimely realised, in conjunction with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Dominic Wheeler and the elegant narration of Miss Juliet Stephenson, and a ground-breaking event that I truly appreciated. It was also the only "true Prom" I attended.

The Proms season ends, as it does every year, with the triumphal flag-waving finale encompassing Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem and Rule, Britannia! And this year (as every year for along time), we made it to our usual great vantage point in Hyde Park to watch it beamed in on the live screens - and to take part in all its flag-waving adrenalin-pumping grandeur. This year, the "Britannia" part was sung with the fine voice of Roderick Williams, and on stage at Proms in the Park we were also treated to some beautiful operatic singing by Pumeza Matshikiza and Vittorio Grigolo.



I concluded the year with two more classical events: Bach and Wagner at St John's Smith Square and the BBC recording of their tribute to Ron Goodwin - which made for quite a mix in the classical canon.

And what of the theatre? 2014 turned out to be another fine year, with both major and minor productions that we thoroughly enjoyed. Of the latter, there was the thought-provoking and utterly fab Rachael's Café and the masterful one-man performance of Didn't You Used To Be Derek Jacobi?. Simon Callow's Being Shakespeare was magnificent, as was our recent adult panto-substitute Mrs Hudson's Christmas Corker.

Of our major theatrical events during the year, the new - and awe-inspiring - Menier Chocolate Factory production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins was an absolute highlight. However the big event of the entire year was most definitely our pilgrimage to pay a deferential tribute at the feet of the great Dame Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, never, ever to be forgotten!

Speaking of iconic figures in our cultural landscape, John Waters' This Filthy World, Vol 2: Filthier and Dirtier one-man show wasn't half-bad, either. In complete contrast, we were honoured to see and listen to the venerable Dame Joan Plowright in conversation.

We managed to get a bit of art'n'history-type culture (with a capital "K") in, too. Of course.

Not least of such events were our visit to see the sumptuous Cheapside Hoard, our "Night at the Museum" at the Fin de Siècle Fantasy Egypt open evening in the Petrie Museum of Egyptology, the preview of the British Museum's massive Vikings: life and legend exhibition, or any of the events associated with the cultural milestone that is LGBT History Month.

Every month (well, almost) our literary desires have been sated once again by the wonders of Paul Burston's Polari - "London's peerless gay literary salon". With headliners and guest stars as diverse this year as Christopher Fowler, Maureen Duffy, Ali Smith, Neil Bartlett, Paul Bailey, Mari Hannah, James Maker, Karen McLeod, Sarah Westwood, Alex Marwood, (Sophie Ellis-Bextor's mum) Janet Ellis, Tiffany Murray, VG Lee, Helen Smith, Matt Cain, Diriye Osman, Susie Boyt and Will Davis (and many more) on the bill, it is an utter feast for the brain.



As a personal high point, 2014 was also the year that I was thrilled to get my first ever book review in print in a national publication - that of the wonderful Rupert Smith's Interlude (in Beige gay magazine)!

At the "lower end" of the cultural scale, we are not massive cinema-goers. If we deign to go at all, this usually involves something from vintage Hollywood at the British Film Institute or the like. But there was one "must-see" that drew me and some of our gang out this year - the spectacular cinematic triumph that is The Grand Budapest Hotel. Simply marvellous, daahlings! I also went on my own to see the documentary film of the V&A's ground-breaking David Bowie Is exhibition, but that - including films on telly, of which we catch very few - was about it.

So what about television? Very selective, dear. We don't watch Sherlock, Game of Thrones, Dr Who, soaps or police/crime dramas, for instance. "Reality TV" shows and so-called "talent" competitions are anathema to us. The closest we get to being "hooked" on a serial is - in common with the rest of the world - Downton Abbey, and, for sheer camp entertainment value, Benidorm. Other than that, anything by Sir David Attenborough or Andrew Marr, documentary series fronted by the likes of Michael Portillo, Dr Lucy Worsley, Dr Janina Ramirez, Neil Oliver, Professor Mary Beard, Andrew Graham-Dixon or any of that triumvirate of "factual-programme-totty" presenters Simon Reeve, Dr James Fox or Alastair Sooke, quiz shows such as QI and Only Connect, and Gardeners' World and Antiques Roadshow will do nicely, thank you.

Two TV programmes that we did watch stood out from the rest. In the centenary year of Wales' "Number 1 Son" Dylan Thomas, the magnificently-cast ensemble reading of Under Milk Wood was an absolute joy from beginning to end, and possibly the best tribute the man could have received.

The televisual event of the year, however, must have been the accurate-to-the-last-mannerism portrayal by Sheridan Smith of that [pause for over-used cliché] "National Treasure", Cilla Black! If Miss Smith doesn't win an award for this, then there is no justice.


There's probably loads more I could cover (radio, for instance), but as with all such summaries, one has to stop somewhere.

However, there are more 2014 recollections to come - stay tuned!

Monday, 17 February 2014

A lorra, lorra laughs





From the BBC:
Sheridan Smith is to play singer and TV presenter Cilla Black in a new three-part drama, ITV has announced.

The actress will star as the famous Liverpudlian in the drama, by Jeff Pope, which will "capture the essence of 1960s Liverpool".

It will look at her friendship with Ringo Starr which brought her to the attention of Beatles' manager Brian Epstein and producer George Martin.

Cilla, written by Pope - who, along with Steve Coogan won a Bafta for his screenplay for the film Philomena, will follow her journey from a young typist under her real name of Priscilla White, to meeting and befriending Brian Epstein and then recording and launching her career at Abbey Road studios.

"Her life story is fascinating," said Sheridan. "I'm so excited and can't wait to start filming."
Should be fun...

And here is the lady herself, with our favourite here at Dolores Delargo Towers, You're My World:


Cilla Black official website

Monday, 27 May 2013

Tacky Music Triptych



Ah, sunshine and lazy days. I never tire of them - and this bank holiday promises to provide just that! In my idyll on yet another day away from the office (the last one of almost a fortnight off), I haven't forgotten it is a Tacky Music Monday...

Today, joy of joys, we have not one, not two, but three sparkling performances to brighten up our lives (thanks to another glut of birthdays of our favourite showbiz ladies). And because I love you.

First up is the multi-talented Broadway singer and actress Miss Leslie Uggams, who celebrated her 70th birthday on Saturday 25th May - here with her stunning take on the classic Fascinatin' Rhythm.

[Thanks to dear Thombeau and his (sadly now very) Redundant Variety Hour for this one!]


Next, we couldn't let the late, great Miss Peggy Lee's birthday (yesterday - 26th May) go by without paying due homage - here she is in a wonderfully weird "literal" interpretation of her classic Fever:


Finally, a little closer to home, the National Treasure that is Cilla Black OBE celebrates not only her 50th anniversary in showbiz this year, but also blows out 70 candles on her cake today! Here is the lady herself (from her 70s TV show, dancing with someone who looks like a "Jason King" wannabee) with a completely over-the-top routine for You're So Vain:


Divas, all!

Sunday, 2 September 2012

Anyone who ever dreamed



The "quieter half" of one of the all-time great musical songwriting partnerships, Hal David of Bacharach and David, has died, aged 91.

Mr David began his long and admirable songwriting career in the 40s providing the lyrics for songs by the likes of Sammy Kaye and Guy Lombardo, before cementing the long partnership with Burt Bacharach in 1957. From their first hit in that year (The Story of My Life by Marty Robbins) to their final collaboration in 1999 (On My Way for the soundtrack to the Jaqueline Suzann biopic Isn't She Great?), the duo were renowned as a predominant force in music - rarely was there a year when at least one Bacharach and David-penned song did not hit the charts in the 60s and 70s!

Artists fell over themselves to get to record their songs - including Bobby Vinton, Gene Pitney, the Shirelles, Keely Smith, Jack Jones, the Walker Brothers, Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Bobbie Gentry, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Petula Clark, Jackie De Shannon, Sandie Shaw, Herb Alpert, Sergio Mendes, BJ Thomas, the Carpenters, the Fifth Dimension, and of course Dionne Warwick.

It was in fact Miss Warwick, and an argument between her and Hal, that was the catalyst for the great partnership to break down in the late 70s. Subsequently the great duo had numerous hits, solo and in collaboration with others - Hal David wrote the lyrics for To All the Girls I've Loved Before (with Albert Hammond) and my eternal fave tearjerker We Have All The Time In The World (with John Barry).

From the BBC:
In 1974 he joined the board of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and served as president from 1980 to 1986. He was head of the Songwriters Hall of Fame from 2001 to 2011, and was Chairman Emeritus at his death.

The society's current president, Paul Williams, said in a statement: "As a lyric writer, Hal was simple, concise and poetic - conveying volumes of meaning in fewest possible words and always in service to the music.

"It is no wonder that so many of his lyrics have become part of our everyday vocabulary and his songs... the backdrop of our lives."

In 2011, David and Burt Bacharach were awarded the Gershwin Prize for popular song by the US Library of Congress, the first time a songwriting team has been given the honour.
And here are just a few of those classics:





RIP, an outstanding man.

Hal David (25th May 1921 – 1st September 2012)

Tuesday, 16 December 2008

Three old broads

In these times of doom, gloom, cold weather and redundancy, I cheer myself up by delving into the world of showbiz. And what better way is there?

Here's a fabulous extract from The Royal Variety Show in 2001 that features three of the greatest showgirls ever to work together - Miss Babs Windsor, Miss Cilla Black and... Miss Lily Savage! Enjoy...